Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

There's a big oops.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/27620/russian-mig-31-foxhound-shot-down-its-wingman-during-disastrous-live-fire-exercise

Quote

A new report, citing a leaked Russian government document, says that a crash of MiG-31 Foxhound in Siberia almost two years ago was actually the result of a friendly fire incident during a botched training exercise. In addition, the summary of the mishap suggests that there could be dangerous problems with the aircraft’s Zaslon-AM radar and Baget-55 fire control system that might increase the risk of more accidental shootdowns occurring in the future.

Baza, a relatively new Russian independent online investigative news outlet, revealed the new information on Apr. 23, 2019. The incident in question had occurred on Apr. 26, 2017, over the Telemba proving ground in Buryatia, a semi-autonomous republic within Russia that borders Mongolia. At the time, the Kremlin said that the plane had been on a training exercise, but offered no additional details about the mishap. Both of the Foxhound’s crew survived the incident.

 

Posted
13 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

That thing is such a high percentage of ex-United 747-400 parts, I take issue with saying this is the first flight.  :p 

First flight in current configuration?

Posted
2 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

I was just browsing for die cast models when this showed up.  It's only a static display, but still one hell of a sale.

Definitely beats out a pink flamingo or some gnomes in terms of lawn ornamentation.

Posted

Best bang for your buck is an old airliner---way bigger for the money.  But the transportation fees go WAY up, and few people could fit one in their yard. 

Posted
10 hours ago, Shadow said:

Impressively clean footage of carrier ops from 1962.

 

Wow, F-6 footage!   Also, I've never seen that "orange lightning bolt" scheme for the Marines F-8, and I thought I knew them all...

Posted

I also have to admit, I was really surprised with how small the carrier decks were on the Essex class. Maneuvering an F-4 and especially an A-5 Vigilante on deck would of been quite a task. I noticed the announcer used the designation F-8U but that could be any Crusader variant from the F-8A thru the Echo.

Posted (edited)

Great video.  All the audio was obviously dubbed.  Those Essex class weren't big, barely largely, in deck space, then modern LHAs and LHDs, but then they were refit WW2 carriers designed to carry little prop jobs.  I would have hated to be a pilot on one with so little deck space.  Imagine being on an F-8 and ahead of your nose gear as they guide you about.  Then those tiny elevators, no thanks.  Still, they were remarkable ships.  Cool to see the F4D ops, but they never announce them or the AD-1.  And at least one of those F-8s was an RF-8.

Edited by Knight26
Posted

Another cool film, not as clean though.

We have the F-4's little brother, the F3H Demon, the F4D Skyray (I love this design, so sci-fi), the F-7U Cutlass (such a funky one), and the A-4D Skyhawk (the scooter is my buddy Kevin's favorite plane).  I love 50s fighters like these, they look so sci-fi and have such, just cool designs.  But this really illustrates how small that deck and elevator were.  The Demon had to be at an angle on the elevator.

Posted

He was incredibly lucky that his clothing snagged something keeping him from being pulled into the fan blades. I heard that the A-7 also has a few horror stories around crewman getting sucked into the intake.

Posted
18 hours ago, Ridden001 said:

His helmet was probably what saved him by being yanked off his head and hitting the compressor face and causing the whole engine to belch before the rest of him could be sucked in. Regardless, probably his most terrifying moment.

In other news...

 

Posted
2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Anyone know anything about a UCAV A-10 variant? Might just be a what-if model, but it's interesting all the same.

https://hlj.com/1-72-scale-a10-thunderbolt-ii-uav-hsg02307

There is a DARPA program called PCAS (Persistent Close Air Support) that was supposed to use an optionally manned A-10, but I believe they dropped that idea and just stuck to normal, human controlled aircraft.

Posted

All of this stuff about using unmanned aircraft is going to take a radical turn in the next twenty years.  Right now, it's all about precision guided munitions gunning down vehicles.  Or putting it on something like a Predator.

But sooner or later, they are  going to for real deploy those drone swarms that the navy tested last year.   Those are going to be targeting individuals.   Sure, the launch vehicle is going to be vulnerable for now, since you can take down an F-18, but what happens on the day when they start deploying these little drones from cruise missiles, or hypersonic weapons.

There is going to be a big challenge trying to swat those drone swarms, and that's before people start to redeploy sensor fuzed weapons.  

Posted

I'm curious if the F-35's extra AMRAAM, means it has to get rid of the AIM-9 in there...   If so, maybe try a 5/1 split vs the present 4/2?  (6/0 would be a poor choice I think, nobody ever goes AIM-9less) 

Posted
7 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

I'm curious if the F-35's extra AMRAAM, means it has to get rid of the AIM-9 in there...   If so, maybe try a 5/1 split vs the present 4/2?  (6/0 would be a poor choice I think, nobody ever goes AIM-9less) 

As far as I know, as of now the F-35's internal bay racks aren't capable of accepting Sidewinders. When an F-35 is equipped with an AIM-9, its on an external hardpoint.1432394452_F35loadout.thumb.jpg.558520826b72d66c02041f350268d5ba.jpg

Posted
2 hours ago, Dobber said:

B-21?

I would hope so if it's that size....

Posted (edited)

The B-21 was supposed to have that planform according to the official artwork... I just thought it would be thinner. 

Edited by Sildani

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...