The B-21 will replace the B-1B and the B-2 if I'm not wrong. The F-35A will probably displace most if not all the F-16s. The F-22 replacement is on the horizon. I'm not sure what's the plan for the KC-135: is the KC-46 intended to replace all of them or is the USAF going to launch another tanker pr...
Jump to postI think Vintage should post this on F-16.net and multiple F-16 pilots will say acceleration through the transonic is extremely important for a fighter. Linking transonic performance to dogfighting shows a lack of understanding in fighter engagements. When would very high speeds be desirable in a dog...
Jump to postI'm not surprised that USAF F-15E made the kills. With maximum internal fuel the F-15E has longer range and endurance than any fighter in the world. If we look at the flight path between Iran and Israel there is a large gap between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The F-15E or F-15EX wikipedia pages both li...
Jump to postSo for example, here is the list of every air wing and it's associated carrier. There will only be about half of an air wing on this additional aircraft carrier. That is the half still in the hanger once the carrier is sunk by the enemy. I will choose two additional air wings over one air wing and ...
Jump to postjohns624 wrote:What is there to cite?
Adding one carrier and one air wing would result in zero empty operational carriers. It would would result in 9+1=10 air wings and 9+1=10 operational carriers. It would be ridiculous to get this math wrong. Do you have a citation for this? You could be right and it makes sense but I have never seen...
Jump to postO.K. Lets suppose the DOD gets more money. Would you rather buy two air wings, or one air wing and one carrier? The cost of an additional air wing would be a tiny fraction of the cost of one additional carrier strike group. So the question would be does the DOD get two additional air wings or 15-20...
Jump to postOf F-16 operators, Israel's Sufa s are probably the hardest driven of all, what with the conflicts they're embroiled in. :fight: Since those are custom made to IDF requirements, airframe life extensions and adapting (dumbing down?) to suit the PAF could be prohibitively expensive -- or throwing goo...
Jump to postI hoped you were saying you had someone in the know writing something like "The F-35B requirements compromised the best shape we wanted for the F-35a". What do you mean by "someone in the know"? I am someone in the know. Do you mean someone that has served as a pilot in either t...
Jump to postI'm interested in this, but cannot find the link/source to back it up. It seems like it *ought* to be true, but I cannot find anyone in the know who says it. Where did you post the link/source for this? The transonic drag charts are posted on this page. You can see the aircraft with the lowest tran...
Jump to postAny real world justification for your assertion of a 10:1 kill ratio? Or just spitballing’? Most of those nations are close allies. Just spit balling. Yes they are close allies. During large scale combat exercises the advantage of stealth is just too great. The F-35 and F-22 see almost everything w...
Jump to postThe F-35C is extremely slow. I can't think of a single fighter besides the Super Hornet that is slower. Great, now we can add this to your complaint I'll summarise the list of F-35 deficiencies. All the links and sources have already been posted.. 1) The F-135 is very expensive. 30% more thrust tha...
Jump to postthe F-35 is acknowledged to have better agility than an F-16, F-18 or F-15 in the slow airspeed regimens, and dogfights do get bogged down to low speed, low energy contests - and that's no small part of 'dogfighting'. No one in this thread has once questioned the agility of the F-35 in the slow air...
Jump to postTransonic drag is actually a huge concern for fighters. Here you are focused like a laser on transonic performance, if you had begun a conversation days ago, discussing 'transonic performance' it might have made an interesting discussion; however, that was not what happened. I did start mentioning ...
Jump to postHere is a lovely form submitted by French Rafale crew for the Paris airshow. The Rafale Air Force variant can supercruise with one belly tank and four missiles. The Navy version can supercruise at Mach 1.4 with six missiles and no belly tanks. http://rafalefan.e-monsite.com/medias/files/fiche-rafale...
Jump to postIt appeared obvious to me that you would want more wing sweep for a higher Mach number, the transonic zone is not a concern - it is avoided. Transonic drag is actually a huge concern for fighters. One of the Key Performance Parameters for a fighter is the acceleration from Mach 0.8 to 1.2. This dem...
Jump to postElbit Systems is an Israeli company. The Philippines was the only country in Asia that voted for the establishment of Israel. They have a very strong relationship. Philippines Army has new tanks and APC made by Elbit Systems. The Philippines Navy are currently recieving Acero-class gunboats from Isr...
Jump to postMy notes showed 1.14 vs .97 and these numbers weren't cherry picked. Your notes aren't worth the paper they are written on if they show the F-35 has a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than the F-22. The F-35 has a single engine, so we can see that the F-35 will still be supercruising while the Eurofig...
Jump to postWhat will adding 5° of wing sweep do to the V1, V2, V2, Vs, Vr or Vref speeds? Might it make the plane a bit squirrelly at slow speeds? Could it cause the minimum mandatory runway length to be increased by another couple of thousand feet? By how much would it increase fuel consumption? The F-22, F-...
Jump to postThere would be far less controversy over the F35s unsuitability as a fighter if it hadn’t ‘magically’ had to fill in for the hundreds of F22s that were cancelled I don’t think it would ever have been promoted as anything but a strike aircraft if the USAF hadn’t had their F22 plans eviscerated Yes i...
Jump to postRussia, China and NOK may have the largest air forces after the US, but what are their actual numbers compared to the US? I’d think we’re at least at a 5:1 advantage. The J-20 stealth fighter is already at a production rate of over 100 aircraft per year. I estimate China will have more stealth figh...
Jump to postWell thers a lot of speculation there, but I can respect that, here is my counter view. This is another "what if" fantasy thread from kitplane01. Speculation and imagination are just as important as citations. I think it is great to get everyone's opinion using their knowledge. anyway, if...
Jump to postWhen you say "when dogfighting it will always be vastly superior to have as much of a 360 degree view as possible using real eyeballs" are you sure you know what you're talking about? In a head on engagement during either a one circle or two circle fight a bubble canopy allows constant ey...
Jump to postIt's my understanding that the F-35 has cameras located around the body so that the pilot can look 'through' the plane in any direction with the helmet mounted display system. That is correct. The F-35 pilot could in theory lay down horizontal to handle more G force and have no glass at all. But wh...
Jump to postSince the design was completely compromised for the STOVL mission enormously increasing its weight, drag and crippling its acceleration, top speed and maneuverability the B model should have been the only one produced, it’s a good Harrier replacement The Air Force and Navy would have been far bette...
Jump to postAF cuts the order nearly in half, 80 to 42: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/usaf-cuts-mh-139-helicopter-fleet/ Given the budget constraints it seems in hindsight the UH-1N should have been replaced with the cheaper Lakota instead. The Lakota has similar cabin area, payload and range of the UH-1N ...
Jump to postThe AIM-9X is a completely different missile than version 1.0 from the Vietnam era. Nothing wrong with having a backup if you run out of missiles or the target isn't worth one. It's just like being in a war, you can never have too much ammunition. It's not always about technology, sometimes politic...
Jump to postIf the A model was developed by itself there would never have been the B model and maybe even no Navy version either. Those versions wouldn't have gotten funding. I actually think developing all three versions combined cost more money than developing three completely separately airframes. The avion...
Jump to postThey've cracked open Pandora's box with this one. Assuming that the weight issue for the ejection seat on the T-7 trainer is resolved. Then what? The students who complete training using the T-7 eventually graduate and will presumably move onto the USAF's fleet of fighters, right? Vipers, Eagles, E...
Jump to postQuestions Was this change good? Did the F-35 end up at the right place in the market, meeting the right requirements? Or would it have been better to have a plane with less stealth, less range, but cheaper to operate. Most countries bought the A model. The F-35 would have been better if it was deve...
Jump to postWhy not use a 737 or 757 or 767 as your base? It would save something like $17B, which spread out over 100-200 airframes is 170M or 85M per airframe. Being 60t MTOW in size you would need two of these to replace each B-1B, B-52 or KC-135. With around 1,000 built it would definitely be worthy of a c...
Jump to postUSN birds need to have beefed up landing gears for carrier ops. It's easier for the USAF to adopt a USN frame than it is the other way round. Just look at the F-4 Phantom. I disagree. This results in the USAF operating overweight and under performing US Navy aircraft. The USAF won't go to the effor...
Jump to postI'm curious in a actually interested way. What would you cut? The US needed new generstion systems but they also needed to be affordable enough that they can fully replace the older systems within the shrinking budget. Basically one step back two step forward. The Advanced Tactical Fighter Program ...
Jump to postThe KF-21 is an actual combat aircraft not a trainer. It just had first flight, just like the T-7. And yet they publish basic stats. They are able to do this, and you argue Boeing is not! The trainer .. that's super secret. Actually if you check the KF-21 Wikipedia and click all of the sources the ...
Jump to postIt seems unrealistic to design a cockpit/ejector seat combination to match pilots' excess weight. Is spending tens or hundreds of millions to accommodate pilots' excessive weight a sensible use of defence funds? I suspect it would be cheaper to pay the very small number (I imagine) of seriously ove...
Jump to postOMG if you have the data let us know. You would still want a citation. You want Boeing to give estimates. That's fine. Empty weight? Max speed? Range? I'd like just the standard stuff. The exact length, wing span and fuel capacity is listed on the Boeing website. All three within a couple percent o...
Jump to postYou don’t have much of future in politics, sir. I'd make Dick Cheney look like a nice guy :lol: If I was in his shoes I would have cut twice as many programs. The mess we have today was created as direct result of budget cuts not allowing the high end programs to fully replace legacy systems. The d...
Jump to postWhere are you getting the 245# Pilot from? Not being sarcastic, just looking for specs. Even USAFA offensive lineman don’t weigh that much. "The system requirements for this ejection seat were expanded by the USAF to accommodate pilot weighing from 103 to 245 lb (46.72 to 111.13 kg), putting B...
Jump to postEvery other trainer has published performance specs. I think all of them. But the T-7 ... that super important we hide that data. I'm sure it's frustrating as it's not even classified information or a classified program. I was at the last Avalon airshow trade day and it's not like Boeing was trying...
Jump to postHow many gallons of fuel will the gas turbine generators have to consume to produce the electricity to fire a megawatt laser? If only there was a generator on the ship that could produce near unlimited electricity ;) I could see high powered lasers replacing all of the close in weapon systems and sh...
Jump to postSince this thread is about the T-7 for Japan...have they resolved the ejection seat issue yet? First we must understand the issue. The issue was solely a USAF issue as they had to suddenly allow obese pilots and very small women to fly the aircraft. If they didn't the USAF would be sued for sexism ...
Jump to postUSAF is already asking about an F-7 to replace Vipers. This is the only link you gave that supports your case, and it does support your case. I just typed "f-16 replacement t-7" into Google and started copying and pasting links. I thought this was common knowledge. Every major aviation si...
Jump to postUSAF is already asking about an F-7 to replace Vipers. Do you have a citation for that? The F-35 is the replacement for F-16s. Air Force weighing turning T-7 into F-7 armed light attack jet: Official https://breakingdefense.com/2023/11/air-force-weighing-turning-t-7-into-f-7-armed-light-attack-jet-...
Jump to post2) We're a democracy. We publish basic stats for the F-22 and the F-35. But the T-7As basic stats are a military secret? What does the trainer weigh: How can that be a military secret when the F-35s weight is known? This is not some super secret spy satellite, it's an unarmed trainer! We know the b...
Jump to postTrue enough, but you’re going to have tankers, that’s a given no matter the price. Nobody figures it out that way. Everything is sunk cost, so the “costs” are variables like the actual fuel or crewing. If you use your model, tankers can’t be justified, $20/l is unacceptable. Government accounting i...
Jump to postNot 10x, there’s one or two more planes burning fuel, not 10. Yes, you’re operating two fleets, but the only variable cost is the fuel burn and incremental crew costs. The tankers hourly flight cost and initial aircraft purchase price needs to be divided by every litre of fuel delivered. A $200 mil...
Jump to postFor survivability, they're going to want to place the reactor deep within the structure of the vessel. Easily done when you are building the ship around the reactor. Not so easy when you want to refuel and have to cut through the hull and various walls to get to it. That is totally incorrect. The r...
Jump to postAfter the USN procurement disasters this century, any hint of something too unknown, too risky, too expensive isn't going to happen. Very low risk. The new ships already have the high voltage backbone and the electric motors connected to the props. The source of the electricity can be anyway. Diese...
Jump to postHow much would it cost over the years to train that many more nuclear engineering officers and men? That's the benefit of the hybrid system using a micro reactors. They call them a "nuclear battery" for the reason of requiring minimal staff. It would run maintenance free on the ship as it...
Jump to post95% of Gulf War (both) material went by ship, it’ll be that next time and the time after that. I disagree. The Gulf War was primarily sea lift due to the need to transport tanks and heavy vehicles. A war in Europe has the tanks already in place. A Pacific war wouldn't require tanks. Ukraine for ins...
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