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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    Cost was definitely a consideration, but possibly also commonality with the rest of the F-35 fleet. Theres also the fact that at the time the carriers were being designed and these decisions made EMALS was still being developed and tested.
  2. F-ZeroOne
    And then there were our "Invincible" class through-deck cruisers, a name so blatantly transparent that they were sometimes referred to as "see-through cruisers"!
  3. F-ZeroOne
    Yeah, it was the numbers compared to the B-2 that made me think of the B-21. They built 563 F-111s, but that was divided between the various models so that the number dedicated to "tactical" strike would probably have been less I guess...
  4. F-ZeroOne
    Possibly slightly worried about other companies developing similar concepts like the S-97 "Raider": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-97_Raider
  5. F-ZeroOne
    You won't get any argument from me about how messed up defence procurement is [1] - and remember, I'm British. [1] Though I will point out, as ever, its not always a one way journey down Overspend & Underperform Avenue. For whatever reason, we "British" (though more accurately, in co-operation with our European/American partners) seem to be pretty good at missiles for example...
  6. F-ZeroOne
    But won't the B-21 handle the "Deep Strike" role?
  7. F-ZeroOne
    But thats the thing isn't it? If the technology had existed at the time, would they have built the F-117 or something more akin to the F-35? Lockheed certainly wanted more F-117s, or at least derivatives of them (including a scaled up version as a kind-of B2), so had history and politics taken a different turn its possible we would be now talking about dozens, if not hundreds, of F-117s... would anyone have bit I wonder if the F-35 proposal had been for a souped-up but still limited role subsonic strike bomber...?
  8. F-ZeroOne
    I take the point, although I think its a little unlikely the F-15E is going to have that stated combat radius with 22,000lbs of stuff under it. And as you say, the F-35 will be part of a package. Its arguably a more pertinent question for those nations that don't have more of everything like the US does, and for whom the F-35 is going to be the only fighter asset. But its still interesting that the F-117 with two bombs seems to be regarded as having been perfectly adequate for first-day(s) strikes that can be followed up with less stealthy aircraft carrying larger loads, but the F-35 is the demon spawn from aviation hell for essentially doing the same thing, and the only difference being that the follow-up strikes will be F-35s being less stealthy with external loads.
  9. F-ZeroOne
    Presumably though the idea is that once you've eliminated (or at least, largely neutralised) the anti-air (or anti-surface, for that matter) threat, you can move the support assets closer? How far could a F-117 go? And that could carry, what, 2 x 2,000lbs at most? And yet a plane that absolutely couldn't dogfight and had no self-defence capability at all doesn't seem to attract the same ire the F-35 does. (I know that - and after pointing it out myself previously! - I'm not exactly making fair comparisons but I'm trying to play Devils advocate here). Incidentally, according to Wikipedia (yeah, I know), the F-15Es combat radius is roughly the same as the F-35 (presumably the A or C variant, anyway)...?
  10. F-ZeroOne
    Okay, sorry, as usual its sometimes difficult to detect the intent of a comment in text (and I've seen so many "F-35 can't dogfight a Sopwith Camel, which is the only aircraft in the world that can strafe properly!" threads it just set off a twitch). They did build quite a few P-38s, but then the loss rate of P-38s (and most other World War aircraft) was also significantly higher - as one historian put it, its not often recognised these days just how much of a risk World War II wartime leaders took when they undertook long flights in aircraft of the era (and leaving aside the degree of training required - pilots were a bottleneck then in some cases just as they are now). And those numbers were achieved under wartime conditions and utilising a significant proportion of the available production capacity; compare the numbers of aircraft fielded by what would become the Allied nations in peacetime. Of course, and again its a different era, such a production ramp-up would be much more difficult just due to the increased complexity of modern fighters, but thats how the argument goes - they need that sophistication to give them the qualitative edge (I'm aware of the arguments either way, thats just how its usually presented). Also, and to use another historians argument, the P-38 was the F-35 of its day (as were the Spitfire, Me109, and P-51) - expensive, cutting edge machines on the verge of what was technologically possible and designed to be on a par or better than the rest of the worlds designs. And like the F-35, there were people who didn't always appreciate their value. After all, the RAF nearly fought the Battle of Britain with Boulton Paul Defiants...
  11. F-ZeroOne
    Its not exactly a fair comparison, is it? The P-38 weighed 12,800lbs empty, topped out at 414mph and detected targets with something called an eyeball. The F-35 weighs 29,000lb empty, tops out at Mach 1.6 and detects targets with a range of different sensors and can (in theory) shoot down a target from over 70km away. To kill Yamamoto, the P-38 had to physically fly to where he was, carrying all the fuel itself, and get close enough to actually see the aircraft he was in. How much easier would the P-38s job have been if it could have refueled from a tanker, and fire a missile at the target from a distance? How much more of a "pure" dogfighter would the P-38 have been if it had had a single engine and didn't carry all that fuel, like a Spitfire? How long would a P-38 last in a modern, SAM-populated, radar-directed world? The two are different aircraft from two widely separated periods of time and technological advancement and - a point often forgotten in this sort of comparison - different design goals. The F-35 was not designed as a Tomcat replacement - politics and economics have arguably "forced" it into that role. If the US wished to do so, it could design a "true" Tomcat replacement, if its willing to spend the time and money to do so. And for better or worse, modern combat aircraft don't exist in an "isolated" support environment anymore - Yamamoto saw his death coming, but he might not even have known he was under attack at all from an AWACs directed shot...
  12. F-ZeroOne
    Now I think of it, the P-38 itself had its fair share of development issues - and it wasn't a stellar performer in Europe; it just happened that its particular characteristics proved to be incredibly well matched to the operating environment of the Pacific theatre.
  13. F-ZeroOne
    Name inheritance can work in either direction. "My" nations air force uses the Typhoon, which namechecks a design that had its own fair share of early service woes (one newspaper letter I read at the time the name was announced for what was then the "EF2000" was written by someone who obviously had some wartime experience with the early "Tiffys", some of it tragic, and they were not complimentary).
  14. F-ZeroOne
    I really want to see the manufacturer that tries to sell a swing-wing design these days. I'm not saying it can't happen, but as one aviation book I read once put it, aviation has its fashion periods sometimes as well and swing-wings are kind of the flared trousers of aviation - they're always about to make a comeback...
  15. F-ZeroOne
    Boeing have been shopping round a "Silent Eagle" concept for a while now. No-ones bit. As awesome as the Tomcat was, its not coming back [1], anymore than the RAF will be getting modernised TSR2s. [1] Except, possibly as a "Tomcat II" which would be a clean-sheet design that just inherited the name, like the Lightning II.
  16. F-ZeroOne
    That "Dodging Lightning" line... I wonder if that was a reference to "Final Fantasy X"...?
  17. F-ZeroOne
    I read a book by an airline pilot who answers public questions and apparently it looks much more dramatic from the outside than it does from the cockpit. We'll have to take his word for it though! Also "landing" in the news this week, arrestor hooks just aren't cricket, old chap: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-45863698/navy-f-35-jet-trials-rolling-landing-on-aircraft-carrier
  18. F-ZeroOne
    "Oops." https://jalopnik.com/technician-accidentally-sets-off-an-f-16-cannon-blows-1829732241
  19. F-ZeroOne
    Still processing ti a bit; it wasn't exactly an absolute classic of an episode but it did what it needed to do - though I wasn't expecting the ending to take quite the turn it did. The real bright star was, of course... well, the star. It feels like its going to take a bit more time for her to find a settled role (arguably, it took Capaldi a whole season; no reflection on him as an actor, I just think it took time for the writers to settle on... pardon the pun... who he was) but at absolutely no point, right from her entrance, did I feel "This isn't the Doctor" [1]. I need to hear it a bit more, but initial impression is I like the latest reworking of the theme tune; arguably its even more old school than anything from the Moffat era! [1] And just so I'm not misinterpreted, no I don't mean "...because shes a woman". Thats never been a concern of mine; its the character.
  20. F-ZeroOne
    Much as I love the YF-23, I somehow doubt that the Japanese are going to go for a resurrected one either.
  21. F-ZeroOne
    Oh, yes... "F-35 can't land on carrier because it will melt the deck"...
  22. F-ZeroOne
    My original source was The Mainichi Daily News: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181004/p2a/00m/0na/001000c
  23. F-ZeroOne
    After inviting proposals for a successor to the F2, Japan has rejected them all (upgraded F-15, F-22 with F-35 avionics and Typhoon) and has decided to develop its own fighter, though possibly in collaboration with international partners - this could be good news for the UKs recently unveiled "Team Tempest" project.
  24. F-ZeroOne
    Wow, I didn't know they'd actually started on HMS Queen Elizabeth yet! (the huge "cricket score" display panel on the island structure was the giveaway!).
  25. F-ZeroOne
    This may not mean much in the US, but Carlos Ezquerra, one of the most well known artists to have worked for the UK SF anthology comic "2000AD", has died: http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/books-comics/60846/judge-dredd-co-creator-carlos-ezquerra-dies Ezquerra is probably most famous for his work on "Judge Dredd" (having helped co-create the character with John Wagner) but his highly distinctive, tyre-tread outline style was also seen in "Strontium Dog" and a great many other works in collaboration with other well known comic book creators. Theres a lot to choose from, but my pick for his definitive work would be "The Apocalypse War", which can be found in "Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files Volume 5".
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