B2/F117 -- effective, but not what I would call "physically beautiful." But lots of guys find their chosen women more beautiful than Catherine Zeta-Jones (with good reason). I always signpost this as my opinion. :)
Posted on 03/06/2006 4:51:13 PM PST by MARKUSPRIME
March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The 94th Fighter Squadron, famous for its historic "Hat in the Ring" insignia and legendary aviator Eddy Rickenbacker, began receiving F-22 Raptors from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) today. The two 5th Generation stealthy, air dominance fighters are assigned to the second operational squadron in the U.S. Air Force.
ADVERTISEMENT The two Raptors will join F-22s flying today as part of the 1st Fighter Wing's 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Lockheed Martin has completed final assembly on 71 of the 107 fighters now on contract, and 63 have been delivered.
"This is another great milestone in the history of the F-22 Program," said Larry Lawson, Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President and F-22 Program General Manager. "The F-22 will dominate airspace anywhere around the globe, around the clock, and survive in contested airspace better than any other aircraft in the world.
No... they really can't find them. No kidding.
"I knew that airframe was supersonic capable."
Only in free-fall......
How much more in taxes would you be willing to pay to buy more F-22's?
It will happen at some point. the pressure on the government in China to take over Taiwan for nationalistic reasons is very strong. Also, there is a lot of discontent w/ the govt among the Chinese people over many issues. The ChiComs might try to do a Galtieri in order to stay in power, without consideing the consequences.
"They would lose aircraft and soldiers at close to the rate at which we (and Taiwan, and Japan, and So Korea...etc.) can expend ammunition."
It's unlikely south korea would actively participate in a war against China over Taiwan. Japan might, but only if we do. And if we have a weak, wimpy president, we will not help the, most likely.
The Taiwanese will not last long alone. They will be hit by hundreds , if not thousands of conventional ballistic and cruise missiles in the first day alone. Most of their AF and Navy would be taken out by that. The Chinese SA-10s can shoot down Taiwanese aircraft while they are still over Taiwan.
The Taiwan Navy has only 2 modern subs, plus 2 WW2 era ones. Not very impressive. China will take the Navy out pretty easily, especially with sub, ship and land launched AShMs.
And... they'd lose their entire source of revenue which is their newfound dependence on capitalism to support their country. They can't afford to tick off the rest of the world anymore.
It'll never happen.
B2/F117 -- effective, but not what I would call "physically beautiful." But lots of guys find their chosen women more beautiful than Catherine Zeta-Jones (with good reason). I always signpost this as my opinion. :)
"I hope we always retain the technological advantage"
me too.
The way the Serbs were able to notice our F-117s came from people thinking outside the box. The way conventional radar works is you send out a beam of microwave, and see if you get a reflection. The stealthed F-117s were designed to absorb most of the microwave energy, and reflect what was left in some direction other than straight back where it came from. So it was pretty-much invisible to conventional radar.
But if it ever came BETWEEN a microwave emitter, and a detector, it would cast a shadow. (see here for detailed article)
You don't necessarily have to use radar. There's been some research using LIDAR (laser instead of microwave radar). MACAWS LIDAR was used to "Airborne Doppler wind lidar is capable of measuring atmospheric dynamical processes and features in the planetary boundary layer and free troposphere, in geographic locations and over scales of motion, that may be beyond the capability of conventional and other research sensors".
When the F-22 is screaming along in supersonic cruise mode, I wonder how the atmospheric wake it generates would show up on LIDAR?
"I know someone (now perished) that was on the B70 project"
God bless 'im.
That was a beautiful plane. We lose more cool planes filming commercials... B-70, F-22 prototype are two.
He wasn't in the one that crashed was he?
And Richard Nixon permanently retired from politics after losing the election for governorship of California in 1962...
My friend I stand corrected.
I should have remembered the celebrated Pukin Dog Squadron! Doh!
And, of course the F-14 has that fabulous variable geometry. I cried very real tears when they announced the retirement of the F-14. It just feels wrong (and I won't be surprised when the undo that decision).
Will it help that I find them to be very, very, very close?
And thank you for your service! :)
That's a great shot of the XB70. haven't seen that one before.
Two-Stage-to-Orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake? [Aviation Week & Space Technology}
This two-vehicle "Blackstar" carrier/orbiter system may have been declared operational during the 1990s.A large "mothership," closely resembling the U.S. Air Force's historic XB-70 supersonic bomber, carries the orbital component conformally under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter's engines fire and boost the vehicle into space. If mission requirements dictate, the spaceplane can either reach low Earth orbit or remain suborbital.
No. :-)
I want to show all the aircraft in the best and coolest possible light. :)
LOL!
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