Dogfights are a thing of the past. Fighters don't joust at close distances anymore. I did a small part of my degree at a defence research place in the mid-90s. I remember someone showing me an experiment on how best to present range information about other planes to a fighter pilot, in terms of physical appearance. What was curious was the names for the ranges: 'safe', 'lethal', and 'very lethal'. 'Very lethal' was still several kilometers, and I asked about the guns and dogfighting - and got 'that doesn't happen anymore'.
More significant issues are speed, weather, and payload size. If you need fighter cover now, you don't want to hear "but it's raining". And speed is needed to increase operational range and response time.
More significant issues are speed, weather, and payload size. If you need fighter cover now, you don't want to hear "but it's raining". And speed is needed to increase operational range and response time.