It's a supersonic air superiority jet. The amount of energy needed and heat generated is a rounding error compared to the heat from supersonic flight and the powerplant's output (base fuel burn of thousands of lbs an hour).
In the case of war birds, newer technology does not mean faster development time. In order to qualify electronics for a weapon that needs to be stealthy and resistant to electronic warfare you need decades of operational data on all of the major electronics components. Any system that gets upgraded to newer technology has to go through risk assessments and that often requires tons of data collection before you even get started.
OK, but where are you going to find engineers with experience in those archaic technologies? And stuff breaks; where are you going to find equipment to replace it? The industry has moved on and is no longer making stuff like core memory, so you may not be able to acquire it even if you are willing to spend a lot.
akiselev|6 years ago
In the case of war birds, newer technology does not mean faster development time. In order to qualify electronics for a weapon that needs to be stealthy and resistant to electronic warfare you need decades of operational data on all of the major electronics components. Any system that gets upgraded to newer technology has to go through risk assessments and that often requires tons of data collection before you even get started.
magduf|6 years ago