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| Science & Technology |
| The amazing USS Wasp |
| 2012-02-13 |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #9 The incredibly expensive wasp that delivers only 30% of what it was to deliver and only has 180 rounds of ammo, 14 of which is in the Aviators service weapon. This has been and still is a disaster. I even makes me long for the days of the Osprey. The LCS is not working out too well, either. High minded complex ideas mean systems that will never deliver and too expensive to maintain. |
| Posted by: newc 2012-02-13 20:45 |
| #8 It takes away 1 or 2 helo landing pads. In my opinion, it's colossal misuse of money. 2 LHDs buys one Nimitz. In any military action against a country with even a squadron of fighter/bombers, the carriers, with 4 times the, and better, aircraft, or the Air Force will be providing the striking power and protection. The LDHs will be be useless in a Pacific war and too slow to run away. Spend the money on aircraft carriers and let the Marines have LPDs with amphibious craft and helicopters on the flight deck. |
| Posted by: Shimble Guelph5793 2012-02-13 19:25 |
| #7 Why not just have a ramp like the harriers did? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-02-13 18:45 |
| #6 I take it that it cannot take off vertically - still pretty cool. On one of those landings the aircraft looked a lot like a wasp coming in to it's home. The media and the program critics had predicted that we would burn holes in the deck and wash sailors overboard. Sure did..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2012-02-13 18:13 |
| #5 I really don't like that aircraft and believe it is one huge waste of money. We tried to build a Swiss Army knife aircraft. Have you every tried to cut a side of beef with a Swiss Army knife? |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2012-02-13 18:08 |
| #4 The advantage is you can use a smaller carrier. The disadvantages are that VTOL sucks down a lot of fuel. The combat radius of a AV-8B Harrier II Plus is only 350 miles (300 nmi). That's about the same as an F-16C Block 30, carrying 6 - 1,000lb bombs. According to the specs, however, they claim that the F-35B has a combat radius of 679 miles (590 nmi). This means there must have been a huge leap in fuel efficiency while still maintaining engine performance. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2012-02-13 17:54 |
| #3 "Well, I'm a King Bee..." |
| Posted by: mojo 2012-02-13 17:08 |
| #2 Doesn't look like much room for error on that takeoff. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-02-13 17:01 |
| #1 It's pretty cool, but I wonder what one of those things would do on landing after taking some holes in those fancy elvrons after some triple-A. I remember seeing a A-10 that took so much fire, one wing was essentially more air than metal, but it still made it back to base. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2012-02-13 16:26 |