>>64408616
because the doctrine for these planes seems to be trending towards extreme stealth BVR, however, i think ditching any vertical stabilizer in the hopes of maximizing stealth ignores several BVR combat realities:
>less control surfaces worsens maneuvering performance
>speed worsens maneuvering
>being unable to turn hot/cold in BVR will kill you against any TWS-launch capable aircraft
>being able to turn hot/cold allows for better fire and forget, especially if you use HARMs
>shape and materials matters much more for stealth than the raw elimination of surfaces at current RCS signatures
>good alignment of surfaces can functionally eliminate the impact that added surfaces has on your RCS
there's going to be aircraft with a turning radius the size of maine trying to perform BVR turns and getting splashed because they couldn't go cold fast enough or defend incoming missiles well enough.