A6BSTARM
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Posts posted by A6BSTARM
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But if you believe the hype from the Office of USAF the new small diameter bomb (SDB) a bomb the shape and wieght of the old Mk81 250lb bomb will have the same explosive power as a Mk83 1000lb.
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Finally after too many stops in a C-5, I have returned from the land of Nippon and am trying to adjust back from living a day in the future. Some of the debates here have been interesting, some of the debates in the land of the Rising Sun regards the knuckleheads just across the Sea of Japan have been interesting as well. Will report more as soon as I try to get some sleep and get rid of some serious jet lag.
I just wish I was able to bring a couple bottle of the good sake through on the lift.
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Mike is the winner he correctly guessed all the correct information.
David you were close, but you made the mistake on the TU-126 Moss. Which was a further derivate of the Tu-20 airframe modified into an AEW aircraft. Considered to be comparable to the EC-121 Warning Star aircraft use by the US Military for the better part of 20yrs. The other mistake was with the Be-12 Mail, which the Soviets first built in the early 50's and were using up till the early 90's. Primarly for ASW work, however as time went on they progressed over to more SAR work
Nice job to all of you that guessed and played. When I get time again I will post some new quizzes to challenge you all.
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Okay it is that time again folks, the Intelligence Quiz of the week.
Rules to win this time is Id the platform give me the designator, NATO codename or name, and its primary mission. Winning this just means you get that little warm and fuzzy from knowing how to use all your references
ID the plane in the foreground.
ID the plane in the foreground
That is it for right now.
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I use to have "Men of the Fighting Lady" on VCR tape but my gosh darn VCR ate it.
Looking through some photos I have came up with these and just thought I would share.
An F-8J capping a Soviet TU-95D over the Oriskany on her last cruise in 1975
An overhead shot from an RF-8G of the Oriskany on her last cruise. If you look closely you will also notice that this is also a complete LTV air-wing. The only exception is the lone WF-1 or E-1 Tracer up next to the island. There isn't even an A-3 onboard.
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Yes the ICAP III aircraft were supposed to be an interm until the EF-18G came out and hit the streets. Only a few units were supposed to get it and they were supposed to be the last to make the transition to the EF-18G. The ICAP III has the new ALQ system along with some other improved electronics that the EF-18G will have. However, when EB-52 project fell through and the USAF was looking at backing out of the ECM mission completely. According to my sources the program manger of EA-6B's looked at the drug deal that allowed the USAF to operate some EA-6B Squadrons (ie the ones that only deploy ashore to USAF bases) and realized that the USAF was still on the hook for the maintaince of these units. Basically, again to my sources, the concrete EA-6B outfits are USN owned but the repair bills are paid by the USAF. They have been doing that since they killed the EF-111 program. So all of a sudden the money that the USAF was going to throw at building an EB-52 instead came into NAVAIR coffers and went to pay for a larger buy of the ICAP III upgrade.
The Marines are not buying into the EF-18G just like they aren't buying into the F-18E/F. Rather they are looking at building a EF-35 to go along with the F-35 buy they have. However, they are also keeping an ear out on how well the USAF is going to do with building some UCAV's that might be capable of doing the ECM mission. What the USAF is looking at now is a variant of the Boeing X-45 carrying one or two ECM systems and either an improved version of the SideARM or the AARM (Advance Anti-Radiation Missile). Their plane is to have a squadron of these things possible controled from as close as Qatar or as far away as Strat Comm HQ in Omaha. Put up a bunch of these drones and have them orbit at selected points and then give the computer some programming on when to fire the missile and when not to.
So as it stands right now with in the US defense establishment the USN and USMC are the only folks flying active tactical ECM aircraft. Then there are only so many out there right now for use as well.
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The first production unit of the EF-18G rolled off the assembly lines. It will be going to one of th etest eval units and have them break it. Before they were using a bastardized F-18F to see if it could do the flying. Now they will have a full bird that has evernthing that the fleet units will have. Accoriding to my sources inside the Wing commander for EA-6B's up at Whidbey, it is still up in the air about who is going to change first, but VAQ-129 will be the transition/training squadron. On top of that the fleet wants to see the first cruise by 2009 time frame. Also the USMC nor the USAF have bought into this bird. So who knows what will happen for tactical electronic attack/support at retirement of the last EA-6B, and the USN are the only players in town. Again according to my sources, the Commandant in charge of USMC air is looking at an EF-35 variant and the USAF is looking at either a UCAV or a EF-35 variant themselves.
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I remember way back when A&E the cable channel use to run Victory at Sea and the orignal 20th Century with Walter Cronkite back to back on a Saturday Afternoon. A Great couple of hours spent watching some good shows.
JClark, if you look around you can find the CD with the orignal soundtrack at music stores or online at places like Amazon.
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After hearing the reports of a suspected drone hitting a Isreali Saar class missile boat I have a few questions that can be used to stir people up with.
1. Since it now seems that not only are the people in the west using drones but terrorist groups. What does this mean for the military now? About the Navy? Think about how to building a drone of at least 1/24 to 1/12 scale of an F-16 will run you about 100 man hours to manufacture and just under 1000 US dollars (after parts and gas) and with about 20-30 hours of instruction one can take off and crash one.
2. The Saar class missile boat was struck by at least one drone or rocket of minimum 150-250 lbs of high exsplosive. It appears (at least according to news reports) to done serious enough damage to cause retirement of that unit back to port and the lost of 4 sailors. What does this mean for the planned LCS ship of the US Navy or any other small missile boat of similar size? Think mainly with regards to damage and ability to continue the mission
3. Considering that most Saar class missile boats have as a defense systems, the Barak point defense missile system (comparable to the Standard MR-1), Mk15 CIWS, and guns ranging from 76mm down to at least 12.7mm. Also consider that a 1/24 or 1/12 scale model will only be about have a RCS of about 2-3meters cubed and visually on a good day may be spotted about .5nm to a 1nm out how would you defend from such an attack?
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What is worst right now is how the higher ups in the five-sided wind tunnel are not even completely sure all what they want the LCS do except to do it all cheaper, faster, with less people. So they are building who knows how many different styles of ships trying to achieve what then want. Though this has happened in the past with in the US Navy. They were smart enough to build a one off or at lest a decent number of a class (like 10-15) and then improve on them as the technology improve (see matured), use the lessons learned to build a better class. Instead the US Navy has recently decided to get it all backwards and dive head first in building a better ship when not even all the technology has been proven. At what cost? Too much money is being spent on ship building and not enough on maintenance. The Navy is almost ready to go head first into the same problems that the USAF is running into with the F-22 project. They have to rob from current force to pay for future force.
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A famous old shot of the US Navy 3rd fleet at rest in Ulithi atoll. Also called "Murder's Row" by Life as a term of enderment comparing these ships to the batting lineup that the NY Yankees had just before the war started. Foreground to background: USS WASP, USS YORKTOWN, USS HORNET, USS HANCOCK, USS TICONDEROGA, USS LEXINGTON. Shot Dec of 1944
Near almost the same place the new murder's row:
The Kitty Hawk, Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike groups sail in formation, as Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft fly overhead during the photo portion of Exercise Valiant Shield 2006.
sorry about posting such large photos, but thought that you could really see the details of the two shots better.
This is the last one for me folks, will be back in October (I hope). Have fun
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Folks,
Just got deployment orders to the land of the rising sun for the next 90-120 days. Need to go and show the Marines how real aviators and maintainers fly,fix, and party. I am leaving Monday night and some how through the magic of the international date line arrive on a Wednesday afternoon.
Anyhow, you all have fun and enjoy the summer. The only thing that I am annoyed about is that I had to pack up my laptop before Matrix released H3ANW. Oh well when I get back sometime in the fall maybe I will have a chance to download or order a hard copy for myself.
You all have fun and enjoy yourselves.
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Playing around on the internet I found some interesting pictures from a US Department of Defense website. Just thought I would share them.
An RF-8G CRUSADER aircraft of Photo Reconnaissance Squadron Two-Zero-Six (VFP-206) is about to catch the arresting cable during a landing on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69). This was taken during one of the times that CVW-20, the Atlantic coast Reserve Carrier Air Wing did an underway period with the Regular Navy. Time frame 1985
A French Naval F-8E(FN) landing on an unnamed US Carrier in 1983. This one almost makes me think of the in between period in RSR just after the Foch disappeared and the only deck left open was the USS Saratoga.
While thinking of the Sara. Here is a shot from her glory days. Just a few days out from Mayport 1985
Forrestall haze grey and under way with the P. De Asturias, USS Wasp, and HMS Invincible. During a NATO exercise 1989.
The USS Pharris haze grey and underway 1985
French Navy Foch underway circa 1984
An 688 class submarine caught hovering near the surface just off Bermuda
Kind of fuzzy but... The USS New Jersey and the HMS Ark Royal tied up together at NS Subic Bay, PI. 1987
Just some odds and ends that I thought I would share for your enjoyment.
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You mean that in a couple of days the CD will be avilable? That will be cool I can't wait!
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Just hit the front pages of Matrix Games website
HARPOON 3 - ADVANCED NAVAL WARFARE own seperate tech page right now it is only avilable via a direct download at USD$50. I wouldn't be suprised that in about 2-3weeks they annouce that a boxed copy will be avilable for a slight higher price since they will have to write a CD and spend on S&H to get it to you.
Rejoice fans since we now have H3 out.
It should only been sooner or later when they annouced where the latest and greatest version of HC Gold. -
to enable IFR you have to launch the tankers as seperate patrols and then have them intercept your bombers as they fly out from the base. Last I knew each large tanker could handle 3 large fighters or 2 large bombers then it had no more fuel to give and had to return to base to gas back up.
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Because for a while in the 50's they tried to put fighters in the bombers. Do research on the XF-85 Goblin. It was supposed to ride in the aft bombbay of the B-36 and fly escort while pentrating in. Then the USAF tried to attack conventional fighters to the wingtips and sacrifice them after launching them to clear the skies of fighters, this was part of the FICON project . After a while the TAC Air guys told the SAC guys to go and pack sand. From talking to a few family friends that were high up in the 5-sided wind tunnel during the early days of developement (and where the USN was trying to just scrough a couple of nickles together to pay for a large deck carrier) the debates between the SAC (big bombers) and the TAC Air (small fast fighters) got more vicious then the carrier vs battleship admiral debates.
After a while SAC realized that with the successful developement of missiles like Hounddog and SRAM the USAF realized that they could just roll back enemy defese structures with those weapons and clear paths for thier SAC bombers to penetrate.
Going back to one of the original questions, the money for the regular B-52 upgrade is still ,to my understanding, tied up in the legeslative process. Those Senators and Reps with B-52 bases in there states are all for it, others are not.
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FYI for those of you counting ships.
Logistics support means that they will be held near a Navy Naval Shipyard and used to for repair and upkept of other fleet units that use the same equipment. People will go onboard and strip things such as water tight doors, electrical transfer boxes, racks, etc. FMS is foreign military sales. Disposal and strike are just that they will be gotten rid of through the use of cutting torch, sinkex, or similar means once they are all cleaned up.
AUSTIN (LPD 4) 27 SEP 06 LOGISTICS SUPPORTOSPREY (MHC 51) 15 JUN 06 LOGISTICS SUPPORT
ROBIN (MHC 54) 15 JUN 06 LOGISTICS SUPPORT
ORIOLE (MHC 55) 30 JUN 06 FMS
FALCON (MHC 59) 30 JUN 06 FMS
DOLPHIN (AGSS 555) 01 OCT 06 (NOTES 1&2) DISPOSAL
SALT LAKE CITY (SSN 716) 03 NOV 06 STRIKE
JOSHUA HUMPREYS (TAO 188) 30 NOV 06 OSIR
TRENTON (LPD 14) 07 DEC 06 FMS
OGDEN (LPD 5) 22 FEB 07 FMS
SAIPAN (LHA 2) 27 APR 07 EXPERIMENTAL
SHREVEPORT (LPD 12) 28 SEP 07 DISPOSAL
MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL (SSN 708) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) STRIKE
HYMAN G RICKOVER (SSN 709) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) STRIKE
HONOLULU (SSN 718) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) STRIKE
HERON (MHC 52) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) FMS
PELICAN (MHC 53) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) FMS
CARDINAL (MHC 60) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) FMS
RAVEN (MHC 61) 30 SEP 07 (NOTE 2) FMS
NOTE (1) BEGINS INACTIVATION STANDDOWN.
NOTE (2) ACTUAL DECOM DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED. PROJECTED DATE FOR EACH UNIT AT DISCRETION OF FLEET COMMANDER, WITHIN ANTICIPATED FISCAL YEAR.
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Yes the small boat onboard contained a generator along with the radio control firing circuit that blew up the charges. US Navy Divers hit the ship up on tuesday and found her sitting upright with a slight 1-2 degree list off to one side. The mission has been proclaimed a success.
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There is supposed good news up and down the flight line around here in Whidbey. Rumor control coming from the DoD EW sympouism, which is being held near by, is saying that the USAF has decided not to buy the EB-52 ECM bird. They are doing that to save more money to pay for the F-22 and the F-35. So now the program manager for the EA-6B program is trying to rangle some of that money to buy new airframes and complete a total upgrade ECM system upgrade for the whole fleet instead of half like what has been proposed.
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These are a little too big to post but here are the links from Navy News picture webpage
These shots are out of order, but at least the Navy is showing these pictures and not just posting a couple shots of the little bit of the bow and a death burble as they did with the sink-ex that was the USS America last year.
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Don't forget the star of screen and tube. She was featured in movies, "Tora, Tora, Tora", "Midway", "Bridges of Toko-Ri", and "Men of the fighting Lady."
Kitty Hawk
in Wardroom
Posted
Either that or the Song's Skipper screwed up big time. The Soviets made mistakes like that a couple of times while trying to hide again from a Permit or Strugeon and a couple of S-3's that were on top.