Air-to-air missiles extend fleet defense and compound Falklands attrition

A modern fighter's reputation depends partly on the missiles it can carry, so fitting an F-22 with early F-4-era weapons would sharply reduce its effective threat. Air-to-air missiles enlarge the interception envelope and let carrier fighters attack hostile aircraft before those platforms release weapons at the fleet. During the Falklands War, Sidewinder-equipped Sea Harriers imposed losses on an Argentine force committing a much larger share of its experienced combat aviation than Britain committed from its total pilot pool. Each Argentine loss therefore had a disproportionate effect on later tactics and available experience. The later Blue Vixen-equipped Sea Harrier generation, with longer-range missiles, would have made that attrition problem still worse.