kalvasflam

You have to really wonder now how far back does brother Graham's conspiracy extend back to. It's a stretch, but hey, may be it goes back even further than season 5.

Male Kim... ha ha ha ha, Kim Jong Il? Anyway, cool twist with daddy and older bro being evil

Heh heh, you noticed, I did say modified for space. I know basic physics after all. But think about it, what is the so called smart pebbles other than a glorified rock. There are ways to get around that, you have to design a gun that handles the right type of bullets, in the end it's just a matter of compensating for the momentum. Lynx, no offense, but lets not make a mistake in believing that other countries couldn't have duplicated the effort before China. It's not a denial that China has gone a long way from the day of the first paramount (idiot) leader, but if Japan for example wanted that capability, they could do it. Same for quite a few countries in Europe. That said, we'll see what the next step is. It'll be interesting, that's for sure.

For me, I think a space fighter on the first generation has to be launched on a booster. Otherwise, it's forced to carry too much fuel to have enough usable sensors or armaments and other stuff. The fighter ought to be able to land like the standard shuttle, I think the difference ought to be that the fighter has limited atmospheric capabilities, in that it can maneuver and move around in the atmosphere, not a strict glider like the shuttle. The primary armament ought to be a chain gun or a gatling of some type, modified for space operation of course. Then it needs a very good sensor suite with a fantastic tracking computer. Building in stealth features should not be too big a deal I think. I wouldn't be surprise if there is such a capability in the US already, black project of some type. But such a unit would likely have to have a booster unless there is some very exotic type of propulsion.

As for the Chinese ASAT, welcome to the club.... Third country in the world that has an ASAT capability. Great. Other than that, it ain't a big deal. It's about capability and flexing the muscles. Something that any superpower would do when they can. There is too much money to be made for anything really stupid. I'd be interested when someone has a space capable fighter.

Agreed with the Palmer comparison, I'm sorry, but Wayne Palmer strikes me like... well, there is no easy way to say it, he is a WUSS. Even his sister would make a better president, if she has a little more sense, fortunately her boyfriend is a little more level headed and practical in my opinion. But getting on to the main story line, I'm sorry to see Curtis getting killed, the fact that Jack poped him is a real tragedy, simply because Curtis didn't have a choice. And while someone could blame Jack for not making sure Curtis was separated from Assad, let's face it, Bauer was probably being battyslapped less than 48 hours earlier. So far, this season is quite powerful in content delivery. I just hope there isn't the same convulted twist as season four, and hopefully someone will step up to be as good a villian as Logan.

200 planes though... ok, 100 to be absolutely fair, the rest on some type of options from what I remember. But they've got like five or six smaller companies under the same name. This must be some huge expansion. I can see places like India going big. But what other local carriers are in SEA right now? Does Jetstar count? But nontheless a gigantic win for Airbus

But getting back onto the order books, it seems that Airbus is starting off the year on a good note. http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1167996652.html I've personally never heard of AirAsia, not nearly as famous as the other airlines in SE Asia, but holy smoke, 200 airplanes? Gawd, are they trying to start their own air force? Can you imagine if they went bankrupt all of a sudden. But somebody in Boeing must be gnashing their teeth at this order. Even if it is just A320s. As for paymenht, I always thought there is some fee to reserve the slots, but a majority of the cash is paid on delivery. But then again, I'm no expert on this. But what happens if an act of God occurs in the middle of production and the airplane is smashed. Is the company then only responsible for delivery the percentage of the plane that's incomplete? Just a random thought

Ouch... asking for a lot... TWA? Aren't they out of business? True enough though, Boeing has a big backlog, and they've managed to screw up before. Remember the strike in 2005, and the union disputes in the late 90s. Could happen again. And the refuge from MMM is a big question mark. I had friends at 3M who had very nasty things to say about McNerny.... The bottom line is whether Boeing managed to streamline their operations and deliver on time (787 is a big risk right now), and whether this big deal about integrating in new suppliers is actually working out. Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is usually just another orphan.

Sometimes you have to wonder what the US has in the works in secret. Nobody hears much about the next generation stuff, all the stuff in the open is about UAVs, not much in the way of manned aircraft. Stealth is so 20th century as far as state of the art goes. I wonder what's next.

I still like the original a bit better since it shows that there is in fact a cost of victory. Camille the vegetable says that you don't always walk away at the end of the day. That said, I did think the movie (all three in fact) could've benefited tremendously from entirely new animation, there is just some transitions that are a little too rough in my opinion. Oh well. Nothing is perfect. But the movies are pretty good.

Oh, well, it's simple then, what Singapore really needs is not an air force or an army. They need two surplus Ohios with all the fixings. (Pre-SSGN modifications of course). But one thought, given such a small area, it would almost be wise to invest in some VSTOL aircrafts, the F-35 would be perfect in this case I think. But you better put them on one of the more remote outlying islands.

Ok, that's a fair explanation. The narrow waterways prevents use of maritime assets. It's not very obvious from the map sometimes the exact distance. But air assets can still be helpful in terms of stopping small crafts from crossing, although not small arms fire. Are the urban areas immediately adjacent to the shores? More importantly, what is the general terrain like on the other side out to about 30 km? That is a good way to understand the best options. I don't know anything about your neighbor's military capabilities, but how well armed are they in terms of artillery and MBTs? A buffer zone if needed is something that has to be created, probably through MBTs frist (if they can be used easily) then garrisoned with infantry while tanks are withdrawn a bit further back and held as a mobile reserve. That's if it ever can to a conflict.

Ok, somehow, I think you managed to move my argument from Singapore to armies in general. That's plain wrong. I started off with the comment that it makes very little sense for Singapore with its geography to have tanks. I stand by that statement. In theory, if the defense budget of Singapore was indeed infinite, then tanks make sense, after you buy a bunch of other stuff up to and including AFVs. So, the first argument is its a matter of how you use your money. Unless Singapore intends to launch offensive operations, tanks don't make as much sense in their overall defense budget requirements. In that case, you'd go with maritime assets first. Read, the argument here is not about suitability of MBT in urban environment, it's about the need given other requirements. Now, for the second argument. Tanks (espcially Main Battle Tanks like the leopards) have a very specific mission in mind. They are used to run things over. They are designed to operate in non-urban environment. Note, this is very different from saying that tanks are not useful in urban environment. They can provide a lot of good fire support. However, in an urban environment, if you're fighting house to house, a MBT is not as much an asset because a) it can't easily maneuver in an urban environment. b) it doesn't carry its own infantry to work in house to house situations. c) if you pull infantry along, they'll be exposed outside of the tank armor. Unlike AFVs/ I understand your point about having a large gun, but the solution is not a MBT. A better solution might be a Stryker with a mobile gun system, I think those are operational. Those will provide the firepower you need to get the job done, but are probably nimble enough to fight in an urban environment. Ok, onto the next customer.... Retracting Head Ter Ter "That leaves only certain states, uhm, where the majority of the population are of a certain, uhm, faith. That bigger one with lots of population has effectively ZILCH long distance (as in from there to singapore) strike capability. No meaningful maritime assault or amphibeous forces, weak air force with most planes down. Its F-16As are grounded by spare parts shortage. The soon to be 6 Flankers will be overwhelmed by several tens of F-16C/Ds backed by F-5 interceptors and soon the Strike Eagle. So that leaves the one which does not need naval/air assets to strike hard into our land. And as already mentioned, the small land mass doesn't give us space to defend. We need to STRIKE first and create a buffer zone. Tanks are needed in such a land based assault scenario. p.s. And as Coota0 said, if it gets any bigger scale, we have to hold until the Cavalry *cough*pacific*cough*fle...*cough arrives." Yep, the geography dictates who your enemies are. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, to get to the main island, the neighbors would have to somehow transport enough troops over water to be a big threat right? The worst case scenario is a bunch of psychos in small craft all trying to make it across at once. There what is needed is not MBT, cause if these suckers make it ashore, Singapore is in big trouble. What is needed instead is martime assets to blow the suckers out of the water before they land. In this case, those assets would be attack choppers armed with rocket pods and ATGMs, (really good against small craft), back up with a survelliance set up, probably UAVs if possible, and the -16s can be equipped with Penguines to take out larger vessels. Singapore's best first strike capabilities are aerial. It has range and capability. If they run a land base scenario, it's going to be a nightmare. Singapore tanks (if my understanding of geography is correct) has to be transported over water, then if they land somewhere, they'd have to have a logistical tail to support them. All of which are going to be extremely vulnerable. And what targets can the tanks reach that the -15s and -16s can't? Now, the tanks might be able to do more damage, but they would be hugely exposed all the way through. Apologies for the detour into non aircraft related territory here. But it's an interesting discussion.

Good points, but not all of them apply that well to Singapore. Singapore isn't in the business of shipping off battlions into foreign lands. The local geography is not well suited for tanks at all. The best points about the tank is its mobility and its firepower. While the latter is still useful in any situation, the mobility becomes quite restricted given Singapore's geography. That usefulness is dimished by the urban setting, tanks are best used in open country, places like Iraq are perfect for the most part. Or if the mission is a gun run where your objective is to wipe out everything along the city streets, that works too. (I'm thinking of the thunder runs in Baghdad) I think better solutions might be found in AFVs like a M2, or something else that can be used more easily in the mostly urban environment. Giving the ability to transport infantry quickly and maintain support over time. The main cannon of the tank is somewhat replaced by the chain gun and ATGM on an equivalent like the M2. Once you have strong points like that, odds are you need infantry to dig them out, tanks can be useful in a supporting role, but AFVs are probably even better in terms of providing good infantry protection and mobility. Singapore's best defense though I think is keeping everyone out of the country in the first place, which means good maritime survelliance and air strike capabilities. Tanks are somewhat secondary to that mission. Overall, the land based missions for Singapore armies should be more along the lines of quelling local insurgents, and tanks aren't the best tool for that.

No... think in terms of geography and terrain. Every military is primarily bound by their mission and the piece of land they occupy. Example: US army is horrible at garrison duty. On the other hand, tell them to blitz someone, and well... see Iraq I and II. In the case of Singapore, I would have thought the better investment being in highly mobile infantry units and a lot of maritime capabilities.

Hmmm, call me dumb, but why does Singapore need tanks?

The Australian thing is interesting, they need the strike capability, at the same time, they're after monitoring capability, namely maritime surveillance. I've read that they've been looking at UAVs and possibly in conjunction with the P-3 replacement (based on a Boeing 737 frame). I guess they do have a lot of grounds to cover. It's going to really stretch their defense budgets. Do they have more coastline to cover than the US? I can imagine that one thing UAVs will enable is complete ariel coverage at some point on the borders. I believe Homeland supposedly has a predator on the Meixcan border somewhere doing surveillance.

Ah I see... "ethical foreign policy" hmmmm, ok. Well, as long as they know that they'll still get the Typhoon order at the end of the day, the rest is not that relevant.

Yikes, they must really want the Typhoons. I'm getting a bit confused though, it seems like there is a political faction within UK that wants to see this deal fall through. But heck, BAe is a british company. I wonder if those politicians have some axe to grind somewhere. Most people would think that BAe maintianing the contract would be a good thing for the Brits. Oh well.

When billions are at stake, it's easier to think less about one side or the other. The Saudis are probably looking at this purely from the political standpoint. I doubt if they care too much about the differences between the Rafale and the Eurofighter.

From what I've seen in magazines such as aviation week, it's not very obvious what the issue of conversion really is. Although, it very well could be that the minor changes they need to make will need a lot of human resources which if taken could mean a even longer delay to the pax version of the A380. Or that new airframes for airline would push back the scheduled delivery date out much further than even current projections. Those are reasonable answers then to why they could not convert. But I doubt the true reason is refusal to shuffle customers a little is the primary cause.

Probably the more realistic reason is the design needs to be altered somewhat to accomodate the freight version. But would it be scary if your last statement was true.

You might have a point about the changes on the line. It may very well be that A-380 has issues converting and that's the reason it hasn't been done. But to assume that customers are in a production pipe line that cannot be skipped is unreasonable. It's always a depends type situation. May be the downside to Airbus is that they didn't bother to consider the freight line immediately and it was an afterthought. That's a good reason, a rational reason to let freighters die. Because they can't afford to do a conversion anyway. But I doubt it's because their sole desire is to keep SIA at the front of the line. It's a business decision there. If heaven forbid, the A380 has another delay, then having SIA in the front of the line still wouldn't make any difference. The only real issue is trust, if they simply stiff SIA, then Airbus is in for it, but then, if it's something negotiable, then it's a business decision. The problem with the airline industry is the literal visibility of schedules. Most industries aren't like that, but then again of course, most industry don't provide multi-million dollar products

I just wonder when we'll get the picture of Venezuela's first Flanker wreckage...