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2006-09-21 Science & Technology

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Posted by 3dc 2006-09-21 14:57|| || Front Page|| [11134 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 "The stealthy F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5TH Generation fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft, including AV-8B Harriers, A-10s, F-16s, F/A-18 Hornets and United Kingdom Harrier GR.7s and Sea Harriers."

There are some extraordinarily different roles there. I hope this doesn't mean that in trying to make it do everything, it can't do any one thing very well.

Posted by Unaimp Thamp5294 2006-09-21 16:37|| 2006-09-21 16:37|| Front Page Top

#2 I hope this doesn't mean that in trying to make it do everything, it can't do any one thing very well.

Yes. One word, boondoggle!

Posted by Texas Redneck 2006-09-21 16:55|| 2006-09-21 16:55|| Front Page Top

#3 Which one on the list stands out like a sore thumb as being a truly different aircraft??? That would be the A-10. There is no way that the F-35 is going to do CAS as well as the A-10. Just like the Skyraider lasted far, far longer in service than anticipated, so will the Warthog. That is until another dedicated CAS airframe is designed or other technologies supercede the need for such aircraft.

Posted by remoteman 2006-09-21 17:16|| 2006-09-21 17:16|| Front Page Top

#4 I agree, remoteman. The A-10 is, literally, a rara avis. England originated much of the designs for a joint fighter development package with the French. Then the Brits proceded to hogtie it with carrier landing requirements, fighter bomber capacity and a host of inclement weather adaptations that killed the project.

The French stripped away all of these crippling demands and went on to make a bazillion francs marketing the Mirage fighter jet far and wide. For some truly interesting and fascinating insights into what happened to British aviation, once a world leader, read the book "Project Cancelled" by Derek Wood.

Sweet merciful crap! The lowest price edition at Amazon is a whopping $115.⁰⁰. I found my copy in the thrift shop for less than $5.⁰⁰. Guess I'm not going to loan out that book anymore.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-09-21 19:33|| 2006-09-21 19:33|| Front Page Top

#5 Not to worry, the Warthog isn't going away anytime soon.

The U.S. Air Force wants to keep it's A-10 ground attack aircraft going at least another ten years. That means that over 300 of them have to be rebuilt and upgraded. That's because the A-10s were built three decades ago, with a service life of 4,000 hours in the air. Most have already got over 6,000 hours. So refurbishment will extend service life to 16,000 hours, and install an F-16 like cockpit, along with the ability to use a targeting pod and deliver GPS and laser guided bombs. This makes the A-10 the most versatile ground support aircraft in service. The A-10 still has its 30mm cannon, which, while designed to destroying armored vehicles, has proved useful against all manner of targets. The targeting pod also enables A-10 pilots to cruise around at night, and get a high-resolution view of what's going on down there. The infantry depend on the extra eye in the sky, and the ability to deliver anything from 30mm cannon fire, to Maverick missiles to 500 pound JDAM smart bombs.

http://www.strategypage.com/dls/articles/2006830160.asp

Posted by Parabellum 2006-09-21 19:51|| 2006-09-21 19:51|| Front Page Top

#6 Sweet. The Warthog, a low and slow Sandy upgraded with several killer knockout punches that gets the pilot home.

Posted by .com 2006-09-21 19:54|| 2006-09-21 19:54|| Front Page Top

#7 The damn thing is so ugly it's beautiful. It's one of those planes, along with the B-58, SR-71 and U-2, that looks exactly like it's supposed to. Those two honking GE turbo-fans with 9,000 pounds of thrust give the "hog" a set of big brass ones. This is something that no enemy tank commander wants to see inbound. I'm extremely happy to note that its mission profile has been expanded. The massive pilot protection these birds carry is just the ticket for our precious soldiers.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-09-21 20:46|| 2006-09-21 20:46|| Front Page Top

#8 The Army is probably moving to have the A-10 replaced ASAP with UAVs but won't tell the Air Force until it's a fait accompli. That's probably the best solution. Give the Army the air space up to a certain altitude and the Air Force above that.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-09-21 21:34|| 2006-09-21 21:34|| Front Page Top

#9 Ah, the Hustler. One of my favs.

UAV's are definitely the coming thing, but there will be times when a real pilot in a real warship will make solid sense for some time to come - er, or so I hope, lol.

Posted by .com 2006-09-21 22:20|| 2006-09-21 22:20|| Front Page Top

#10 It is going to be tough for a UAV "pilot" to have adequate SA to be both effective and flexible. Will he be able to spot targets of opportunity or see a potential threat out of the corner of his eye? Perhaps in the future, but not for a while.

Posted by Remoteman 2006-09-21 22:32|| 2006-09-21 22:32|| Front Page Top

#11 Precisely, remoteman. Arthur C. Clarke essentially stated that 'No computer can rival the human brain for making connections between two apparently unrelated objects.'

This is the unparalelled human ability of pattern recognition at its finest. The sort of target acquisition, recognition, tracking and identification performed by a human pilot simply cannot be achieved by any current computing systems. Radar and FoF (Friend or Foe) systems certainly augment a pilot's ability but have yet to even come close in terms of replacing it.

This in no way denigrates the superb usefulness of UAVs with their ability to loiter and reconnoiter for extended periods, or their incredible cost efficiency but us humans still whip ass on solid state electronics.

Old Japanese Computer Room Poster

Computers: Fast, Efficient, Stupid

Humans: Slow, Inaccurate, Brilliant

And, yeah, .com, the B-58 Hustler carrying its underslung extended-range fuel tank and those pylon-extended GE J-93 coned inlet nacelle turbojets cranking out 31,500 pounds of thrust each made this Mach II craft look like the taloned foot of God's own warbird from Hell. If this wasn't the plane to go bomb the commies back into the Mesozoic era, there never was one.

I left out the "Widowmaker". The F-104 Starfighter was actually a prototype of stealth and high altitude platforms like the X-16 and such. Eff all, I love these old warbirds!

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-09-21 23:08|| 2006-09-21 23:08|| Front Page Top

#12 Dude, the B-58 Hustler! First model airplane I ever built!

Posted by Broadhead6 2006-09-21 23:23|| 2006-09-21 23:23|| Front Page Top

#13 Lol. My old man was a big muckety-muck at GD when he passed on in '98. He worked for Convair at Carswell AFB (AF Plant #4) from the end of WW-II on and when the Hustler came along he was on the team that designed the escape capsule. He loved his job, but that was his proudest bit. I went to all the airshows as a kid and got to see some awesome displays. The Hustler set so many records it was amazing.

Posted by .com 2006-09-21 23:31|| 2006-09-21 23:31|| Front Page Top

#14 a big muckety-muck at

Sir!!!! I take great offense at that comment!!!!

>:(

Posted by Thoth 2006-09-21 23:33|| 2006-09-21 23:33|| Front Page Top

#15 JK of course. :)

Posted by Thoth 2006-09-21 23:40|| 2006-09-21 23:40|| Front Page Top

#16 Lol. Okaaaay. But he wuz, he wuz a Sr Veep! Lol. That's a looong way from changing flats on the flight line, heh.

Posted by .com 2006-09-21 23:41|| 2006-09-21 23:41|| Front Page Top

#17 lol thoth

Posted by Frank G 2006-09-21 23:47|| 2006-09-21 23:47|| Front Page Top

23:57 trailing wife
23:49 Texas Redneck
23:47 Frank G
23:45 Texas Redneck
23:44 Thoth
23:43 ex-lib
23:42 .com
23:41 trailing wife
23:41 .com
23:40 Thoth
23:39 Rafael
23:39 .com
23:38 Abdominal Snowman
23:37 Thoth
23:33 Thoth
23:33 trailing wife
23:31 .com
23:31 Thoth
23:27 Thoth
23:26 trailing wife
23:25 Grolurt Hupising1286
23:23 Broadhead6
23:20 Grolurt Hupising1286
23:20 Zenster