What are the available options for replacing the F-15C? The F-35 (the ultimate successor) require additional pilot training which pose short term gap in capability. Any other aircrafts would face the same hurdle. Hopefully you don't believe that.. The F-15C didn't even need to be replaced. The main...
Jump to postSo how many 777 remain? Can't be many.
Jump to postPersonally, I think this is the end of the road for the A330. While it is a great plane and served AB very well, something based around the A350 lineup will probably be more cost effective and practical in the long run. I have doubts around a A330NF, or a MRTT based on the 350F. At this point, there...
Jump to postBased on your original post compared to the above, the ‘1000%’ seems way over the top. The primary folly here for the Biden administration was claiming publically that the situation was stable for exit (untrue) and DoS moving glacially on preparations for getting Afghan helpers out. The writing was...
Jump to postSorry this kind of take is neither serious or reasonable. Every administration since 2001 is responsible. Partisans eager to hit Biden for whatever are trying to oversimplify a doomed 20-year affair into one exit play. That’s not how foreign policy of this scale works. https://twitter.com/radiofree...
Jump to postYou want to blame the latest president for decisions and intel breakdowns that lead to a US withdrawal? You are admitting incompetence in the Trump administration, but are laying all the blame at Biden's feet? Sorry, but this is 1000% the Biden administration's to own. He is the commander in chief ...
Jump to postThen why did Pompeo not answer to Wallace's questions about the Taliban deals, and why did the GOP remove their Ra Ra informercial on the deal from their website? If the deal was something to be proud of, why was it scrubbed? I'm not their mouthpiece. I have no clue, and it's irrelevant isn't it? W...
Jump to postI wonder if electric motors and batteries could evolve enough in that time, for the props to be driven by electric motors? The electric motors would be used for
relatively short periods of time, and the other engines could provide power to the batteries.
I don't quite understand the proposed propulsion mode... It seems wasteful to carry two big turbines and only use them for take off and landing. I'm assuming it would be a multi-mode propulsion system where the engines power the rotors at first then transition to powering a turbine for high speed c...
Jump to postAny chance this could launch with Ultrafans, and help speed up that development?
Jump to postHey guys, I wonder if this fighter will end up in widespread use in Asia? I am guessing that quite a few Asian powers such as Malaysia and Indonesia may be interested in both this and whatever China puts up against it. Vietnam would go Russian but Pakistan and Laos I feel would go Chinese. India wo...
Jump to postIndia will spend the development life cycle of this aircraft trying to the get the LCA to final spec instead of buying this aircraft. Or it will repeat the SU-57 story. The aircraft will fly in a few years as a highly unstable and experimental prototype. It will have an engine failure and a crash. ...
Jump to postStill can't help but recall the ridicules the X-32 received with the high wing and chin inlet. Though the final F-32 proposal looked slightly better. bt Personally I have a soft spot for the F-32, even the prototyper chonker. Kind of reminded me of a futuristic Sabre. And the chunky prototype looke...
Jump to postAs great as the F-35 no doubt is, it does have some trade-offs that Sukhoi can dispense with here. With only one picture to go off I can't say for sure, but I wonder if there is space enough for internal storage? And how is the shielding of the engine blades handled? Might be an internal kink or ra...
Jump to postSlugman, the whole discussion and the other projects I said were military, we aren't in the civilian area here. You haven't acknowledged you were wrong about the J-15 and haven't given and justification for any other claims, ignoring the BRICs bonkers as well. So back to the original stupidness, ho...
Jump to postEssentially a single engine SU-57. Looks like it uses the same cockpit (makes sense) and wings/tail surfaces look similar with the difference of not having horizontal tails. Looks to be aerodynamically superior to the F-35 with better area-ruling and fewer control surfaces. But then it doesn't have...
Jump to postSlugman, a commercial transport is not what we are talking about and a terrible example of China Russia cooperation anyway. BRICS has both India and China as members, border clashes and long standing tensions and continued massive military build-up between them. I think you need to re-imagine what ...
Jump to postThe bonkers continues, the Chinese have bought Russian aircraft but only a limited number of Su-27s were coproduced. the chinese have literally copied the Su-27 as the J-11 and in some cases improved on the designs such as the J-16. They bought the Su-33 on which the J-15 is based not from Russia b...
Jump to postHow and why does Russia licence build a prototype aircraft and are you saying Russia even had an opportunity to? Seems some bonkers claims to me. I see no reason they couldn't have had the opportunity. China has bought, and produced a lot of Russian hardware. J-15 for example. The bonkers continues...
Jump to postIt's clear the pitch is aimed at securing foreign funding. This is probably the first look at a model of the fighter that was announced with UAE a few years ago. India will not bite. I doubt Vietnam will. And UAE will get F-35s, so they're out too. This is just a hail mary. Agreed. They should have...
Jump to postPer Popular Mechanics, a new Russian fighter will makes it's debut July 20, the first day of the MAKS-2021 airshow: https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a37014981/russia-new-fighter-jet-teaser/ Let the speculation begin..... It's clear the pitch is aimed at securing foreign funding. T...
Jump to postI speculate probably either a modified and down-scaled SU-57 with a single engine, or a Russian FC-31 clone. Probably more towards the FC-31/F-35 clone since pretty much all next-gen light fighters have a similar form. Do the Russians have a comparable engine choice for a single-engine fighter akin...
Jump to postPower consumption requirements have dropped considerably with today's electronics. True, but even so we have alreasy learned how to power huge radars and massive electronic suite using a twin. See 767 AWACS, E-7 and P-8A with AAS. If you think about it, the amount of energy saved by switching from ...
Jump to postI continue to believe that the USAF will source new-build 767-2Cs for the role and build them from the frame up rather than convert a passenger or freighter 747 or 777 airframe. The airframe has little to do with what will be selected as a replacement. It will come down to electrical generating cap...
Jump to postHow about putting those half-breed C-46s in Reserve and ANG? I'm not sure why you're hung-up on tossing these pieces of garbage onto the part-timers, but they're not interested, either. A bespoke mission, constantly supplanted by contractors, is not in AFRC/ANG long-term interests. And the USAF gen...
Jump to postI'm still waiting for a common mission where the F-15X is the best platform. So far I've read about dropping 5000lbs bobs (only three used in the last 30 years), hypersonic missiles (not yet around), and very long range strike (not a common mission, probably better done by the F-35 if you need to p...
Jump to postThe EX is going to Guard units. There are Guard units that already have F-35s and more that will be converting to F-35s too. So the EXs will primarily be used in domestic airspace. If we have J-20s/31s, Su-57s etc coming into domestic airspace, then we have bigger issues than the EX. But we still ha...
Jump to postArmodeen wrote:Anyone know what the objectives are for SN9? Are they pushing for orbit?!
So which picks up the the role of the R1? The P-8, E-7, both?
Jump to postAI A321s are 11-13 years old with 25k-30k cycles and 30k-40k hours under the belt. They are probably worth a million or two and probably need $5M-$10M heavy maintenance and engine overhauls. With $250 Million/copy buying brand new A321NEOLR/XLR makes more sense. BTW, someone woke up one morning and...
Jump to postSurely going with the A320M3 would be a much better choice. The NEOs better performance is a no brainer, and those old A320s would need a lot of rework (with limited life remaining) which would already be worked into the M3. I'm sure they could get a good deal as a launch customer too. Maybe even a ...
Jump to postThey should be fine on numbers. There was only 8 Wasp Class ships. 11 are planned for the America Class, and 2 are currently active. So even with this loss, it shouldn't impact capability much.
Jump to postI don't get the fascination here of a giant quad tilt-rotor. Can someone please highlight which official studies this shows up in? Or this just an a.net wish? For the vertical lift capability, we have the helicopter - a well known piece of machinery that operationally has topped out at the Chinook ...
Jump to postPlease please please -- can you please keep Trump out of this? On this side of the pond the elections are barely over (or not, according to some) and we come from months and months of yelling and screaming. How about discussing the technical merits of the decision? I tend to follow the helicopter p...
Jump to postThey should have developed this from the beginning. Could they build some lightweight cousin as a ATR follow on? Or some A200M "Atlantique"? We should stop with the idea of the design having a passenger variant sharing a cross section. Someone suggested the A220 cross section earlier in t...
Jump to postSpeaking of Air Force One, is it likely that the new aircraft will revert to the original livery? Trump unveiled a new livery last year which many identified as being very close to the livery of Trump's private jet. Now he is leaving the building, I wonder if this decision will be overturned. That ...
Jump to postPretty sure I suggested something like this a little while back. I would see this as more of a CN-235 and C-295 replacement though. Maybe encroaching on C-130 territory, but that's quite a stretch covering 235 to 130. I could definitely see a place for it though, and is obviously meant to pair nicel...
Jump to postA340-500 for VIP/Presidential transport
A330-MRTT
A320-M3 MPA/AEW&C/SIGINT
A400M
C-295W Transport/MPA/AEW&C
NH-90
EC-145
FC-31
Gripen
Rafale
PC-21
T-50 / BAE Hawk
I think Airbus's best bet would be if they can work with BAE on replacement for the Hawk. The Trainer market is pretty saturated and I expect the T-50 and T-7A will be tough competition. This is probably geared as an Alpha Jet replacement, but it's a tough market.
Jump to postThis has been discussed over several thread already, but my money would be on the 767.
Jump to postI think the E-7 is the most likely choice. The E-767 has not been built in years, whereas the E-7 is basically an off the shelf solution. From a cost a perspective, the E-7 will have a huge advantage. The shear numbers of 737 vs 767, will also make parts far more accessible and cheaper. The mission ...
Jump to postAccording to this, a fix has been made.
https://youtu.be/2LZwkdGU0-g
Stitch wrote:Still say it will eventually be based on the 767-2C / KC-46 platform.
I’m not schooled up on the legal issues being discussed but the recent recognitions of Israel by Gulf States would not have been possible w/o the action CONGRESS has taken against Iran. I agree that CONGRESS precipitated this action as through his actions in Syria, these states no longer can depend...
Jump to postangad84 wrote:Slug71 wrote:Yet they just bought more?
No they didn't?
Interesting, they can probably make it work but I have to wonder how limited their weapons load will be using a ski jump I don’t think it comes close to what is possible with a catapult launch Agree, though I understand the Indians are really not happy with the performance of the Russian jets, so I...
Jump to postSlug71 wrote:I hope we get these at the 173FW.
Slug71, RJMAZ, I think Airbus (and its political friends) have already been pushing for an A320 derivative. Interest groups, lobbyists try to influence the requirements towards their preferred solution, as we often have seen. I think an A321XLR derivative would offer range, but like the P8, it woul...
Jump to postzanl188 wrote:ThePointblank wrote:It just has a lower melting temperature compared to steel.
Which would appear to have negative consequences in regards to combat survivability.