Posted on 12/23/2016 5:32:33 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Update the F-15. There has been a lot of effort to modernize the platform. No STOVL, but some stealth and a better A-A fighter.
That was what that little pipsqueak M1 Carbine was for.......
it takes real skill and talent like this to rip off the taxpayer that badly.
and who would that be. We don't have lots of marshalls or eisenhowers or MacArthur or Pattons or Nimitzs these days.
The F22 is not a carrier capable fighter
The only version of the F-35 that is problematic is is the B version that is VSTOL
Interesting. Thanks for the links. Had not realize the ‘restart’ idea had gotten so much traction.
When you split up a team and send them to the four winds then brain drain happens. Yeah many are still around... but many aren’t. I work in the industry and know some that worked on that plane... but remember that was TWENTY years ago. The guys that were senior back then are gone. Fully Retired and some even dead by now. The guys that were middle of the pack, some are around but if they have not been doing aerospace in 15 years then you don’t want them back. Then young guys from then... yeah we are still around but we did not know the intimate details, the whys and what for’s of what was going on. We were just learning back then and the reasons for decisions weren’t obvious to us until later in our careers. I am nearly 40 and the F-22 development was before my time. I was just an intern when they were putting the finishing touches on the F-22 design. Anyone that was ‘senior’ then... well there aren’t many left and few would be willing to work on things.
Anyone that was my age in the mid-late 90s is by dad’s age now and he is retired from the industry now. Off doing other stuff. No intention to ever go back to a big aerospace company.
There is going to be a lot of rework when the start the line up again. Which isn’t all bad. The F-22 could use some updates. But shutting down production has consequences.
I just retired from a 35 year career of Defense R&D, almost all of it working on DARPA projects. Early on, the promising projects that met our needs were developed. The past eight years has been work on useless crap. I kept my sanity by taking assignments upgrading proven Legacy systems.
I am in the industry and worked on this and many other military aircraft, those that speak to you, I note, are silent and not on these pages. They are incorrect. I live it every day.
You seem to forget the phases of design/redesign of this and other legacy aircraft. What started 20 years ago, was a new challenge 10 years ago, and was supplemented with experience from the F-16 and F-35 at the same Lockheed facilities, people and specialties were shuttled between projects. It is an immature outlook to think these talents were somehow diluted by working on other projects (gone to the 4 winds) the exact opposite is true, Experience and exposure to new technologies coupled with experience from previous assignments create innovation and smoothing of the design experience. The reason the Japanese revere their old is because of the invaluable treasure they are to the young. It is a lesson we could all learn. In my experience, I work over and over with previous colleagues and it is old home week when we meet and for the most part a positive experience. This will prove itself out in the next 4 years, hopefully.
I could see using a combination of manned and drones.
Current Predator technology has the drone being controlled via satellite link, but that option has finite bandwidth for visuals, plus is vulnerable to the satellites being destroyed in a conflict with a first-class adversary.
One thing I'd like to see is a UAV which could be controlled by a guy in a trailing aircraft, with the UAV pilot having a hi-definition panoramic view of what's going on, using an F-35 helmet
The manned aircraft flies far enough away to be out of range of hostile SAMs, but close enough that they can have a direct, high-bandwidth link offering the UAV pilot a high-def view of battle zone. Make the UAVs cheap enough that there can be a whole bunch of them, so the human pilot can switch control to another UAV if one gets shot down.
We are in agreement. Merry Christmas FRiend!
And a Merry Christmas to you as well!
The money is insignificant compared to the time and expense for replacements lost to enemy action.
These miracles of technology are too important to go into combat - and hence are useless, actually worse than useless.
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