To sum things up today: 1)Trump knew the January 6th protesters had guns; 2)He assaulted his own security team; 3)There may be a line from Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to the White House; 4)Top aides have asked for pardons; 5)The commission thinks they have evidence of witness tampering by Trump and ...
Jump to postSadly all we got today regarding the 'shocking' allegations was hearsay. Something that won't ever be admitted in a real court. Had it not been hearsay, probably this would have been shocking. I am still trying to imagine Trump in the back of a Limo trying to move a steering wheel. That seems like ...
Jump to postWell, the 777X has been "launched." No, it is not in service, but it certainly is launched. KE and OZ both have lots of experience with the 777. Same could be said for SQ, they had significant 777 experience. The elephant in the room and the reason why Korean buys so much Boeing is they m...
Jump to postChatter is that the RAF's service chiefs are expressing an interest in an additional 3 P-8's be procured to expand the fleet to 12: https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/06/22/raf-more-sub-hunter-aircraft/?fbclid=IwAR0vgS3t61l6VO-dDwGKCdS-7EOwC1PhawZpqYosx8zbbOO989vboilj3Yg&fs=e&s=cl And Boein...
Jump to postWhy don't they just use the F414 EPE? Its been ready and waiting for over 10 years now and has 115kN. Because that engine doesn't exist. The USN has not funded development of the F414 EPE, and it only exists as a concept. What the USN HAS funded is the F414 EDE; a F414 variant with enhanced durabil...
Jump to postCould it alternatively be the case that KAI would look to build a wing for a quad variant C-390 derivative using locally built/license built turbofans in such a size? That sounds incredibly complex, expensive, and negates the efficiencies of having the current configuration with two engines. Beside...
Jump to postSouth Korea is looking to buy airlifters. Hercules, A400M and KC-390 are expected to be offered. Perhaps Embraer could get lucky on this one. https://www.janes.com/defence-news/defence/latest/rokafs-airlift-acquisition-to-draw-diverse-capabilities I doubt it will happen, but would love to see the R...
Jump to postCAS is more of, "how close can you shoot at a target to a nearby friendly" than anything else. It's more of a skill set of the pilots and crew, from being able to pick out the target, communicate with troops on the ground, and aiming the weapons, than anything to do with the actual aircra...
Jump to postI'd imagine at the end of the day, a coalition ground force would sell call in CAS from the closest available/necessary air asset, be it a USN F18, USMC F35B, or even a USAF B52. Not sure I've ever seen a B52 mentioned as CAS. CAS is more of, "how close can you shoot at a target to a nearby fr...
Jump to postHmmm.... kit that is overdesigned, expensive to maintain and operate and doesn't do what is needed... this has Canada written all over it! Our government is a big fan of "upcycling" for sure (British sub fiasco, used Leopard tanks)... Norwegians should be seeing if they can put one over o...
Jump to postInteresting number for me is the 95% staffing of the maintenance positions, how did the US Air Force get to use staffing as a reason for mothballing the A-10 fleet? If the F-35 was at 95% where were the A-10 maintainers going to go.......like they say, numbers...statistics.....etc etc etc. Problem ...
Jump to postReturn for a refund? This isn't Walmart or Target... I'll get some popcorn while the lawyers figure it out. Meanwhile, "NHIndustries considers this termination to be legally groundless." per their website (http://www.nhindustries.com/website/en/press/NHIndustries-statement-regarding-Norwe...
Jump to postI still don't get why the NH90 has so many issues. Airbus has shown that they can build helicopters, just look at the H145 series. But Tiger and NH90 are a real disaster. The A400M is improving, at least. So, what is wrong with the NH90? Too much design by committee? Effectively. None of the NH90 u...
Jump to postAustralian investigators investing an incident involving a Super Hornet crew ejecting following an abortive take off in December 2020 has concluded that the pilot "suffered an acute stress response followed by a short duration of impaired cognitive performance" (re: pilot error) was the pr...
Jump to postI don’t see using ex Air China planes as impossibly unpalatable. The Chinese government use Boeing planes as state aircraft. So clearly they feel comfortable enough even if they’re US assembled. Comfortable? I'm sure the Chinese will inspect the aircraft from top to bottom following incident discus...
Jump to postbikerthai wrote:What they need is to develop cheap small anti-drone mini missiles.
For a while I wondered if the big Russian offensive was already taking place or if there was more to come. Well, there was more to come and here it is, the Russians have 9 separate offensives going on at once, at least BTGs, some of them (or all of them) may be multiple BTGs. If I'm seeing this rig...
Jump to postStar streak is semi automatic command to line of sight ( like a TOW missile) so you have to keep the target in your crosshairs after launch It was originally. Later platforms have ATT (automatic tracking something). So you only have to keep the target in the field of view, but can switch to SACLOS ...
Jump to postErdogan's argument about Finland/Sweden is likely just a cover. Turkey has no intention of leaving NATO, and NATO has no intention of asking Turkey to leave. We are instead into a haggling phase. Turkey wants some favour in return for not vetoing new members. The question is whether Finland and Swe...
Jump to postLooks like the Germans are expecting to have the first F-35 by 2025: https://twitter.com/Team_Luftwaffe/status/1526496408597155841 Die #F35 wird den #Tornado ersetzen. Der neue Jet wird in den USA gebaut und genau dort erkundigte sich gestern der Inspekteur der Luftwaffe, Generalleutnant Ingo Gerhar...
Jump to postEven the Swiss are looking to move towards being more closely aligned with NATO: https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/neutral-switzerland-leans-closer-nato-response-russia-2022-05-15/ While formal NATO membership has been apparently discussed internally with the Swiss, it is unlikely. Likely, it w...
Jump to post] Rotable parts have to be serviced when the limits have been reached but after servicing can be installed at another (KC-10) aircraft. Many structural parts can also be salvaged from a (DC)MD10-30 airframe, but only if the donor aircraft has been properly documented (FedEx has a highly regarded mai...
Jump to postTwisted logic It still makes no sense to keep smaller, much older and less capable KC135s in service whose almost direct replacement, the KC46 is now entering service in substantial numbers while retiring a very capable much larger tanker that can carry a lot more fuel and cargo or passengers As st...
Jump to postA crime those are going away. Lots of life left in them had any planning been done. Yep. The highest-time jet has ~ 40K hours and many tens of thousands of cycles left. Pointblank is spot-on (as usual) with the financial reasons justifying scrapping the fleet, but there are other less tangible reas...
Jump to postAnd keeping the truly ancient KC135, it makes no sense A combined KC10 / KC46 tanker fleet would have been far more effective It's about numbers and sustainment. There is a large fleet of KC-135's in the USAF's inventory, compared to the number of KC-10's. The basic infrastructure costs to keep a f...
Jump to postThe accident rate dropped considerably in the mid-1970s, however. There weren't as many left? They learned what the F-104G could and couldn't do, they improved engine reliability and modified maintenance procedures, swapped the ejection seats for a safer model, added overrun protection to runways, ...
Jump to postJoint statement from Office of the President of Finland, and the Finnish Prime Minister on NATO membership: https://www.presidentti.fi/en/press-release/joint-statement-by-the-president-of-the-republic-and-prime-minister-of-finland-on-finlands-nato-membership/ Joint statement by the President of the ...
Jump to postReally wonder what other customer countries for the T72 think seeing this „record attempts“. India has a few. Maybe a good time to unload them for $$ and upgrade with their own modern tanks. bt The issue is with the specific interior layout of the T-72, and how the Russians are using the tank. Fixi...
Jump to postReuters is reporting a major feud brewing up between Boeing and a major subcontractor, Aerojet Rocketdyne over the Starliner valve issue: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/exclusive-boeing-clashes-with-key-supplier-ahead-starliner-spacecraft-launch-2022-05-11/ Chicago-based Boeing a...
Jump to posthttps://mobile.twitter.com/NotWoofers/status/1524351169166024707 Never saw this footage. Interesting that Chinese state media is showing their viewers how bad things are going for Russian forces. The location is significant; see this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1524448245...
Jump to postIf what they say is true, that the fight in the east will be an artilery duel, then with the 155s the Ukrainian have will out range the Russian. Then the only concern would be to protect the 155 batteries from Russian aircrafts. So look to western made mid to high altitude SAM systems as the next s...
Jump to postBack to the OP, at the time of conception the B-2 was a vital program providing the tip of the spear, a huge leap in stealth tech. It was going to be a large program but the unit costs got crazy so the fleet became 32 I recall. Enough for the mission after the Soviet Union collapsed, but other airc...
Jump to postSeems instead of potentially spending lots of $$ and lots of time (with all the usual delays in any new program) that the Stinger replacement should be more a Stinger update to 21st century tech. Or, they can go Mil-COTS, and buy an existing weapons system already in production. Remember, they inte...
Jump to postSo it does seem the last batch of Stingers in production were destined for Taiwan. If as Raytheon says the customer (Taiwan) are providing components Raytheon can no longer source themselves and US are possibly delaying deliveries, maybe Raytheon needs to find another source ASAP or Pentagon needs ...
Jump to postHow crazy the bee farmer is? Why not transit via east coast city or simply fly directly from SFO It's likely a freight forwarder arranged the original flights and the schedule. It is being claimed that Delta instead of putting on the direct flight to Alaska from Sacramento, put the shipment on a co...
Jump to postLooks like the Chinese are hanging the Russians out to dry; no evidence of China providing any overt military or economic assistance to Russia, and have even backed away from some deals: https://www.reuters.com/world/us-relieved-china-appears-heed-warnings-russia-2022-05-03/ WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reute...
Jump to postThe Russians are apparently using Soviet-era tyres: https://twitter.com/TrentTelenko/status/1521182849000423426 Photos of a Grad launcher that was captured by the Ukrainians show its tyres to have extensive cracks in the sidewall, consistent with age and sun rot. The manufacturing marks proclaim tha...
Jump to post5 of the 6 show stored in MCI (both Planespotters and FlightAware). Not sure where you are finding that they are in GWO? And just because an airline holds options is no guarantee that they exercise them. Those are the planes Planespotters still consider “Current” in AC’s fleet(because they have no ...
Jump to postThe US was looking for a Stinger replacement, so this war might just accelerate that decision. Something that is Humvee mounted and interfaces with longer range radar (even AWACs or F-35s?). Something that could also be an absolute point defense against cruise missiles The Pentagon considers the St...
Jump to postIf they are white tails, were they built to a customer order or speculatively? To a customer order that fell through at last minute before delivery. It was speculated earlier that these are ex-Longhao Airlines NTU's; not taken up because airliner purchases in China are subject to domestic CAAC appr...
Jump to postThe US was looking for a Stinger replacement, so this war might just accelerate that decision.
Jump to postI know Tyler is onto that hook, but it seems like bait to me. I strongly doubt the USAF is looking to reduce the buy in reality, but I can absolutely believe they are playing games haggling with congressional negotiators for funding. It’s an election year in the states for legislators, fyi everyone...
Jump to postSaw a similar video showing pictures from the derailment, similar to how some 737 airframe fell into a river while being shipped from Wichita to Renton. Unlike the 737 frames which were total loss, it seemed to me the tanks would be recoverable with minor damage. This may be the real video here. ht...
Jump to postTo me (not an expert) the F-15EX has one purpose - oversized hypersonic missiles. So if they are cutting down to 80 and accelerating the delivery, it could mean that they expect to have hypersonic that could be carried by the F-35 sooner than later. Still not a bad deal for Boeing as the US order o...
Jump to postFactory new B767 is unexpected: https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/freighter-operator/air-canada-buys-two-b767-300fs-as-revenues-climb/ Indeed however it shows the strength of the demand and thus the need to add capacity faster. It's nice to see another brand new 767 for Canada, especially a new...
Jump to postIt seems very silly to me to spec for a tiny fleet to have 4 engines today. The USAF can think ‘outside of the box’ in a number of ways regarding E-3/E-7/rivet joint replacements, so why does this need to be…such an enormous aircraft? Likely, power generation is an issue; battle management equipmen...
Jump to postThe initial accident report is saying that the pilot's seat had a malfunction and unexpectedly dropped to it's lowest setting during flight: https://rcaf.forces.gc.ca/en/flight-safety/article-template-flight-safety.page?doc=ch149-cormorant-ch149903-from-the-investigator/l15jmm95 The accident aircraf...
Jump to postEarlier today launched another step to it's all cargo network: https://www.aircargonews.net/airlines/freighter-operator/air-canada-cargo-adds-second-freighter-and-expands-network/ Kinda wanted the 2nd one in the new colours. Shucks. 3rd one I guess. :D Air Canada likely wanted this aircraft in serv...
Jump to postHow would Flair have an advantage? ACPPA imposes on Air Canada a number of requirements that increase costs for Air Canada, that does not apply to other airlines. For example, Air Canada is mandated under the law to maintain it's HQ in Montreal, but it's main hub and operations centre is in Mississ...
Jump to postAnd ACPPA demonstrates otherwise - re rules applying equally. Just saying The big difference is that the ACPPA is applied to the detriment of Air Canada, giving all other airlines an advantage. Not the other way around, which in this case would give an advantage to Flair and possibly a disadvantage...
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