Actually I believe even with all the problems the f35 program has been in the black. They’ve made over 700 of them worldwide.
Ah yeah....that's $110M sitting in salt water, all right. Fubar'd that bad boy, for certain.
Good deal. I didn't see that in the article that was linked, I read through it quick, maybe I missed it.
It’s not that big. It’s only 3 feet longer than an f16 with virtually same wingspan except the C, navy version has bigger wings but they fold to make space on a ship
Not as of yesterday. Recovery ship a few days away, their worried about the Chicoms getting there first. I'd just park the carrier over it and whistle Dixie.
7 people were hurt on the carrier, 4 released immediately with minor injuries. 3 had more serious injuries but non life threatening
Yeah if the salvage ship isn’t on site I guarantee they are squatting on it. They recovered the British one in the med.
Back in the early '90's my older sister was married to a USAF missile cop (security police) at Elsworth AFB, they have B-1 Bombers there. Something was said in a conversation, about different aircraft at different bases when I came home from Kadena, which is/was mostly fighter planes there...my sister says, well, at least those a small aircraft, imagine if a B-1 crashed in to your car when you were driving by the flight line. Yes, she's a hair dresser, and a good one, but not too bright when it comes to how big fighter planes are.
When was the last time we had a fighter that was under 50 feet long lol
F-16: 49 feet 5 inches
F22 production has already shutdown. The replacement for the f22 is already being designed and tested. And it’s still manned. Having a human in there is essential if we are ever to maintain any kind of humanity in war. I use that word sparingly. All out drone warfare would just encourage the warhawks to enter more frivolous wars.
... Okay I should've known that because I was reading up on those the other day. Should've said "under 40 feet"!F-16: 49 feet 5 inches
Pretty hard to do given the size of engines the length of the nose required for sophisticated sensors and for any kind of fuel capacity. 50 is about the minimum
Kinda what I was getting at, actually. Yeah some of the newer planes are "behemoths" and gigantic-seeming, but unless we want to go back to P38s and the like (or until we get Star Wars levels of aerospace technology), we kinda have little choice but to go with these 50-foot beasts.
How is that possible? It’s built with 100% taxpayer money.
Yeah but they were loud and had the radar signature of Jupiter
Are you retarded? Name one time .gov has ever reclaimed our money, including war time spending.
No shit. It’s .gov spending. It never saves the taxpayers a fucking thing.
Uh, of course I believe you are accurate...never compared dimensions which I should have before posting.
Another over sized a/c in my estimation whose purpose was fleet defense with the AIM-54 Phoenix missile....only problem is our rules of engagement required a vis ID so a missile with a 100 mile range was sort of wasted. To my mind, an interceptor rather than air superiority fighter.
Uh, of course I believe you are accurate...never compared dimensions which I should have before posting.
But have you ever stood next to one? I've been on the flight line with a lot of birds...F-4, F-15, F-16 and I'm telling you the F-35 looked huuuuge standing next to it. Of course at almost 70, I've shrunk a good bit so there is that! haha
As for F-111....we used them as a test bed for a new radar altimeter development project I worked for a number of years. From a distance, they look like they are a fighter/fighter sized. But stand next to one of the frakin main gear and the tire come up to your waist (well, if you aren't an NBA player). Now that is indeed a big aircraft.
Another over sized a/c in my estimation whose purpose was fleet defense with the AIM-54 Phoenix missile....only problem is our rules of engagement required a vis ID so a missile with a 100 mile range was sort of wasted. To my mind, an interceptor rather than air superiority fighter.
Now, not the biggest, not the fastest, certainly not the most electronic gee whiz gizmo loaded.....but sexy and a blast to fly. A true sports car of an a/c
And what about the LSO? A critical part of this investigation is going to be exactly when the LSO called for the wave off and why didn't the pilot comply. Ramp strikes can be pretty straight forward compared to some mishaps.
I know how loud they were, been on the flight line with them just while taxing and had a few fly overhead doing low-level training sorties
Agreed. Maybe the shuttle after this.Id fight you, but you would never see me
SR71 has entered the chat...
Not entirely true… NASA and DARPA have shown huge ROI’s in spin out technologies.
My personal aircraft spank bank includes
It’s hard to believe the Germans are still using the F4
You know how I know I have a good first officer when I’m on a trip? When he says “no sweat captain, I’ve got the fat one”. You’d be a good FO.
That kinda chunky, kinda cute 5/10 at the bar at 2am that rocks your world in bed.
