USNRET Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 16 minutes ago, jimjimbo said: Although, all of St. Mary's County was still run by the good ole boys..... Should you explain the acronym SMIB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimjimbo Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Probably not a good idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 19 hours ago, USNRET said: Meh, I favor the F-22 but I have some slight prejudice after flight testing 160 of them. Why did General Mike Hostage say that an F-35 pilot "that entered a dog fight had made a mistake"? Isn't it an F-16 replacement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 19 hours ago, USNRET said: Meh, I favor the F-22 but I have some slight prejudice after flight testing 160 of them. Why did General Mike Hostage say that an F-35 pilot "that entered a dog fight had made a mistake"? Isn't it an F-16 replacement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 25, 2018 Moderators Share Posted January 25, 2018 Love videos like that, must be cool to be close to and work on jets like those. Would love to ride on one, probably need the bag and a diaper just to be safe, but it would be a ride of a lifetime. Need to look up and find out when the next airshow is in town, it's been years. I have only flown a few times and nothing like that at all, but Terrain Avoidance Testing, sounds like a really good thing at those speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkevind Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 I dunno. Seems like the F-16 is so much cheaper by comparison, and is good enough at multi-role, no? When it comes to doing the job - air to air and air to ground most effectively it's about the whole package (avionics, weapons tech). If I get a A-A lock from a distance and fire before you ever know I'm there, it's a win whether I'm in an old F-16 or a fancy new F-35 or F-22 We're doing something wrong if it becomes a close range dog fight. Then dropping such simple technology like JDAM, retrofitted dumb bombs with inexpensive GPS guided targeting and maneuvering (WAY cheaper than TV/Laser guided, and way more accurate than the classic dumb bomb) from 35k feet, no need for a clear site to target or to stick around the area. Plug in the coordinates, bombs away in the correct window and bug out. Got to watch that from China Lake in the 90's since we were the first weapons crew to load up live JDAMs. It was remarkably accurate. The F-35 project seems like a bit of a fail in terms of teething issues and exceeding planned costs. Don't get me wrong, I love the new technology and it is key if we expect to maintain air superiority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 I'm and old Airborne Infantryman, and I like the A-10 best...before the A-10 came along, I liked the F-4 Phantom best...grunts tend to best like what is best for them to have around when the SHTF!. Just saying.... Besides, we have not really had a problem attaining and maintaining air superiority when in conflicts in a very long time! The REAL "proof in the pudding" comes out when that is NOT the case! But, until then we will not really know whether we have made a mistake in what we decided to aquire for our military...case in point, the Humvee, another is the TOW and Dragon wire-guided missile systems...and the one that threw common sense way out into left field was the Davey Crockett missile system...like we REALLY needed a man-portable short range nuke and would SURVIVE the results when it was touched off! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkevind Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 A close friend of mine was Airborne in the 80's. The Warthog with that 30mm gatlin must be a welcome sight on the battlefield (for the good guys). The F-4 Phantom lead sled did some good low level stuff. F-111 Aardvark was pretty good at that too. High speed terrain following, loaded up with the HAARM missile to knock out those sam sites. What a crazy job that must be. F-111 and F-4 were still active when I was in. F-111 would come back from a sortie missing most of the paint from the leading edge of the wings. Too much friction from the dense air down on the ground at speed Maybe it was just crappy paint haha. I'm glad as a weapons puke I didn't have to work on the A-10. Way too many weapons hardpoints, it would probably take me all day to fully load out a 4x sortie. I almost went for a job on the spectre, even though I would have been shoveling brass pretty much the whole time it would have been interesting. I hear you, who knows if we're making the right military choices, I hope we never have to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted January 26, 2018 Author Share Posted January 26, 2018 I must respectfully decline to join in on capability discussions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACV92 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Cool stuff @USNRET. Closest I ever got to any of this hardware was when I got to tour the Nimitz back in high school. My buddy's Dad was the head of Air Traffic Control and the Fire Department. We got the special tour. She was docked in Bremerton with a bunch of guys hanging off the side slapping some Navy grey on her hull. Got to see a lot places many civilians don't get to. Went all over the ship. I can't describe the enormity of this vessel. We toured the ATC room, went to the decks where they stored the aircraft, wings folded up, some choppers, and big arse elevators. Got to see the launching mechanisms, Captain's Mess Hall, etc. Standing on the flight deck was crazy, you could see forever, seemed like anyway. I think it was 12 stories above water level and 3 or so below. Looking off the edge of the deck definitely kicked in the vertigo. What I do remember most is cracking my head on one of the 'hang' bars by the steps/ladders between decks. I knew they were used for quick decent to the deck below, but man, don't lean back too much when ascending them. All in all, I dug the experience. It was surreal. She wasn't as fully loaded as in the pic but awe inspiring for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEUS121996 Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 On 1/24/2018 at 6:17 PM, USNRET said: Meh, I favor the F-22 but I have some slight prejudice after flight testing 160 of them. I had a chance to go for a ride in the late 80s. Flying scared me to death so I didn't go. They told me I would get sick on the ground in a simulator and puke in my mask when they turned it straight up. Didn't sound like a lot of fun. Now I go to the airshow and wish...... How would you like to be on the ground in these Mid east wars and see a few of these coming at you? All you can do is kiss your *** goodbye Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The History Kid Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Meh, YF-23 was much sexier than the F-22. Stealthier too. Too bad Northrop screwed the pooch on that one with stability and weapons payload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islander Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 Based on your experience, how true or how bogus is this demo video for the Eurofighter Typhoon? It's a bit corny, but it is fun to watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 When the Typhoon first came out it was state of the art...a great aircraft...kinda hard to believe that it came from a design/manufacturing consortium that originally consisted of the UK, W. Germany, and Italy, but that was who was initially involved...lots of hard points...can carry and deliver a wide variety of ordnance! Keep in mind that pitch and yaw tricks are the forte of most canard-equipped fighters. The same goes for most modern vectored-thrust fighters! The "Typhoon" moniker goes all the way back to WWII, and in those days it was designated as a naval fighter aircraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDBRbuilder Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 13 hours ago, USNRET said: I must respectfully decline to join in on capability discussions. "SGT Schultz syndrome" due to ND memoranda are a weird thing aren't they? " I know nothing...I see nothing!..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFP Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 @USNRET though you may enjoy my ratty favorite jacket that I picked up at Westinghouse/Northrop Grumman in the 90s hung on a RF-7 to keep the context. (RF Raptor Flight) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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