F-22 Funding Cut - Please Comment OMG

[Dementia_Madness]

True about the communists being broke, however we must remember that unlike here, if their people are hungry the government get's to decide what they eat...and how much to give them, and thus increasing defense or spending, here in America we would cut the military at least some, in order to provide more for our people.

[The One Man Gang]

The Navy's new droid is undergoing flight tests.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20090817.aspx

The Predator C is 41 feet long, and built to be stealthy. The V shaped tail and smooth lines of the swept wing aircraft will make it difficult to detect by radar. There is a humpbacked structure on top of the aircraft, for the engine air intake. There is apparently an internal bomb bay to hold about a ton of weapons, or additional fuel to provide another two hours of flying time (in addition to the standard 20 hours endurance). The 4,800 pound thrust engine are designed to minimize the heat signature that sensors can pick up.

All this should be no surprise. The Avenger manufacturer, General Atomics, has a division devoted to building stealth features into aircraft. This includes the world's largest indoor radar cross section testing facility. Despite the bomb bay, the Predator C is expected to be used primarily to carry a ground surveillance radar, which could be mounted on the bottom of the aircraft in an aerodynamically smooth enclosure.

The U.S. Navy has been interested in Predator C since the beginning of development. Thus the Predator C wings can be built to fold, for use on carriers, and have a tail hook, needed for carrier landings. The Predator C, unlike the larger Global Hawk, could operate from carriers. The Predator C uses landing gear from the F-5, an aircraft of the same weight class.

I have to assume that the carrier-qualified version will use somewhat "beefier" landing gear than that from the land-based F-5. The Zoomies generally don't slam their planes onto a heaving piece of steel at 120 knots. Also, the Navy's catapults require a two-wheel nose gear with a bar to engage the cat's shuttle.

[Jeremy Roenick]

The new "whispering death". 

I like it, just as long as a human is pulling the strings.

[The One Man Gang]

More fighter prOn:



A P-38 Lightning and an F-35 Lightning II side-by-side. (US Navy)

Kelly Johnson's WWII masterpiece holds up very well in comparison to the F-35 despite its design being nearly SEVENTY YEARS older. If I'm not mistaken, the -38 is "Glacier Girl" based in Middlesboro.  Johnson's other designs include the F-80 (first US combat jet) the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird.  His "Skunk Works" design shop also did the F-117 and the F-22.

[Jeremy Roenick]

Didn't Glacier Girl get sold by the original owner who dug her up out of the ice to a new owner in Texas?  I thought I read that somewhere.  The P-38 is the biggest piece of evidence (where it was found) against man-made global warming there is.  Found under something like 100 feet of ice in Greenland that had built up over her since she crash landed in the 40's.

I agree.  Both fighters are very comprable despite their 70 year difference in design.  Let's hope the F-35 has the same kill ratio in combat as the P-38.  I've heard figures of around 10:1.

[Just Win]

More fighter prOn:



A P-38 Lightning and an F-35 Lightning II side-by-side. (US Navy)

Kelly Johnson's WWII masterpiece holds up very well in comparison to the F-35 despite its design being nearly SEVENTY YEARS older. If I'm not mistaken, the -38 is "Glacier Girl" based in Middlesboro.  Johnson's other designs include the F-80 (first US combat jet) the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird.  His "Skunk Works" design shop also did the F-117 and the F-22.

the p-38 is an incredible revolutionary machine. i think it still looks elegant even after all these years. when i was a kid i built a balsam wood model of this aircraft and fell in love with it and the love affair continues to this day.

[The One Man Gang]

In other developments, the last F-15A  has been consigned to the boneyard.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20091020.aspx

I was in Army ROTC when the F-15A first went into squadron service.  Our colleagues across the hall in AFROTC had wood for about a week after the announcement. At that time the M1 Abrams was a mere glimmer in the Armor School's collective eye.

One of the first performance aspects of the F15 to become public was the fact that the engines were so powerful that if the afterburners were lit while on the ground with the brakes on the plane would rotate off its tires.

[Dementia_Madness]

Hey Guys remember when they rolled out the new "Clinton" class carrier? Perhaps they can update it to be the Obama class?

[Sasquatch]

Hey Guys remember when they rolled out the new "Clinton" class carrier? Perhaps they can update it to be the Obama class?

One thing that needs to change on the Obama class "carrier". On the front instead of US Navy, it should be UN Navy.

[The One Man Gang]

Obama's plan:

[The One Man Gang]

UPDATE:

Now the Navy is getting nervous about the whole F-35 project.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htnavai/articles/20100115.aspx

F-35 Beginning To Fade
January 15, 2010:
The U.S. Navy has been nervously watching as the costs of the new F-35C and F-35B carrier aircraft increase. It comes down to this. Currently, it costs the navy, on average, $19,000 an hour to operate its AV-8 vertical takeoff and F-18C fighter aircraft. It costs 63 percent more to operate the F-35C (which will replace the F-18C) and the F-35B (which will replace the AV-8). These costs include buying the aircraft, training and maintaining the pilots, the aircraft and purchasing expendable items (fuel, spare parts, munitions.) Like the F-22, which recently had production capped at less than 200 aircraft, the capabilities, as superior as they were, did not justify the much higher costs. The F-35, at least for the navy, is headed in the same direction. The navy can go ahead with the more recent F-18E, and keep refurbishing, or even building, the AV-8. Politics, and lobbying by the F-35 manufacturer, will probably keep the F-35 headed for fleet service, no matter what the cost.

+/- $30K per HOUR to operate an F-35??

Sheesh!

[Jeremy Roenick]

No problem OMG, just call Big Ben Bernake and have him crank up the $1,000 bill printing press.  Problem solved.