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Sildani

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Everything posted by Sildani

  1. Sildani
    Good for you! No interest in the CAS mission may have been a poor choice of words. No liking for it, no desire to have it, no wish to support it, may have been better.
  2. Sildani
    Supposedly really cheap to fly though, Textron quotes $3000 per flight hour, less than $20 million each. 3,000 lb internal bay, up to 4,000 lb on six wing hardpoints. Dunno, the USAF has historically shown no interest in CAS, I think they should change the Pace-Finletter agreement from restricting Army fixed-wing aircraft based on weight, to a restriction based on top speed, say, 450mph. This way the Army can have all the A-10s and equivalents they want, and the AF gets rid of a mission requirement they never had any interest in.
  3. Sildani
    The term "close-coupled" was made for that... thing. What, is all its gas inside the drop tank?
  4. Sildani
    I wonder if someone could create a detection system based on disruption of an established signal net. I recall in the Balkan unpleasantness that our F-117s could be detected in way, not by actual radar detection, but because as they flew they disrupted cell phone service - they flew so low, and their paint was so effective at absorbing EM, they interfered with the cell towers. The opposition was then somewhat able to determine their vector. Then I remember the Star Trek TNG episode where the Feds erected a tachyon net between starships to detect cloaked Romulus ships - the ships would break the tachyon streams between two ships. I wonder if something similar - not in technology, in concept - would be achievable here. If so, the aircraft in question would have to bend the signal around itself, not block or redirect it, which could be nigh-impossible. David, mass ECM is one way to accomplish the goal, but then your enemy has the advantage, however small, of knowing exactly where and when you're going. Also, mass chaff may well diffuse a laser, but I doubt it'll be a surefire means of protection. It'd be worth developing though.
  5. Sildani
    Any of those may help, and a good reliable power source is one of my criteria for a "successful" laser system. Stealth may become more important, or quickly obsolete depending on whose research paper you believe.
  6. Sildani
    As for lasers, I forsee that when truly effective and cheap-ish AAA lasers become a reality, the warplane as we know it will become almost instantly obsolete. No airplane can evade a beam of light, and if the laser can target the aircraft it can instantly punch a good-sized hole in it. No, it can't handle BVR, but in today's combat environment, area denial is the name of the game, and a AAA laser could deny a good 2-3 mile radius or perhaps more. The same laser would be quite effective at killing missiles, I think, depending on if its targeting system is quick and discerning enough. Compound this problem by a factor of five, if not more, if such a laser system becomes man-portable. At that point, aircraft may well become BVR stand-off weapon platforms for stealthy ordnance. We'll see, I doubt a laser to my specs becomes a reality for 10-15 years yet.
  7. Sildani
    Nice design. The vertical stab might fold flat to the side in Battroid to keep it out of the way. The gunpod is faintly reminiscent of the YF-19's. It may well have internal missiles and wing hardpoints, otherwise it looks pretty light weight.
  8. Sildani
    Yeah, good looking bird. Pity about its troubles. Any idea why the 50 has such a nose-down attitude while on its landing gear?
  9. Sildani
    It's entirely possible that Overtechnology/space alloy/handwavium is so tough it could simply accept WHATEVER stresses and temperatures you'd care to introduce it to. OK then. What OT CANNOT do - at least I think it can't - is create extra room where none existed before. So if you've got a new engine that's half an inch greater in diameter than the old, you need to re-engineer the airframe. There's no way around it, and so that's where reality must enter, and be explained and worked through, so we can keep suspending our disbelief about the rest of it. It does for me, at least.
  10. Sildani
    And the engine may run hotter, so needs more cooling/different materials for the airframe/enhanced fuel flow/different air intake speed and flow/changed access panels for maintenance...
  11. Sildani
    That's great! Too bad about the extreme language barrier though. Still, lotsa pretty pictures I'm sure!
  12. Sildani
    Yeah, remember what happened when the Israelis put a J79 into their Mirage III's to make the Kfir - the engine was a tad wider and ran hotter, so IAI had to install more cooling ductwork, widen and shorten the rear fuselage a bit, and reinforce the airframe. This was in addition to the other aerodynamic changes. The result was practically a new airplane that only resembled the Mirage. So it will be for most re-engine jobs, I think.
  13. Sildani
    Something else too: if it's painted, that explains why this particular example looks more matte in appearance than Brera's 27 or the previous Beta version - Bandai used a matte green paint. Wonder if that's how these new Betas will be made - Bandai will take their unsold stock of Gammas and paint them.
  14. Sildani
    Did you buy the six-foot Daedalus?
  15. Sildani
    I was wondering about that. Lovely machine, regardless. I see it has all the necessary holes for the super parts - any idea if Bandai intends to re-issue them separately, or of they just can't be bothered?
  16. Sildani
    Sharon Apple for me, mostly because of the music itself. Ranka is cute and positive, which is really nice, and Sheryl is just not appealing. Minmei is annoying. Never saw 7, don't intend to. Could Ishtar count?
  17. Sildani
    Episode archives? Wonder what that entails.
  18. Sildani
    That'll soon change. News reports say the various European countries will require having two persons in the cockpit at all times, and that will go into effect damn quick.
  19. Sildani
    Impressive. Most impressive.
  20. Sildani
    Ordered. By August things should have calmed down for me to afford it.
  21. Sildani
    Battle of the Coral Sea?
  22. Sildani
    It's a Tamashii Web Shop exclusive, derex, so it should be widely available thru the usual sources like Hobby Link Japan and Nippon-Yasan. No pre-order madness for this one! Oh, and bought, in case you couldn't tell. It's "my" Valkyrie, after all.
  23. Sildani
    I was wondering why the AF couldn't use the C variant as its own. The larger wing would confer longer range and better maneuverability, and I doubt they'd have too many pilots complain about larger control surfaces. Couldn't be that difficult to shoehorn in the GAU-12. Delete the wing folding mechanism and job's a good 'un.
  24. Sildani
    Yep, but on DS9, he gets some really, really good screen time. Fights the Dominion, marries Jadzia Dax, nails Ezri Dax, commands the Defiant, kills Gowron and briefly becomes Chancellor, then Federation Ambassador to the Empire, and sings Klingon opera. Oh yes, Sisko and the others occasionally LISTEN to him. And let's not forget, also has a thing with Troi. So, yes, Worf gets disrespect. But there are compensations.
  25. Sildani
    "There was once a young lady from Venus, Who had a body shaped like a-" "Thank you Commander, that will do!" *** "What do I have to do to convince you people I'm mortal?!" "Die."
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