To be fair, there’s a reason for that; The TF-102A was a modification of the original design and it’s side by side seating configuration heavily compromised the aerodynamics, so Convair learned their lesson and designed the F-106 from the ground up to have two seats in a tandem configuration, the single seat version mostly replaces the reat seat with extra fuel and space for electronics (and was launched first because they wanted all the performance they could get and they were having issues with the ejector seats).
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Difference in the pre-1962 naming standard and post-1962 standard
Turns out that the F-102A was originally supposed to carry the MB-1 rocket using the same configuration as the F106A, but ADC refused because they were expecting the F106A to be ready and operational much earlier.
They ended up getting the GAR-11/AIM-26a just because General Le May said he wanted to see a Falcon air to air missile with an atomic warhead. No, really:
The whole thing ended up being a bit controversial later on, since one of the standard safety protocols for nuclear weapons is that you need at least two people working together to be able to arm them, in order to prevent any single person from being able to set off a nuke in a fit of madness or treachery. And it turns out that one of the few (if not the ONLY) exceptions to that rule was the single seat F102A and F106A, whose pilot necessarily had the full capability to launch the nuclear weapon by himself if he so wished… Good thing the 102A and 106A pilots were all very well adjusted.
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I believe 300m is the 20 psi overpressure radius, which obliterates buildings. Keep in mind that the blast radius goes up with the CUBE root of the power, not the square root (we live in a 3D world after all), so by the game´s own standards, 300 times the power of the FAB-5000 (105m) means an armour destruction radius of 705m. (which sort of matches the 5 psi overpressure radius for an 1.5 kT airburst bomb according to this site NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein).
In real life the effects of the blast would change with altitude, but this blog shows the results of a fairly accurate calculation for a 12200m /40 000 feet altitude blast
For those that don’t understand italian, i’ll sum it up:
- Fireball radius 30m, Plexiglass/fiberglass burns within 200m, Aluminium bends within 400m, 3rd degree burns for the pilot up to 800m away.
- 3 Psi overpressure from a radius of 450 m, sufficient for total destruction of aircraft, while light damage is done up to a 900 m radius. If detonated at 1500 m altitude , 3 psi radius goes up to 580 m while light damage radius goes up to 1,5 km.
- Fatal radiation dosage in a 900m radius, significant up to 1,5 km. Neutron radiation also disables other nuclear weapons within a 860 m radius.
- EMP intense enough to disable unprotected electronics in a 800m radius, although potential damage can occur in a radius up to 3 KM
Also of note that there were essentially 3 versions of the genie, the original MB-1, the AIR-2A version which added a barometric sensor to prevent detonation below 1500m of altitude, and the AIR-2B which increased the power of the rocket motor.
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Necessary addition
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No questions asked.
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Linking an australian military aviation history video that is well researched and has some pretty interesting period footage of the 102, even if doesn’t really add anything new.
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if this is added should probably be made 8.7 as it would be horrible against something like F100 seeing how the AIM-4s perform in game