Cant recall ever seeing a thread on this topic so i thought it was time we had one... this thread is dedicated to military weaponry of any kind, from any era or nation.
There is a seemingly endless array of novel, fascinating, revolutionary or even ill-fated hardware out there so subject material shouldnt be a problem.
“― As China and Russia threaten to overtake the U.S. with new technologies, development of hypersonic capabilities is the “highest technical priority” for Michael Griffin, the Pentagon’s new undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.
“I’m sorry for everybody out there who champion some other high priority, some technical thing; it’s not that I disagree with those. But there has to be a first, and hypersonics is my first,” Griffin said...” https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon...tagon-rd-head/
This was an area that used to be in my portfolio. I worked on/off (as my jobs changed) on this for last 20 years. Look at engine technology as well-scramjet. Speed kills.
As an unclassified “bumper sticker” back in 04, I used to give a sales pitch on the hill where I showed the launch points for initial Iraq strike and TLAMs, ALCMs, etc. and just changing speed to Mach 4, the go order for Presidential decisions went from 6 hours prior to 6 minutes.
The shipboard environment changes drastically. No warhead/explosive needed in most cases. Think a Mach 5 titanium Speer busting into you. Works as a defensive weapon as well so less inventories at sea. Particularly with an electric rail gun mount. Add a scram jet to a conventional round as the round attains a combustible rate and a tactical weapon crosses operational and strategic levels of war. Speed baby. [Reply]
Yeah, back in the day, I’ve run those 2 low level routes. Amazing what the U.K. used to put up with for low level and air to air over their towns/ properties. Guess when you’re an island with previous air bombardment you have a higher threshold for noise complaints.
Showing my drain tubes to taxpayers was fun. If I had a notion, I used to come back, dirty up (hook, gear, flaps down) for a slow backside of the power curve Kodak pass. Usually if women or maybe kids were out. Would run the Kern and Colorado Rivers as well. Got occasional shows from female boaters.
Memorable to me for 1 on the Colorado, as I popped during the topless show several women gave me, and I was working real hard on the way pointed back down at their boat to keep flying. Girls just seemed to think it was me showing off. Guess it was. But like most “watch this, hold my beer,” aircraft stunts, bad things can happen and the audience isn’t aware. [Reply]
The much maligned F 35 doing thrust vectoring maneuvers except its not supposed to have thrust vectoring. Maybe its more capable then were let to believe? I remember when the F 16 was introduce it was called the lawn dart it was crashing so much. The pilots may have been introduced to the whole platform to soon. It appears the F35 is slowly adding in software updates easing the pilots in. Amazing platform but so so expensive.
Originally Posted by srvy:
The much maligned F 35 doing thrust vectoring maneuvers except its not supposed to have thrust vectoring. Maybe its more capable then were let to believe? I remember when the F 16 was introduce it was called the lawn dart it was crashing so much. The pilots may have been introduced to the whole platform to soon. It appears the F35 is slowly adding in software updates easing the pilots in. Amazing platform but so so expensive.
That is freaking amazing.
I can't decide which bird is sexier - the F-35 or the F-22. I suppose it is kind of like comparing prime Elle MacPherson to prime Rachel Hunter, lol. [Reply]
Yeah subs are tough for airshows. All that back door sneaky stuff just doesn’t show well-but I like the “look over here” with the back door entry and exit sub work. But I always played show positions while lineman, grunts, subs, etc. we’re in doing the toughest work.
As my mechs used to remind me, “it takes a college degree to break em but a high school diploma to fix em. All of the development was with maintenance in mind-particularly with the lessons of the Osprey. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Coyote:
Yeah subs are tough for airshows. All that back door sneaky stuff just doesn’t show well-but I like the “look over here” with the back door entry and exit sub work. But I always played show positions while lineman, grunts, subs, etc. we’re in doing the toughest work.
As my mechs used to remind me, “it takes a college degree to break em but a high school diploma to fix em. All of the development was with maintenance in mind-particularly with the lessons of the Osprey.
We, in our role as a fast-attack sub, especially when fighting other subs, definitely had the chess game thing going on. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Easy 6:
That would be incredible to see, good stuff Dave
The 16 is such a sleek, beautiful bird
Indeed. I was sent to the field down at Fort Hood on an investigation. The unit (a tank outfit) was doing a road march and were strafed by several F-16s. The jets came in at (I swear) radio antenna height - about 30 feet off the ground.
Magnificent to watch. Absolutely magnificent. [Reply]
