Posted on 12/30/2015 8:05:57 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Bump
That acronym, ladies and germs, is no accident and is brilliant.
JMHo
“That acronym, ladies and germs, is no accident and is brilliant.”
General Pershing rides again. (Yeah, I know it’s only legend.)
What is the point of giving away the aerial battle plan?
You want to impress me with weapons systems, show me how conservatives are taking back the media...
...and somewhat compensates for the reduced numbers of F-22s that are scheduled to be built...
Time to dump the F-35 with the exception of the Marine VTOL versions and start buying the much less expensive F-15 Silent Eagle. Proven Airframe and some Stealth Capability.
Expand the F-22 Fleet. I think another few hundred should do the trick.
The Navy should refurbish the old F-14 Tomcats with modern Engines and Avionics and put them back in service. Those and the current F-18 Super Hornets would make for a formidable Carrier based Squadron.
If the Iranians can keep their F-14’s Flying after all these years, WTH are we doing?
Oh yeah, start building more A-10’s or a new version if the original Tooling is gone and get them out of the Air Force Inventory and into the hands of the Army and Marines.
Just my uninformed opinion. I can dream. LOL
Just me, or does my after dinner reading comprehension detect a small contradiction in this? Probably missed the small print somewhere.
A US fighter aircraft has to carry that colostomy bag just to communicate? This is ridiculous.
I believe the F-14 had some sort, do not know how capable it was.
Total anecdote:
Something that blew me away reading about the ancient F-4 Phantom, was the little scrotum/bulge hanging under the radome pointing forward. Apparently that was to have had an early IR sensor of some sort, but it never matured in time to be installed. Dimly recall looking into a F-4 radome when swung back and not seeing anything in that space. Always wondered why it was there.
Even if no modified A10 is in the mix, you could do a LOT better than the F35 for a USMC specific aircraft.
Then again, I'm just an old grunt who appreciates napalm tumbling off of a well weathered Skyraider so maybe I just have a soft spot for low, slow, and dead accurate automatic weapons fire.
The Air Force and Navy seem to be sobering up a bit and realizing they're far from the end of the life cycle for both the F15 and the F18. No matter how hard you stare at the horizon, the "fifth generation" (marketing buzz as far as I'm concerned) isn't out there on the horizon to any great degree.
SAMs and drones are getting more capable every day and betting the whole farm on any one thing right now doesn't seem like a wise course of action. I can see drones used as semi-autonomous escorts for manned aircraft becoming an important element of our strategy at some point but right now everything is caught up in the same ole "more expensive is better" syndrome.
There's a lot that can be accomplished by refining the existing types of aircraft and a lot to be learned by doing so.
JMHo
All the US Tomcats had a tv camera system. The D model had a double chin pod with an IRST. With the use of more advanced cameras I am sure this pod and the corresponding IRST for the Hornet should be pretty capable.
Lotta drag. How many a/c on a mission have to carry one?
And one woggie with an ‘03 Springfield sitting in a window 1000 meters from the parked a/c on the airstrip puts a hole in it?
I love tech, but is this what we need now?
Just askin.
Nowadays, the military must be prepared to fight two totally different wars: one against a sophisticated, well-equipped enemy like Russia or China and another versus the Islamic hordes.
For the latter purpose, the A-10 -- or even that "well-weathered Skyraider" -- makes a lot of sense. Fact is, Corsairs escorting Skyraiders could do a lot of damage...at very little cost.
A US fighter aircraft has to carry that colostomy bag just to communicate? This is ridiculous.
...
It’s a big sucker, but I’d say its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. Fighting as a large coordinated system is what gives us superiority over our potential enemies.
That bigass thing and it’s not even a weapon? Something that size should at least be an air-to-air laser...
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