Nied

And the 717 is just an updated MD-80 which is just an updated DC-9. And the MD-11 is just a re-jiggered DC-10. And the fax machine is just a waffle iron with a telephone on it!

Tell me again why we need to cut Raptors so that we can afford the "cheaper" JSF?

Interesting. What's that from? ::edit:: I'm a moron and didn't notice where you list where it's from on the page itself

I don't know why but whenever you do something simple it comes out looking amazing. This one and comic #6 are my two favorites right now (with the super-cool comic #5 coming in a close second). Toni's uniform threw me until I remebered you telling me he's UNSMC, nice touch!

Re-made. They modified their F-4EJs by putting a new radar in (APG-66 same as in early model F-16s), new HUD, new computer and provisions to carry new anti ship missiles.

More second lives of the old classics! We've already done F-4F ICE vs Mig-21-93 (battle of the BVR re-fits), but what about these: The Israeli connection: F-4E Kurnas 2000 vs Mig-21-2000 Lancer Battle of licensed built upgrades: F-4EJ Kai vs F-7P Super 7

Thread necromancy! Whatever I missed this last year, so I get to discucss it now. I liked how Paranoia Agent started, it was increadibly interesting but the ending was kind of a let down. I'm not sure why but it just felt kind of meh. I think I might have been expecting it to go in a different direcion than it did, and was disapointed when it didn't.

I'm going to add some specificity to Lightning 06's match up. Who would win in a 1v1 engagement: F-4F ICE vs Mig-21-93?

Yes but they were also vastly outnumbered by a fleet that included at least one Nupetiet Vergnitz. I doubt they'd need to worry much about hitting the FS in such a target rich environment.

It's showing up now, I wasn't seeing it from my work network yesterday. I could see it when I got home though, and it's showing just fine on my work network today. Weird.

Here's some good screencaps to illustrate the point. These external shots were intercut with scenes on the bridge of Vrlitwai's ship with everyone preparing to fire.

What do you mean? The last models in US and USSR service from the mid '80s, or the latest retrofitted versions? (Kurnas 2000 or latest F-4EJs for the Phantom, Lancer and Bison upgrades for the Fishbed).

Good to know you're doing well Vinnie. Considering how long it had been since you last posted, and where you are right now, I was starting to worry. Am I the only one who isn't seeing anything though? I get a broken link when I try to go to your website, and it just says "user posted image" where (I assume) you posted it here.

That's all non-canon speculation. And if nothing else, the "reflex furnace" part flags it as Robotech-ism. Robotech stuff strays pretty far from Macross' "reality" at times. 405445[/snapback] As stated on the main page it's not all canon, plus some of that data is almost 10 years old from when I did my first page based on Robotech, unfortunately I'm still only one person and don't always remember to catch old Robotech phrasings. As for my reference to there being two types of Nupetiet I don't ever remember seeing the one in the series splitting so that's where that comes from. It would also be a little more accurate if I could actually find someone to actually translate stuff for me, but my search goes on. 405547[/snapback] There are a couple of times in the series when Vrlwhitai could have used a main cannon on his ship but didn't (notably "Viva Maria"). So either his ship didn't have one, or it wasn't working. Considering the all the refit/repair work shown in "Viva Maria" I don't find the second explanation very likely. Given the only time we see a main gun equipped Nupetiet Vergnitz is in DYRL, do we even need to come up with an in-universe explanation other than the fictional producers of DYRL thinking it would look cool?

Given your clues and the struts visible just outside of the cockpit window I'm guessing it's a Concorde.

You forgott two. 4. The avionics and other systems on the YF-23 weren't as mature as those on the YF-22 (the YF-22 fired missiles YF-23 did not, the YF-22 flew with a working prototype of the production cockpit the YF-23 did not, the YF-22 flew high alpha maneuvers the YF-23 did not). 5. The weapons bay design was considered flawed and could not be fixed without an extensive re-design. The YF-23's weapons bay mounted AMRAAMs one above another, if one of those missiles malfunctioned the rest of the missiles above it could not be fired.

Phalanx calm down. Shin wasn't disrespecting you. You have to realize that the info you posted confidently has been discredited. I don't even recognize the site you have there. Not all sources are created equal, and some can be wildly off base. Shin posted some good sources of reliable info on this subject, you might want to read up on them. Also it might be good to pick up a copy of the book Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper. TLC and the military channel are good sources for footage but most of what they say is utter crap. I'd recomend you visit the sites we mention here, or go to your local bookstore and pick up a couple of issues of magazines like Air International or Combat Aircraft. They're loaded with info and are a very cheap way to learn stuff you can't find online. Back when I lived in your area I'd go to the Borders in the White Flint mall, read through a bunch of the aircraft books there then pick up a copy of AI or CA. That's a little out of your way but I'd be genuinely surprised if you couldn't find a decent Borders or Barnes and Noble in College Park.

The article in Combat Aircraft mentions that he bases that on the number of different BuNo.s visible in the various photographs and videos of the refit Ali-Cats. This doesn't take into account that 1) It's awfully easy to mis-read those little numbers painted down on the engines (often cast in shadow) accurately and 2) The IRIAF has paint and number stencils. One of the interesting inconsistencies in the article is the claim that the IRIAF is indeed flying Tomcats with the AIM-23 Sedji missile based on the Hawk SAM. This despite the fact that he claimed in "Iranian Tomcats in Action," that the AIM-23 programme was a complete failure and abandoned in the early '80s. Generally speaking unless he has photographic proof I tend to take his claims with a grain of salt.

Shin again beats me to the punch again. The Iranians didn't have good relations with the Russians until the early '90s, well after the Mig-31 and it's various systems were developed. Further the Iranians indignantly deny selling their precious Tomcats to the Russians, and the engineers who worked on the Mig-31 indignantly deny basing their premier air defense fighter on anything but their own good work. Remember during the time Iran was supposed to have sold these Tomcats the Russians were busy selling state of the art weapons to their mortal enemy, Iraq. Interestingly the article I mentioned above notes that the Russians actually did try to sell the IRIAF several squadrons of Mig-31s as replacements for their F-14s. Iran apparently turned down the offer because of a combination of cost, poor techincal support from Russia, and the Foxhound was judged to have inferior close range performance compared to the Tomcat.

Current estimates have the IRIAF with 30-40 operational F-14s, with estimates saying anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3rds being in operational condition at any one time. They've had some 30 years of tearing apart and re-assembling their Tomcats (in the middle of a war no less) to get intimately familiar with them. Iran by necessity has developed quite a robust Aerospace industry. They're now building an indigenous dogfight missile called Fatter (basically an AIM-9P with a locally designed seeker head), and there's credible reports that they've been able to reverse engineer and build Phoenix missiles for their Tomcats. They've also re-built most of their F-5s into F-5B trainers (despite never having purchased that aircraft), and have built a prototype twin engined fighter as a possible replacement for their F-5s, Mirage F-1s and Chinese J-7s. As Shin pointed out installing Russian engines into their F-14s was just a rumor, there are plenty of photographs showing recently refitted IRIAF Tomcats with TF-30s. And the Saturn Lyulka is the AL-31F. The WS-10 is a Chinese engine in the same size and thrust class as the Lyulka, GE F110, and PW F100.

The Iranians have been trying various re-fit programmes on their Tomcats since the Iran/Iraq War. The May issue of Combat Aircraft Magazine has a pretty in depth article on the IRIAF written by Tom Cooper. Apparently the Iranians have been able to rig a new launch rail to allow carriage of the AA-11 missiles they bought with their Mig-29s. They've also done extensive re-fits to the avionics, replacing most of the AWG-9s analogue components with digital ones.

I'm waiting to do a proper upgrade to my system before I go and buy it off of steam, which barring anything unexpected should be next month. I was able to run the original HL2 decently (it should I built my computer specifically to run it back in 03), but unfortunately my once state of the art Radeon 9800 is now several generations behind, especially if I want to do anything with HDR.

You really are a tease Knight26.

I'm guessing it's something that can't be cold on the ground. As Knight already said these planes regularly fly at 50,000ft where it's cold all the time, so it's got to be something that needs to be working down low (landing gear, APU, ingress/egress that kind of thing). ::Edit:: It's also interesting that they're deploying in the middle of summer, when temperatures should be around what they had over the winter at Langley. ::edit::

All I can say is thank god this isn't F-16.net, because you'd have already been shouted down with cries of "OPSEC OPSEC!!!!1 Teh ENEMY will hear you!!!!!!!!!1111one1" Great source of information, but good god are they paranoid over there.