Raptors!

[sc_rufctr]

That climb rate! Woo

[A930Rocket]

How about that UFO following them...

[sc_rufctr]

I was more concerned about the chem trail

[GH85Carrera]

I would sure love a ride in one of those things.

I was in Enid, OK just yesterday, just a few miles north of Vance, AFB and they had a north flow takeoff. It was busier than an airshow with the T6 Texans2 usually flying in a formation, and the T-38 making even more noise and lots faster. Those poor guys were forced to go fly those cool toys all day long, and no gas bill, and get paid to do it. They often fly down to Guthrie, or some other airport and do touch and goes, and a short cross country.

Our drive from north OKC to Enid, OK is about 90 minutes. The T-38 can get from Vance to Tinker in 9 to 10 minutes.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Pretty incredible machine. Shameful President Obama and Gates had the program killed at only 24% of the number of aircraft we need to ensure air superiority against our primary rival over the next 10-15 years.

[john70t]

Political-economic move I think. They went with the F-35 to sell them overseas.
In any potential strife with the big boys, airplanes might become obsolete anyways (i.e. hypersonic missiles that destroy carriers)

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

How about that UFO following them...[img]

You just blew my theory of chromatic aberration all to hell. Thanks a lot!

_

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

Pretty incredible machine. Shameful President Obama and Gates had the program killed at only 24% of the number of aircraft we need to ensure air superiority against our primary rival over the next 10-15 years.

And to think the YF-23 was faster and stealthier than the YF-22.

The military has regretted shutting down the line ever since they shut it down. The Obama administration thought the F-22/F-35 relationship would be like the F-15/F-16 high low relationship. That has not yet come to fruition and may never and is why we are buying more F-15s as missile trucks and it sounds like Talon Hate is working finally. At least the new F-15 has a very advanced radar and still performs admirably BVR. Now, if we only had a missile with the range to go with the radar.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by flipper35

And to think the YF-23 was faster and stealthier than the YF-22.

The military has regretted shutting down the line ever since they shut it down. The Obama administration thought the F-22/F-35 relationship would be like the F-15/F-16 high low relationship. That has not yet come to fruition and may never and is why we are buying more F-15s as missile trucks and it sounds like Talon Hate is working finally. At least the new F-15 has a very advanced radar and still performs admirably BVR. Now, if we only had a missile with the range to go with the radar.

Background?

I've heard promising things about the AIM-260.

[SamC.]

A short story related to jet fighters and afterburners - mid August 1990 found me in al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia as part of the very tip end of the US Military spear ( 7th Marine Regiment) in response to to Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. We were staged at the airfield for several days as recon elements were pushed out, getting the lay of the land, etc. It was somewhat of a tense time as Saddam's full intentions were still unknown. Initially, we did not have much in the way of firepower, other than organic weapon systems. To be fair, the Army had a battalion of the 82d Airborne there, but they were "light in the britches" as well. We were also providing airfield security to our best asset in theater - fighter jets.
I don't recall what was there - F-18's, F-16's? What I do recall though is watching the jets take off in tandem, night after night, always at zero dark thirty and always in full after-burner. For security purposes, the base was in total light blackout. To watch, hear and feel the jet's blasting off into the night sky was truly awe-inspiring and elicited a very visceral response.

Fast forward 13 years to another country, (Iraq) another war, and watching fighter's blasting off in the wee hours of the morning. Same gut wrenching experience.

Add a few more years, yet another war, another country ( A-Stan), and watching fighters blast off in full afterburner from Bagram Airfield, clawing for altitude. Personal response now?
Let's get this war over and go home.

[flipper35]

Quick primer on the Talon Hate, but I understand they are using a better antenna pod from Honeywell: https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/newsusaf-boeing-demonstrate-talon-hate-airborne-networking-systems-capabilities-5812573/

New F-15EX: https://www.airforcemag.com/air-force-starts-f-15ex-buying-process/

[Nordwest]

I used to work on the wings and aft fuselage. I really liked that job. Awesome plane.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by SamC.

A short story related to jet fighters and afterburners - ...

Thank you for your service.

Have you seen Zero Dark Thirty? I re-watched it last night. Excellent movie but I want your opinion please.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by flipper35

...

No, what is your background in aviation is what I was asking.

[flipper35]

Just a hobby. All I have is a SEL private certificate. I read a lot, talk to the pilots at Airventure and Dayton International Airshow. I would have been a military aviator had I not had bad eyes and other issues.

Lots of hours in combat sims since I couldn't do the real thing.

[coldstart]

I thought this post was about my favorite subject, the Toronto Raptors, the likely NBA champions for another year.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Nice. I actually got really lucky. I have 20/400 vision and in 2006 the Navy/Marine Corps was short on aviation applicants so approved a short term soft-contact lens waiver. I was the last person to get approved before the waiver ended.

[flipper35]

I was too old by the time the Army waived some of their restrictions like allowing contacts many years ago. I am 20/13 with contacts. Legally blind without. I don't complain too much. I wouldn't have the wife and kids I have now had I been able to fly out of HS.

Congrats on making it, and thanks for your service.

[SamC.]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Thank you for your service.

Have you seen Zero Dark Thirty? I re-watched it last night. Excellent movie but I want your opinion please.

Peter, thank you for your kind words. Re the film, yes, have seen it. It is a good piece of film-making that generally tells an accurate story. I take issue with the free use of "enhanced interrogation techniques (over-played) but applaud how generally the story follows the facts as we know them. Regarding accuracy of the SEAL team TTP's, well done especially as there were several retired SEALs working as tech advisors. No necessarily the case on the intel side of the house.

At the end of the day, however, it's a movie. The reality of the intel and military profession is long hours of often menial work that don't often fit into standard narratives. You make the best choices you can, about very serious matters, with incomplete or even faulty information. You live with those choices for the rest of your life. My three cents

[sammyg2]

We're going ballistic Mav, go get him!