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Posted

It was just matter of refinement for it from prototype to operational aircraft. What is sad is that both administrations were told that the larger the production the cheaper the aircraft would become. Gates wanted drones (thousands of them from what we heard), he disliked fighter pilots and was able to accomplish 2 goals with the F-22 debacle. He took down the USAF fighter "mafia" which had reigned over the AF as the Chiefs of Staff for almost 40 yrs by forcing Meyer's to resign. He then squashed the F-22 program under the premise that drones could accomplish a lot of the same missions cheaper. It shows what happens when politics and personal issues involved in multi-billion dollar program defense program.

Posted

It was just matter of refinement for it from prototype to operational aircraft. What is sad is that both administrations were told that the larger the production the cheaper the aircraft would become. Gates wanted drones (thousands of them from what we heard), he disliked fighter pilots and was able to accomplish 2 goals with the F-22 debacle. He took down the USAF fighter "mafia" which had reigned over the AF as the Chiefs of Staff for almost 40 yrs by forcing Meyer's to resign. He then squashed the F-22 program under the premise that drones could accomplish a lot of the same missions cheaper. It shows what happens when politics and personal issues involved in multi-billion dollar program defense program.

That sounds like a spinoff story from Macross Plus :blink:

Posted

The Russian are building an awesome airshow in Syria..... because this is for an airshow, right?

p1642864.jpg

...right? :blink:

Afraid not this is a present for the FSA and every Syrian on Assad's Hit list, and if they have Bombs left ISIS.

Posted (edited)

And the F-22 is still stuck having to rely the 30 year old AIM-9M. Hopefully for not much longer.

Regarding that pick. Looking close enough, those Flanker's are Su-30s with the canards. They've also apparently flown in a squadron of Hind's.

Edited by Shadow
Posted

Are those MiG-23s or 27s further down? There's a lot of them.

Posted

The Russian are building an awesome airshow in Syria..... because this is for an airshow, right?

p1642864.jpg

...right? :blink:

Airshow! right! more like a friendly show of aggression! hehe! Very cool photo though! are those heavily swept back planes Su-24's?

Posted

Going by the size of the aircraft, might they be SU-24 "Fencers"?

I thought the -9X had been declared operational on the F-22 recently, or was that just cleared for service in the USAF generally?

Posted

Yeah the AIM 9X has been operational with the USAF since 2003. Here is an article explaining the F-22/AIM 9X debacle. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/why-its-sad-that-the-f-22-just-fired-its-first-guided-a-1704889474

Gerli you are right on with the similarities. It is really scary how close some fiction is to real life!

Posted

The Russians have started airstrikes. Bet you every major intelligence agency will be watching them carefully to see the aircrafts' real world performance.

Posted (edited)

The Russians have started airstrikes. Bet you every major intelligence agency will be watching them carefully to see the aircrafts' real world performance.

From News reports their first target was a Town/City called Homms which was not held by ISIS/Deshe.

Edited by miles316
Posted

From News reports their first target was a Town/City called Homms which was not held by ISIS/Desh

From what's being reported, US air operations in Northern Syria will continue. Won't be surprised if F-22s have to be used regularly for escorting sorties very soon.

Posted

The Russians have started airstrikes. Bet you every major intelligence agency will be watching them carefully to see the aircrafts' real world performance.

Why? We know from internet forums that SU-27 is superior to all other aircraft in world today, and the MiG-31 can beat aircraft from the future and is completely unable to be shot down due to its speed. The PAK-FA will be used in case Unicron appears. :lol:

Posted

Its funny but all these Sukhoi lovers out there would be horrified to see how rough they look up close in real life. Ever notice how almost all the pics you see of them are always at a distance............. ;)

Posted (edited)

One aviation book I've read described the finish on a MiG-29 (this would have been written around the early 90s, when the West had just got its first close-up look at the type) as "good enough". :) Of course, the argument always goes that this means they can be put back together with rocks, take off from a BBC quarry [1] and still be flying when "Fury Road" is a documentary and not just a movie... :)

[1] If you're wondering what this looks like, watch any British science-fiction drama from the 70s.

Edited by F-ZeroOne
Posted (edited)

The Su-24 has certainly seen better days from the recent pictures of it. Also, I'm surprised to see footage of the Su-25SM operating at night. I thought the TM could operate at night but thought the SM lacked the IR sight as part of Russia's budget saving.

Also, a Herc crashed in Afghanistan due to unknown causes so far. Taliban claims they shot it down.

Edited by Shadow
Posted

Its funny but all these Sukhoi lovers out there would be horrified to see how rough they look up close in real life. Ever notice how almost all the pics you see of them are always at a distance............. ;)

I rather like the Dilapidated Paint jobs of many of them.

The Su-24 has certainly seen better days from the recent pictures of it. Also, I'm surprised to see footage of the Su-25SM operating at night. I thought the TM could operate at night but thought the SM lacked the IR sight as part of Russia's budget saving.

Also, a Herc crashed in Afghanistan due to unknown causes so far. Taliban claims they shot it down.

They claim they shoot down every thing that crashes in Afghanistan!

Posted

COIN birds are starting to become very popular now due to the shrinking of a lot of military budgets. Over here in the UAE they are using militarized crop dusters for border patrol aircraft.

The UAE gifted some of their armed Air Tractors to Egypt. Got to see them in action in the Sinai last year.

Posted (edited)

Russia Today claims parts of ISIS have began to flee any thoughts, and many on RT Facebook page claim "Russia will do in weeks what the US tried to do in Two years"?

Edited by miles316
Posted (edited)

Russia Today claims parts of ISIS have began to flee any thoughts, and many on RT Facebook page claim "Russia will do in weeks what the US tried to do in Two years"?

Ofcourse, it's RT.

I found Waldo in that picture but no Draken either. :p Also, I love the Su-47. Wish the Russians would have made it a production aircraft.

Edited by Shadow
Posted

Well the panel work on most Russian birds tend to be "rougher" than our aircraft. The PACAF Demo team flew at the Malaysian arms show in 95'. I was stationed at Misawa where the team is based out of. A friend of mine on the team was telling me the Russian engineers were completely flabergasted at how smooth the surface of the F-16's were and how precisely machined the aircraft panels were. They were even more impressed with how much we were able to fit in the wheel wells of the F-16's. He said they spent damn near an hour examining the wells and taking pictures. He also said they looked at the SU-27's that were there and were shocked at how roughly the panels fit together.

Posted (edited)

was at the Temora Aviation Museum last week and saw one of my post war favorites the English Electric Canberra! Ultimately I do kinda prefer the Americanized version the Martin B-57 with its more conventional cockpit design among other things..

Here is a documentary on the B-57. Its quite interesting!

https://youtu.be/avCW7WIqVB0

Edited by spanner76
Posted

was at the Temora Aviation Museum last week and saw one of my post war favorites the English Electric Canberra! Ultimately I do kinda prefer the Americanized version the Martin B-57 with its more conventional cockpit design among other things..

Here is a documentary on the B-57. Its quite interesting!

There's a B-57 at the New England Air Museum out at Bradley Airport. It breaks my heart when I see it as its been neglected and left exposed to the elements in the outdoor yard. :(

I really wish they'd just put a roof on the entire property.

Posted

When I was stationed at Edwards back in 98-2000, NASA had a WB-57 still flying. Someone ther was told by another NCO that it was a modified U-2. I had to quickly explain to the airman that it wasn't a U-2.

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