Aviation Picture Thread

[MrDragster1970]

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It was a cool show, that's for sure.
I had already heard about the expansion leaks from when I was in the military.
Mst of the rest was new to me.
I loved the part about cruising along, see a missile coming kick it in the ass and bye bye missile, you had no chance!!!!


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[Kensington]

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...lk-in-alaska-to-tout-their-readiness-to-fight

 

[EmersonHart13]

Loving the E3 and C17 in the back... Well done

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Aviation must be in the air today (no pun intended), I've been parusing the F-14 Tomcat association page today.

 

[Kensington]

To me, the F-22 is the pinnacle of fighter design. Maybe I'm too young to appreciate the F-4, F-5, F-14, among others, they just look like dinosaurs to me in comparison.

I do really like the later block F-15's and even the Super Hornet's look really good now as compared to the original Hornets, longer and meaner.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

The F-14 is a very elegant plane in the way it moves. But I'm a big F-14 junkie so I'm very partial to the Big Fighter.

The F/A-18 only looks good when looking at an angle above the plane, down on it. It has a goofy look at any other angle to be quite honest and especially with it's landing gear down. Those rear gear with their angled back/out look...

The F-22 is a great looking plane if it is airborne. Otherwise on the ground it looks goofy with those big canted vertical stabilizers and then baby wheels under it. But still a gorgeous plane.

Speaking of which, I was reading an article about them in a training excercise with some Typhoons and the Dassault's and looked up this picture of them.

Now take a look at this pic. Look at the port side air intake. What the heck is that white in there? Is that the ground below? I don't see the bottom bomb bay doors open. Is it the starboard side doors that are open?? The caption says it was doing an in-air refuel so my guess is he just came off the tanker and was rolling out. So why would the doors be open.

 

[Kensington]

Could be some sort of thermal mitigation device? I believe the F-22's employ an S shaped intake to reduce the radar signature of the jet fan.

No idea what else it could be though...could also just be a trick of the light off a surface

 

[EmersonHart13]

Thats the sun and then a shadow line... aka trick of light

Its white in there

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Painted white? It's the White thing to do.

Just one of those WTF is that... As I was looking at it.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

I mean, the intake would have to be routed around that side bomb bay.

 

[Kensington]

I don't think the intake design of the F-22 is fully public, but it definitely curves around in there

 

[torquelover]

Saw what looked to be a mid-air collision about to happen.

Crappy max zoom cell phone pics while driving but you get the idea.

 

[Kensington]

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...e-they-are-already-a-f-35-program-partner-huh

Canada may not be able to purchase F-35's to replace the aging F/A-18A/B's because they are already a F-35 partner...

...The main issue centers on the extent of Canada’s continued obligations under what is known as the JSF Production, Sustainment, and Follow-on Development Memorandum of Understanding.

...

But documents that various Canadian media outlets and think tanks have now obtained, show that the country’s membership in the F-35 program could actually upend any possibility of purchasing those aircraft. The U.S. military has apparently been adamant that it can’t allow the JSF to take part in Canada’s latest fighter jet tender, at least in its present form, which lays out a specific requirement for the winner to pledge to arrange a certain amount of industrial cooperation with Canadian firms.

“Fundamentally, the F-35 program is different from Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Sales procurements,” U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Mathias Winter, the head of the F-35 JPO, wrote to the head of Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project (FFCP) in December 2018. “The F-35 Partnership includes Canada as an integral member of a global enterprise containing multiple Partners, with both shared and unique strategic, operational, and tactical requirements and investment opportunities.”

“This [partnership agreement] includes that Partners are prohibited from imposing requirements for work share or other industrial or commercial compensation,” Winter continued. “Instead, IP [industrial participation] is determined on a competitive, best value basis to maximize affordability across the F-35 enterprise.”

...

In short, Lockheed Martin can’t meet the Canadian requirement for a certain level of industrial cooperation because the way the F-35 program is already structured, something that Canada is already benefiting from, that prohibits these kinds of firm allocations in favor of open competition. Giving Canada any leeway in this regard is a non-starter since it would open the door to other JSF partners demanding specific industrial offsets, rather than bidding among each other for them as they do now.

...

 

[Kensington]

The F/A-18 only looks good when looking at an angle above the plane, down on it. It has a goofy look at any other angle to be quite honest and especially with it's landing gear down. Those rear gear with their angled back/out look...

A well used and abused RCAF CF-18A Hornet (F/A-18A)

 

[CMNTMXR57]

At least the drop tanks hide the rear landing gear. Is that one acting like a buddy fueler? Although I'm pretty sure ours acting as Buddy fuelers have a few more tanks on the wings.

 

[Kensington]

At least the drop tanks hide the rear landing gear. Is that one acting like a buddy fueler? Although I'm pretty sure ours acting as Buddy fuelers have a few more tanks on the wings.

Probably not...one of the big requirements for Canadian fighters (at least the ones that are in country on guard) is that they have to have an extremely long range, as they have a pretty vast area to cover, with not a lot of infrastructure to support them. I mean, if they have to scramble fighters, it's conceivable the threat is 1000 miles away, and the fighter has to be able to make a nearly round trip on the onhand fuel.

 

[Kensington]

Shit even F-22's use drop tanks...mostly to ferry, but when your combat radius is only 460 miles on internal stores...using those drop tanks to get to the scene sometimes is necessary

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Problem is, when you're mission is to get in to A2/AD arenas, having those mounted on an F-22 completely defeats the purpose...

 

[Kensington]

Yeah, you drop those well before you get in contested airspace.

 

[guspech750]

Still the best and sleekest airliner ever made.

 

[PANDA]

Still the best and sleekest airliner ever made.

 

[CMNTMXR57]

Yeah, you drop those well before you get in contested airspace.

Here's the problem with that. Any crafty S-400 radar operator (or other similar system), knowing that a potential 5G fighter could be flying into their airspace, is going to be looking for anything. They're already tuned to track it via certain frequencies if I recall. And while they can't pinpoint it's location, they can at least know something is there.

So one (F-22 or F-35) flies in from far away with drop-tanks attached for the extended range effectively returning a radar signal, then all the sudden as the plane reaches the "zone" where it wants to go radar silent, drops the tanks, effectively dropping off the radar... That would be a YUUUGGEEE red flag to a radar operator.

 

[Kensington]

Here's the problem with that. Any crafty S-400 radar operator (or other similar system), knowing that a potential 5G fighter could be flying into their airspace, is going to be looking for anything. They're already tuned to track it via certain frequencies if I recall. And while they can't pinpoint it's location, they can at least know something is there.

So one (F-22 or F-35) flies in from far away with drop-tanks attached for the extended range effectively returning a radar signal, then all the sudden as the plane reaches the "zone" where it wants to go radar silent, drops the tanks, effectively dropping off the radar... That would be a YUUUGGEEE red flag to a radar operator.

A big part of stealth is dictating strict flight paths, especially going into AD, which, in theory, gives them the opportunity to give that S-400 operator the best stealthy angle for the jet. Also, I don't think you're seeing drop tanks going into an area with S-400 operators, those F-22's are flying with a string of tanker support. The F-22's that are flying with drop tanks are on patrol missions domestically or are scrambled. But those jets are also likely already flying with radar reflectors, hiding their true stealth capabilities even without the drop tanks

 

[SHARKBITEATTACK]

Still the best and sleekest airliner ever made.

727 is damn sexy, but I think the award goes to this as far as commercial jets go

 

[Yaj Yak]

A big part of stealth is dictating strict flight paths, especially going into AD, which, in theory, gives them the opportunity to give that S-400 operator the best stealthy angle for the jet. Also, I don't think you're seeing drop tanks going into an area with S-400 operators, those F-22's are flying with a string of tanker support. The F-22's that are flying with drop tanks are on patrol missions domestically or are scrambled. But those jets are also likely already flying with radar reflectors, hiding their true stealth capabilities even without the drop tanks

would you nerds use normal fucking words


the fuck is going on in here