Reply #46: It wouldn't help

[caraher]

Recce aircraft are there to gather intelligence. In some cases, recce aircraft are stripped of weapons in a trade of firepower for speed. That would not apply to a Neptune, though! In other cases, the weight has to go to specialized equipment without which the mission cannot happen.

Doesn't matter how many guns you stick on the plane, you're still going to be vulnerable to missiles, antiaircraft guns and (if flying low) small arms fire. And on a Neptune, you're not going to shoot down an attacking fighter plane even if you were armed. Unless maybe John McCain is flying it ;)

It's not sadism - it's pragmatism. Nobody said military flying is unlikely to be fatal!