Free Republic

Defense: While America has stopped production of its stealth fighter, China prepares to challenge U.S. air supremacy in the Western Pacific with its own. China is on another Long March, one it hopes will lead to military supremacy over the U.S. at least in the Western Pacific. It is deploying a carrier-killing mobile missile, the Dong Feng 21D, and is expected to launch its first aircraft carrier this year, the refurbished ex-Soviet carrier Varyag. China is also conducting preflight tests on a fifth-generation stealth fighter expected to challenge the best the U.S. has to offer. Photographs reportedly showing China's J-20...

Few people remember the movie Stealth with and that’s probably because it was a bit of a disaster at the box office. But those who watched it probably do remember the Artificial Intelligence-driven Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) named Extreme Deep Invader (EDI). You know, the one that crashes in the end. As far as the public knows, the world’s leading aerospace companies are far from developing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with the kind of intelligence that EDI had and just as well, considering how smart machines usually end up turning on their human masters in Hollywood flicks. They...

Manned aircraft will be able to penetrate future advanced defenses. Now somebody tell the simulation gang. Historically, there has been a mismatch between the air combat attrition predictions of analysts’ computer models and the actual attrition experienced in major air campaigns. Simply put, the models have always erred on the pessimistic side. Understanding the sources of this mismatch is important today because many Air Force and Pentagon experts are at it again. This time, they are claiming that even stealthy fifth generation fighters and B-2 bombers cannot penetrate future threat arrays without unacceptable losses. They conclude that the Air Force...

Defense: The administration decision to scrap a proven aircraft in favor of a supposedly cheaper, more flexible replacement is proving to be an expensive mistake. We may wind up defenseless and broke. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was supposed to be America's frontline fighter for the foreseeable future is in big trouble. Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the general in charge of the program this week amid concerns of spiraling costs and program delays. Gates also announced he is withholding $614 million in fees from the prime contractor, Lockheed Martin. Daniel J. Crowley, one of Lockheed Martin's project managers,...

When there is more than $10 billion in weapons sales at stake, marketing can trump diplomacy during NATO air combat training. NATO pilots routinely participate in war games with its members, during which flights of "red team" airplanes play the opposition and square off against NATO pilots in realistic encounters. Recently, a squadron of pilots of the Spanish air force flew Eurofighter Typhoons, a multirole airplane with good dogfighting abilities, in mock combat against U.S. Air Force F-15s in the skies around Gando Air Base, Gran Canaria. The engagements, judging by a press release issued by Eurofighter, did not go...

During recent exercises, NATO Air Forces carried out several training combat engagements known as DACT, Dissimilar Aircraft Combat Training, involving different types of aircraft. In this situation, where the air dominance is a matter, the Eurofighter Typhoons turned out to be the leading air-to-air fighter jets. Once again, the outstanding performance of the Eurofighter Typhoon was evident in a dogfight simulation. The 111 Squadron of the Spanish Air Force as well as the 493rd Squadron of the U.S. Air Force were deployed for training in Gando Air Base, Gran Canaria. The Spanish Squadron attended the training with a total of...

General Robert L. Scott, fighter ace, best selling author and boyhood hero of mine, passed away this past Monday at 97. As a kid, I began to amass a small assemblage of ideals based on my reading, discussions around the dinner table and talks with friends. In the imagined room I constructed, with the sepia toned photos, heroic busts, lit by the yellow light cast from those old clear bulbs hidden behind the heavy cloth shades attached to the ancient lamps, arranged on sturdy tables, decorated with large leather bound volumes on heavy bookcases, above a busy thoroughfare, not unlike...

WASHINGTON: The United States and India have held four joint military exercises since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when Washington decided to engage New Delhi as a strategic partner. The two countries already have a pilot exchange programme, a US instructor is at the Indian Air Force training academy and their air force surgeons are also working together. Earlier this month, Indian pilots participated in war games in Alaska hosted by the US Pacific Command. Exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder 04-01 was a multinational Dissimilar Combat Training Exercise that involved air forces from Asia-Pacific and Nato countries - Britain, Canada,...

The Making of Billy Bishop By Brereton Greenhous Dundurn Press 232 pgs. US$19.99/C$29.99 ISBN: 1-5500-2390-X Reevaluating a Canadian heroBy Steven Martinovichweb posted June 3, 2002Although the First World War ended in 1918, the story of Billy Bishop remains engrained in the collective consciousness of Canadians. Credited with shooting down an incredible 72 enemy aircraft, Bishop's place in history was guaranteed with a daring raid on June 2, 1917. In an action that earned him the Victoria Cross, the world's most difficult combat decoration to win, Bishop attacked and destroyed a German airfield single-handedly.That event writes historian Brereton Greenhous, which consistently...