Page 64 of 77

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:43 pm
by Shyster
F-35’s Gun That Can’t Shoot Straight Adds to Its Roster of Flaws

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... r-of-flaws

@tifosi77

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:44 pm
by tifosi77
How.......... :face:

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:46 pm
by tifosi77
...........unacceptable accuracy in hitting ground targets
GROUND TARGETS

Thankfully they aren't relying on the platform to replace the badass A-10 in the CAS......... oh wait..........

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:41 pm
by Kaiser
No wonder the empire lost

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 6:23 pm
by Freddy Rumsen

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2020 5:35 pm
by Shyster
After Nearly 20 Years, the Air Force Will Fly Brand New F-15s
https://www.popularmechanics.com/milita ... 91/f-15ex/
After nearly twenty years, the U.S. Air Force is buying brand new Eagles to fly alongside the F-22 and F-35 fighters stealth fighters. Despite a lack of stealth there’s one thing the F-15 can do that the new fighters can’t: carry lots and lots of missiles. The new F-15EX will likely serve as a flying magazine for stealthy fighters, teaming up against adversaries to shoot them down in large numbers.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2020 2:21 pm
by tifosi77
Stealth is a design philosophy that's too easily defeatable - The Yugoslavs figured out how to knock stealth jets out of the sky using goddamn cell towers over twenty years ago - to justify all the design compromises required to really execute. For example, the F-35 has almost no rear quarter visibility, and in order to carry a meaningful weapons loadout it must carry stores externally, which completely negates its stealth profile. The F-22 overcomes some of those limitations simply by dint of being so utterly massive (it's hard to get across how big the aircraft is until you see one in person) that it can sport movable control surfaces that have the same surface area as the actual wings on an F-16. Never mind the complexity in construction that leads to abhorrent and even prohibitive costs.

I really really wish the US would look towards a Gen 4.5 solution, like the Eurofighter Typhoon; conventional aero platform with super-maneuverability capability, but with 21st century sensors and cockpit displays. (I don't necessarily favor a delta configuration like the Eurofighter, but I'm talking more in concept than in particulars.) As is, the F-15 is capable of performance metrics that hit the point of human endurance, so the pilot is the limiting factor. That's been true of almost all modern aircraft introduced since the 1970s. There's no real need to overthink things by making sure all the lines are parallel or that panel joins are zigzag to they scatter radar energy.

Also.....
Image
...I mean, come on.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2020 6:02 pm
by Kaiser
Wait til you see the UCAV system they're starting to build.

Some black SUV people showed up at our squadron one day with a couple nerds in tow, in 05 or 06. At the time we were flying the RQ-2, pretty much the WW2 Biplane of drones. They spilled a few beans about the SWARM, planned to be operational in 20-30 years. Dozens of indefinite-TOS small UCAV air-to-air fighters that act as a unit, and are plucked from the swarm to deal with enemies.

They asked mundane stuff about signal strength, and camera quality, but they mostly wanted to know about our telemetry losses during recovery maneuvers in some kind of spin or stall. They weren't pleased with our procedures. Their plan was to use the airfoil as a vectoring system for hypermaneuverability. I don't know what weapons it would have but that's some scary ****.

One of the nerds and I got snippy early on, before I realized he was just there for answers and thought zero of my opinions.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 8:48 am
by DigitalGypsy66
Marine Corps vets: Is there anything special about being a Lance Corporal? I have a new neighbor who has a 12-14" Lance Corporal chevron decal on his back window of his truck (with a Marine Corps anchor and globe decal on the other side). Is he just proud of his service? Or does that rank mean anything special?

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:08 am
by Dickie Dunn
Having a Lance Corporal insignia on his truck means he’s a Canaan.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:13 am
by Freddy Rumsen
Yes.

Canaan is perhaps too gentle a word.

I bet he got a BCD.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:51 am
by DigitalGypsy66
:lol: That's what I thought.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 12:13 pm
by shafnutz05
I bet he got a BCD.
Nail, meet head. There is a direct correlation between how much someone advertises themselves as a "veteran" and how likely they are to have been involuntarily discharged from the service. Also a correlation between that and the likelihood they've never been within 1,000 miles of combat.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:12 pm
by tifosi77
Could also be a medical separation.

Either way, if that was his highest rank he was only in for like 2 years.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:14 pm
by Freddy Rumsen
It's funny. The extent of my rah, rah stuff is one of those small circle USMC stickers on the back of my vehicle and a thing my wife made me at a paint party that hangs in my Study.

I think the same thing when I see the entire back window of a truck covered in stuff.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 1:36 pm
by tifosi77
I think it depends on the individual. My father-in-law has pretty flashy service résumé, that includes combat deployments, and more than a fair share of medals/awards. He is super oorah.... like, within 2 minutes of meeting him, you'll know he was a Marine.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:14 pm
by Kaiser
I believe you'd get your ass kicked for puttin something like that on your car, man. There are things you can get, like Freddy's sticker, that aren't obnoxious about it.

A giant lance corporal rank may well be nature's best "keep away" sign.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 2:43 pm
by Freddy Rumsen
I just can't imagine me putting a big corporal sticker on the back of my Kia Sportage.

What a ******.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:22 pm
by shafnutz05
This is a great read on the 1913 Gettysburg reunion. That has always fascinated me, might get the book that is linked there at some point.

https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2020 ... eas/essay/

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:44 pm
by dodint
Marine Corps vets: Is there anything special about being a Lance Corporal? I have a new neighbor who has a 12-14" Lance Corporal chevron decal on his back window of his truck (with a Marine Corps anchor and globe decal on the other side). Is he just proud of his service? Or does that rank mean anything special?
He's a **** boot. 100% chance has has a tactical backpack and a beard.


All of my USMC stuff is in one corner of study.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 12:31 am
by Kaiser
I have a beard Greg, can you milk me?

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:17 pm
by DigitalGypsy66
Last Battle of Britain pilot ace passed away today at 101.


Military Affairs & History

Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:34 am
by DigitalGypsy66
So there were two US soldiers that were killed on base in Afghanistan earlier this week. I believe it was an attack by an Afghani soldier "ally." Would the two soldiers be eligible for a Purple Heart?

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:38 pm
by Kaiser
The commandant has banned Confederate symbols from USMC bases.

Military Affairs & History

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:38 pm
by Kaiser
So there were two US soldiers that were killed on base in Afghanistan earlier this week. I believe it was an attack by an Afghani soldier "ally." Would the two soldiers be eligible for a Purple Heart?
I would think so.