Manpads are clearly shooting down Russian helicopters. Several examples are available on Youtube. Peer advisory: Has equipment at about the same technology level, and a force of about the same size. Not every enemy is a peer. The Vietnamese military was not a peer to the US military because they di...
Jump to postMeanwhile, in the real world: Russia has lost 52 of its own, higher-flying helicopters. (…) the gunship crews face extreme risk … and a shockingly short life expectancy. I remember the Russian combat losses being posted by Ukraine in the first 2 weeks of the war. The person fabricating the numbers ...
Jump to postMore survivable than the tank? A tank with active armor? Definitely more survivable than a tank. A pair of F-35 with small diameter bomb and you have a whole tank.comvoy missing their turrets. A pair of F-35s easily kills tanks. It also easily kills helicopters. And it detects helicopters in the ai...
Jump to postEvery enemy is a peer, if they want to be. Peer advisory: Has equipment at about the same technology level, and a force of about the same size. Technology or access to it doesn’t alone describe peers. That is a armchair view, not reality. I think the definition of "near peer" in military ...
Jump to postMANPADS weren’t what shot down helicopters, old fashioned riflemen did the it. Manpads are clearly shooting down Russian helicopters. Several examples are available on Youtube. Every enemy is a peer, if they want to be. Ask Russian last January if they considered UKR a peer? Ask them now. Peer advi...
Jump to postDisgusting that there appears to be no significant consequences for those responsible for this. Management in companies with safety critical operations should be licensed, just like pilots are. Such actions, where people might feel that raising safety related concerns with management could get them...
Jump to postHow were losses of western Helicopters in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Jump to postHow do you feel about the future of the modern attack helicopter? The future looks excellent. The attack helicopter is fast becoming the most survivable platform on the battlefield which is why the US is investing so much money. Militaries around the world are placing large orders of attack helicop...
Jump to postThree different courts agreed she was treated wrong. The doctor involved gave up his medical license because of his actions.
These people have more data than us.
That's serious evidence she was treated wrong.
(If you want to argue the system was rigged go ahead.)
"In the eight months since launching its all-out invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost more than a quarter of its total in-service fleet of Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters sent to Ukraine for the war, ... At least 23 of Russia’s Ka-52 Alligator helicopters have been shot down or lost since th...
Jump to postWhy would you have a 20 billion dollar asset putting itself at risk to get close enough to a bunch of gunboats so that your Sierras can do battle? As for its other roles sure, CSAR, evac and VERTREP is useful but Im not sure you would need all that many of them. I suppose since the carrier has the ...
Jump to postWith the Romeos and Sierras that all changed. HSs (and HCs) became HSCs, and the HSLs became HSMs. More of both also stood up. You now see them deploy together aboard a Carrier, then send birds to ships within the Battle Group. I'd bet that they each take as many as eight birds apiece on deployment...
Jump to postAbout the Apache as the anti-drone platform of choice: That platform cost $8,500 per hour, and that's likely an underestimate and without ammo. If drones become a more serous threat, a lower cost platform would be easy to produce. No need for the armor, maybe no need for a two-person crew. An OH-58 ...
Jump to postPerhaps the mission is not to defend every single square mile of some large nation. Costs might force one to defend only the critical places. Does this mean the enemy might blow up a sewage treatment plant or local electric transformers? Yes. Also, war sucks. Also, you can blow up their stuff too.
Jump to postThere's a reason that the Ticos and Burkes have such a large SM and ESSM loadout and why there's always at least 2-3 of them with every CBG. Two problems that are now becoming apparent to the everyday Joe. 1. The Tico's (cruisers) are not being replaced, the Navy and politicians along with vendors ...
Jump to postI don't think I was being 'absolute'. I'm doubting the ability to stay 1) close enough so that the carrier air can reasonably get to the target 2) far enough away the land based assets have a hard time reaching out As Chinese tech gets ever closer to our tech .. the difference between 1 and 2 vanis...
Jump to postI'm not clear on what you're telling me??? Does the USN want to stay out of missile range: yes Is missile range ever-increasing: yes Is the Pacific Ocean increasing in size: No (it's actually shrinking by about 1 inch per year) Two mistakes a lot of people make when it comes to stuff like this is t...
Jump to postIn a combat zone like the South China Sea the Navy needs longer range reach, to keep them out of range of missile threats. I dunno. Seems like missile range is ever-increasing, and that eventually there will be no useful station out of missile range. In order to be effective in the vast distances i...
Jump to postThis is all an extremely high amount of cost to get a (nearly?) trillion dollar manned asset (carrier battle group), to a thousand miles from china. The logical/non-emotional option would be to move to a more distributed/less vulnerable asset. What CVN ‘power’ needs to really be projected in the we...
Jump to postIf I had to guess I would say it would grow slightly and there would be some adjustments. Later blocks of the F/A-18 are extremely advanced and vastly underrated planes. Their one and only drawback is lack of range. F-35C has the range and will probably have even more range in the future if any of ...
Jump to postWhat's the future of the Carrier Air Wing? Are the MQ-25s and F-35s in addition to the existing aircraft, or in replacement? Will the future air wing be bigger?
Jump to postThe mid 80s air wing often had 87-90 aircraft. Long range PGMs, newer air frames have much better readiness rates, and the fact that F/A-18s and F35s are truly dual role means the CAW of today is in some ways far more potent and capable than that of 30 years ago. The two biggest drawbacks in my opi...
Jump to postSTT757 wrote:
In a combat zone like the South China Sea the Navy needs longer range reach, to keep them out of range of missile threats.
STT757 wrote:The Carrier Air Wings are in transition.
Being added now are the F-35Cs and CMV-22B.
By 2026 they will also include MQ-25A Stingray aerial refueling UAVs.
A Carrier Air Wing in 1993 was 2 fighter squadrons (VF) of 10–12 F-14 Tomcats 2 strike fighter squadrons (VFA) of 12 F/A-18 Hornets 1 medium attack squadron (VA) 10 A-6E SWIP/TRAM intruders 1 tactical electronic warfare squadron (VAQ) of 4–6 EA-6Bs 1 anti-submarine squadron (VS) of 8 S-3A/B Vikings ...
Jump to postBoeing has publicly mentioned doing digital design for T-7A pylons in one of my previous links. I looked in https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/att-usaf.htm and https://breakingdefense.com/2021/10/t-x-the-sequel-new-tactical-trainer-solicitation-could-reignite-rivalries/ and co...
Jump to postWhy "avoid the FA-50"? That plane seems to be right in the middle of the potential figher-varient-of-the-T-7A market. Any one buying the T-7A fighter variant will of course compare with the FA-50. Maybe the T-7A-light-fighter wins, but it will be in a competition with the FA-50. The answe...
Jump to postThat sounds like what a well run company might do, but not what the Boeing of today does. All your "bad Boeing" examples are programs coming out of the Puget Sound area. I harp on this often because it's true. BDS and BCA has different operational leadership, so often their performance do...
Jump to postI don't think it's as easy as running some wires and having a plate to which one might bolt on a pylon. The design of the pylon would require costly design and testing including drop tests. And they could not install the pylon mounting hardware and wires without this design and testing work. It's c...
Jump to postI would expect Boeing to also offer multiple radar options. From their typical business practice, probably two options, maybe three. They do this to foster exclusive deals, promote commonality, and get good prices from radar suppliers. bt Question: Does no part of Boeing Defese make a suitable rada...
Jump to postLOL, while I do not doubt Boeing will attempt a fighter version of the T-7A. They will not "pre-wire" the frames of a T-7A to be "fighter capable" like one would do in auto production. The phrase is called "fitted for but not with" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_b...
Jump to postWhy does a plane "limited to ground attack squadrons" need an AESA radar? These modern radars are jolly good at picking up ground targets. For a video on the F-35's APG-81 radar, see this video: https://youtu.be/gNhc4y1jPwk?t=93 - it will detect, from the safety of your plane, each and ev...
Jump to postThey should upgrade them with the F404-INS20 engine. Would get you as close to the superlative F-18L as you're ever going to. With those engines, AESA radar and Meteor/Asraam capability it could hang with any of the 4.5 Gen aircraft in the A to A role and could probably even supercruise. The airfra...
Jump to postWhy does a plane "limited to ground attack squadrons" need an AESA radar? I can understand that it might be useful at those few times when they are forced into an air-air situation but (1) when are the Marines fighting while being attacked by enemy aircraft and (2) any enemy that can proj...
Jump to postThe Marines need the F-18 to be viable combat aircraft until 2031, when the transition to the F-35 models will be complete. The upgrades are a small price to pay for that capability. They've ended F-18 carrier deployments, so now are limited to forward ground attack squadrons. Also they still have ...
Jump to postThe Marine Corps is upgrading the F-18C (the classic, not the newer version) with new radars (AESA), tagetting pods, missiles, and radar warning recievers. These upgrades began in Dec 2021. They will be retiring the last Hornet in 2030, and many before that. I don't know what the Marine Corps is spe...
Jump to postHow does an Apache detect a low altitude, small drone at any real range? https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/northrop-conduct-follow-on-testing-for-upgraded-longbow-radar/ During the FOT&E, the modernized LONGBOW FCR successfully demonstrated many new operational modes and capabilities, including m...
Jump to postHas there been any significant effort to make the T-7A into a light fighter?
Jump to postApache isn't just an weapon to destroy tanks. Ask yourself this question: What weapon would you buy to shoot down ultra cheap drones that have a max speed of 100km/h? The Apache has the ability to detect these low altitude drones and have the speed to easily intercept. These have air launched Sting...
Jump to postThe MQ-25 program has two goals: (1) tanking and (2) reseach into drones-from-carriers. If the only goal was #1 it would be cheaper to just buy more F-18s. A single MQ-25 can offload more fuel at range than two F-18 buddy tankers. So now you have lower purchase price. 1 engine instead of 4. One dro...
Jump to postThe MQ-25 program has two goals: (1) tanking and (2) reseach into drones-from-carriers. If the only goal was #1 it would be cheaper to just buy more F-18s. :shakehead: Even if the MQ-25 only pass gas, it is still cheaper than buying more F-18 cause you have one less engine and one less pilot to mai...
Jump to postThe KC-46 costs $239.8 million each. https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/699661.pdf The MQ-25 program cost is $11.1 billion for 76 tankers or $155 million per drone. https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/07/17/boeings-billion-dollar-drone-tanker-takes-flight/ The USAF would happily pay $400 million each f...
Jump to postProducing the B-21 will cost $20B for the next five years. The USAF is keeping the production count secret, but I doubt its more than 30. I don't know if I would call it "secret". As it stands right now, the USAF has been very vocal about wanting a minimum of 100 and 120 would be better. ...
Jump to postAs is must fit a refueling boom it has to be much bigger than the MQ-25 drone tanker. The B-21 frame appears perfect in size. The B-2 has around 80% of the fuel capacity of the KC-46 and the B-21 is noticeably smaller than the B-2. So the B-21 might have around half the fuel capacity of the KC-46 w...
Jump to postA tanker version of the C-130 (with boom) would obviously have more commonality with what the USAF already flies. Does the KC-390 have much of an advantage? (Yes, it does somewhat better in payload-range, but it's not a huge increase.)
Jump to post* Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world’s largest container line, will expand into air cargo using four leased Boeing Co. wide-body freighters after missing out in a bid for Italy’s flag-carrier airline. * CMA began flying cargo jets in 2021 and in May, swollen with profits generated during the coro...
Jump to postI didn’t think we were talking about upgrading the existing F22s. That does sound economically horrible. I believe we started by saying that f22 production could have continued by pre buying soon to be discontinued chips. I think we have agreement??? Crudely summarizing, soon to be discontinued chi...
Jump to postFrom what I can see, the part is not being used by industry any more. They have another part that has the same fit but with more functionality that's more widely use. And even at $100 a piece, it is not worth keeping making them when we only consume about 10 a month. If push comes to shove, we can ...
Jump to post… "politics stopped me from buying ahead" isn't really a good answer. Unfortunately, the government is full of “not good” answers. It’s just how the system is set up. No one is saying what you’re saying isn’t physically doable - it is. But it’s absolutely not economically doable. The syst...
Jump to postHowever, LM has lots of warehouses, if you want to buy a few for future needs. I still want to know how the current F-22s are being supported. I told you, the DLA. They hold all legacy components for program sustainment. and LM uses that material per awarded contracts to sustain the aircraft. https...
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