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F-ZeroOne

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  1. F-ZeroOne
    I think he was referring to the TSR.2, IIRC the quote correctly theres a last part which goes something like "...it got the first three right!".
  2. F-ZeroOne
    Pretty much. In fact, I can think of another aircraft that was nearly cancelled because it cost too much, had severe production difficulties, was hard to maintain and there were other options available, including older types [1] that could do the same job at less cost and were more agile and why do we need these new fangled things anyway? It eventually went into RAF service as the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire. My stance on the matter is... well, I think I just get irritated by some of the things I see in comments, which are always very "black and white". My tendency is towards a more middle-ground view. [1] Biplanes.
  3. F-ZeroOne
    Bringing up the subject of the Plane-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named again, I can receive PBS America despite living in the UK. They've been running a series called "Air Warriors" lately, which looks at various U.S. military aircraft. The actual documentary aspect is a bit underwhelming (the MiG?) but they do have a lot of very neat archive footage (most of the time - I'm pretty sure at one point they were talking about F-15s whilst showing a low-light shot of MIG-29s on-screen) and have covered a few things I didn't know, like the time a few years ago Congress tried to cancel an expensive, underwhelming aircraft after it had already gone into production because it was, well, expensive, underwhelming, difficult to maintain, had had a couple of accidents and didn't work in the wet. I thought it might be amusing to let you all guess which aircraft we're talking about, but for the impatient modern internet generation answer under the spoiler tag:
  4. F-ZeroOne
    There have been reports that at least one U.S. company, possibly Lockheed-Martin, has been looking into producing a small missile that can be mounted on fighter planes and used to intercept incoming anti-aircraft missiles. It will be interesting to see if railguns will wind up competing with or complimenting laser systems.
  5. F-ZeroOne
    Psychological screening appears to be on a company-by-company basis, some of the reports I've seen indicate that Lufthansa at least do undertake such screening. The cockpit locking appears to be the result of terrorism fears; presumably it works the way it does so that one member of the crew can't be coerced by threats of violence to another member of crew to open the door (or, for example, by forcing the person on the outside of the cockpit to give up the entry code). Edit: possibly its worth pointing out that such incidents are rare; one report I heard the other day stated that one of this type of Airbus involved in the incident takes off from an airport worldwide every twenty seconds.
  6. F-ZeroOne
    The A-10 is so hard, its the personal aeroplane of Chuck Norris... http://defensetech.org/2015/03/23/chuck-norris-writes-to-save-the-a-10-warthog-from-retirement/
  7. F-ZeroOne
    Oh, can you imagine the forums if its gets named "Tomcat II"...
  8. F-ZeroOne
    The US military is looking into the development of new engines, for the 2022 timeframe, intended for use with its fighters. They're hoping for a 35% increase in fuel consumption efficiency. Obviously this isn't a hard and fast figure but it would be interesting to see what that will mean for the F-35B, which is always getting stick for having a lower fuel payload than the other variants...
  9. F-ZeroOne
    If it doesn't win this time, I think I'm going to take up trainspotting.
  10. F-ZeroOne
    I think I overstated my case a little (I'd forgotten about the tooling and meant to ask if the F-22 tooling was still around); I think what I meant is that I don't think we'll see a F-22 as is now, but something that may use a similar airframe but with improved avionics etc and that it won't be called a F-22, because twenty-year old designs aren't sexy enough for the marketing and P.R. people.
  11. F-ZeroOne
    There aren't going to be any more F-22s. Its just not going to happen, the same way the F-14 is gone. If we're (by which I mean, us who like fly-y/shooty/carry-y things) really lucky, the "sixth generation" fighter might be based on it or the YF-23 (more likely, all that development). And this is the thing with the F-35; like it or lump it, its pretty much the only game in town. Chronocidal, you make a good point about the F-35. To a certain degree, its probably no wonder its had issues, and its certainly been ambitious. And the more ambitious the aircraft, the more trouble is likely to pop up during the programme. Incidentally, I'm reminded that the F-15 was originally supposed to be Mach 3 capable like the Foxbat...
  12. F-ZeroOne
    So... not much chance of "Danger Zone" being on the soundtrack then?
  13. F-ZeroOne
    Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification.
  14. F-ZeroOne
    "Dune"...?
  15. F-ZeroOne
    Regards Knights26s comments, I find it a little unlikely that even the U.S. would sanction building ten different aircraft, regardless of how much they may have in common, to replace one or two types for each arm. I also have trouble imagining a single aircraft that is both for Close Air Support and Anti-submarine work... there may be other considerations as well from an international perspective; the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force for example would have been looking for a Harrier replacement, which is effectively what the F-35B is (in the UKs case, also a possible Tornado IDS successor) and I suspect many international customers would be in the same boat, looking for a single multi-role type (or at most, two) rather than multiple dedicated types. BAe did have plans for a "Super-Harrier" once, and I also have to wonder if the F-35 would be attracting as much ire if the navalised F-22 had gone ahead...
  16. F-ZeroOne
    Some history on the F-35 programme which largely avoids the, ahem, "debate": http://www.airvectors.net/avf35.html It is interesting to consider that all three services at one point had their own development programmes going - considering the, er, comment the F-35 gets for not being the F-22/PAK-FA/J-20/F-15/F-16/P-51/T-65B what sort of remarks three separate aircraft would have gotten, all of which would have to have been at least as good as the F-22, and presumably just as... erm... "affordable"...
  17. F-ZeroOne
    Damn it, Bandai, you promised. Still, if DVD is what we're gonna get, then DVD is what I'll take.
  18. F-ZeroOne
    I'm glad that the one thing that doesn't seem to have changed over the years is that AnimEigo still stands for quality. I don't have an opinion on how they released the set, but I have one and the "middle episodes" "Moonlight Rambler" and "Red Eyes" almost look like they could have been made ten years ago (it obviously helps that these had a bit of an animation bump compared to previous episodes, but still... ) rather than nearly thirty. I'd sum it up by saying that what they did with this set isn't remastering, its remastery.
  19. F-ZeroOne
    THERE IS NO JUSTICE. I met him twice, at booksignings, but then as the man himself used to joke, unsigned Terry Pratchett books are probably rarer than signed ones. Thank you, Sir Terry, for Captain Vimes, and Nanny Ogg, and the Librarian, and million-to-one chances happening nine-times-out-of-ten, and the fate of the Space Invaders, and offensive chocolate, and Dried Frog Pills, and worlds that were mirrors of worlds... and, of course, a certain anthropomorphic personification who, I suspect, has just put the kettle on especially...
  20. F-ZeroOne
    I think it might be more accurate to say that planes don't have much luck on an Indy...
  21. F-ZeroOne
    If I was feeling mischievous, I could point out that this obviously proves that the F-16 is not survivable...
  22. F-ZeroOne
    To slightly modify some famous lines... "...of our friend, we can only say this: of all the souls we have encountered in our travels, his was the most... human." Also... "Beep. Beep. Beep."
  23. F-ZeroOne
    F-16, AV-8B, Mirage III, Mirage 2000, Mirage F1, MiG-27, F-105, Hawk, Hunter, Su-17, Sea Harrier FRS1, 2, Harrier GR.3, 5, 7, 9, J-10, A4... they all have something in common with the F-35 oddly enough...
  24. F-ZeroOne
    There have been a few cases where even though a new system has worked, other reasons have prevented it seeing widespread use. When they were testing "decoupled manoeuvres" (for example, travelling in one direction but having the aircrafts nose point off the actual line of travel) back in the late 90s, it was thought that although they had some potential combat value, the skill required to process and actually make the move might be beyond the average squadron pilot (as opposed to the test pilots engaged in the experiments). Additionally, improvements in missile technology also meant that close-in dogfights where such moves would be most advantageous may have been considered as less likely to occur.
  25. F-ZeroOne
    Of course, with its greater situational awareness the F-35 might not hit the other guy in the first place...
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