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Modern jet fighters are amazing machines.
- Thread starter Liljagare
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This one would be my pick.Eurofighter Typhoon.
Interestingly, the French Rafael is rather similar. BRB looking for a pick.
Dassault Rafale:
Its sheer versatility is kinda amazing. Didn't really sell well (or at all really) sadly.
That "thing" first flew 60 years ago and was designed to drop an atomic bomb on Moscow. It is one of the most iconic bombers in aviation history.
A modern jet fighter gets shot down should something hits it. They're not any different in this regard.
In any case, the line between fighters and bombers is very blurred. Same tech really, just different scale. The F-117 was a bomber, really. Modern jet fighters like the Strike Eagle can carry as much bombs as WWII-era strategic bombers. A major use for nearly all fighter jets nowadays is ground attack (mostly because symmetric contests of air space don't seem to really happen).
The next generation stealth bomber, B-21 Raider may be able to work as an interceptor (read: fighter) aircraft. It is getting really weird.
And A-10 is not a fighter either! Doesn't belong to the thread!
EDIT you're taking the title too literally, woodcutter.
/s
EDIT you're taking the title too literally, woodcutter.
And there are clearly examples of aircraft that are neither modern, or jet fighters, already posted.
As far as I have ever read, not really, or at least until right before the wall fell. It's not that surprising since it took a couple breakthroughs to make it possible, namely fly-by-wire and actually implementing tools for designing around radar-cross section (theory is cool but software is better), both of which are directly related to computing.
We actually put a ton of effort into making the SR-71 stealthy (at least in terms of radar), but it was practically not significant even though the signature was reduced (it was Cessna-sized, so still pretty obvious). There were also a lot of experiments with drones and U-2s but basically it never worked well enough to justify the effort or performance penalties.
I was obsessed with this plane as a kid in the 90s (thanks to Top Gun). It was like a real Transformer. I had a fighter themed birthday where I got Top Gun on DVD and Jane's Fighter Anthology. I put a surprising amount of hours into that game:They are all fine but my all time favorite jet is the F14 Tomcat. I miss em.
I love that they brought back VTOLs with the F35B:
The Iraq war was very asymmetric. American A-10s queued up to to shoot what they could down the Basra road. They didn't need fighter cover, Iraq had nothing to counter.
Remembering stories of successful landings of A-10's that were missing engines, pieces of tails or wings, or the entire canopy and no wheels...
I don't want to argue with you. we both like planes, I am sorry if I pissed you off. I want to be bffs not enemies.
f154life.
Well, in practice it was asymmetric. It didn't help the Coalition gained air supremacy within 48 hours or so... but then Iraqi air force wasn't very good.
But i was thinking in that both sides had strategic objectives. Iraq could attack Kuwait and other places (even if they didn't do that particularly well), and the Coalition was attacking Iraqi bases and territory. In Vietnam, VietCong didn't have anything the Americans could really attack, especially since they never really took the war into North Vietnam. Dropping bombs to jungles and villages that sympathize with VietCong isn't terribly useful.
the 35 photo is scary as shitCan I just repost images i posted in the neogaf thread I made about planes :think: Ignore the bomber photos don't bully just enjoy.
No one has posted the best plane yet.
Based purely on looks I'm happy the F-35 beat it in the Joint Strike Fighter Competition.
Based purely on looks I'm happy the F-35 beat it in the Joint Strike Fighter Competition.
35 is trash!No one has posted the best plane yet.
Based purely on looks I'm happy the F-35 beat it in the Joint Strike Fighter Competition.
It seems the idea that F-35 taking A-10's place is rooted in the idea of having as few aircraft types in service as possible. It seems that it is a reasonable idea on paper, but in practice (as history has shown) the US Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have different needs (hence F-35C, B and A, respectively), and specialized roles like close air support need even more specialized planes to be really effective. CAS requires loiter time, sufficiently low speed for maneuverability and accuracy, and some kind of armoring because AA fire is inevitable. F-35 cannot really fulfill any of these. And it is expensive and maintenance intensive enough it might not be available for CAS duties.
I wonder if the US will wizen up eventually and just design a proper follow-up for A-10. Or perhaps cheap, sacrificable drones will replace the role?
I guess USSR lagging behind in tech really hurt their aircraft design. It is funny really. There are stuff where the USSR, and Russia now, seem to be better at (reactive armor, anti-projectile systems for tanks), but anything being highly reliant on computers and/or networking and they're only now catching up.
As for SR-71, it seems it is never really classed as a stealth plane, even if it did use some principles. In any case, i reckon constant afterburners aren't exactly stealth-friendly. Radar-stealth is not terribly useful if you're shining in infrared...
I've found myself arguing with you even though I think we share similar sentiments, and I apologise for that.
My initial post was just exasperation about governments paying private contractors massive amounts for unproven military technology.
Nothing to apologize for.
The US is certainly crazy with its military industrial complex. But perhaps this is more of a fault of the leadership than than military-industrial complex itself.
Reading what McNamara did... man. Like, he saw the war in terms of numbers: if X amount of bombs is dropped, it should cause Y effect. No, it doesn't work like that.
And some of the aircraft programs! Like the F-111. The US Navy and Air Force need new planes. McNamara asks if they can use one plane for both. The Navy and Air Force say no. New plane is ordered, different proposals are studied, another design was recommended, McNamara orders F-111 because he thinks the Navy and Air Force can share it better, and the end result is that F-111B never goes past prototype because it is completely unsuitable for naval use. And then the Navy designs F-14 because of this. Thus, a lot of money wasted and both branches got their own planes anyway, because a bureaucrat thought money could be saved by ignoring reality.
This thread gives me a good reason to post this.
sorry about the first song, it gets real good around 3:40
those nightime cat launches are incredible.
sorry about the first song, it gets real good around 3:40
those nightime cat launches are incredible.
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Scrolling down to up, it took me a moment to process this. Without context, i read it quite literally at first.
And this reminded me on an "experiment" i read about on Atomic Rockets site:
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/artificialgrav.php#id--Making_Do_Without
Scroll a bit down:
I've always loved the double delta-canards design, and the J-20 is like the F-22 version of that (on the outside at least)
It's a 4.5 gen fighter and regularly competes in bids alongside the Eurofighter, Rafale, Super-hornet, F16, and others. Airframes may get old but the insides are updated more than a Nintendo DS.
It's a 4.5 gen fighter and regularly competes in bids alongside the Eurofighter, Rafale, Super-hornet, F16, and others. Airframes may get old but the insides are updated more than a Nintendo DS.
Still remember the one downed in Serbia in 1999. Probably with Russian aid, since they sent its remains there
Still probably the most powerful radar fitted to a fighter.
My favorite jets were the aforementioned F-14 and Harriers.
I'll add on the A-10. The plane they created so they could fly that gatling gun.
While I'm not sure this counts as a "modern jet fighter," it's the best sounding one I've heard in person. An example...
Really cool at around the 1:00 mark in the dive
I was on a fishing trip with my dad in the mountains near Colorado Springs. There's an airforce base nearby. At like 6:30am two fighters went SCREAMING over the river canyon. Absolutely insane noise. I could feel the sound in my lungs. Almost fell over where I stood.
Same. I played Falcon 4.0 on the hardest settings. I had to give it up after a three hour mission where a bug in the game killed me on my way back to base. I had learned how to use TACAN to find the tanker and everything. My goddamn wingman, who I told to go back to base, came back and crashed into me! I've never been more angry at a game in my life lmao. I played DCS A-10 and learned all that crap, too. Then I realized shooting tanks is not actually all that fun (I like air combat...I loved Combat Flight Simulator and IL2). DCS F/A-18 looks reaaaaaal good, but I'm not sure if I want to spend the time now.
On the second part, it's absolutely true. Lockheed (or whoever is responsible for the F-16 now) made an F-16 into a drone, more or less, and it could pull 10 Gs no problem - beyond the point where most pilots black out.
Blue Angels came down to Lakeland to perform a year or two back. They flew directly over the neighborhood my sister lives in while we were at the community pool. They were probably not much more than a couple thousand feet above us. Absolutely nothing could be heard over those twin engines roaring about. It was glorious.
This is my favorite as well.Can I just repost images i posted in the neogaf thread I made about planes :think: Ignore the bomber photos don't bully just enjoy.
Not sure I'm following here. A computer will always make faster decisions than a human.
Drone still needs signals either from a satellite or other source.
Those signals still have lag. Maybe not enough to make a difference now considering what drones are used for nowadays but still significant if you want to do anything more.
The desire also comes from a near peer enemy having a much harder time smacking F-35s out of the sky than A-10s.
As far as strafing Taliban goes there are much cheaper CAS planes the US could buy for that.
None of ya'll have posted Flight Highschool, yet? :^)
My favorite has got to be the F-15C. No favorite videos though.
I mean,m other than the old videos about how it can be landed with one wing :^)
My favorite has got to be the F-15C. No favorite videos though.
I mean,m other than the old videos about how it can be landed with one wing :^)
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one thing to remember about these older airframes ("what do you mean modern, that jet is 30 years old") is that they are upgraded often. The models in service today have been fitted with radar, countermeasures, weapons systems, etc that are way beyond what was available when these airframes were new. Sure, you can't retrofit stealth onto these planes but to dismiss them as useless and old is silly.
Also, if you guys are really into jets, check out Digital Combat Simulations, that's where it's at for flight sims nowadays.
Also, if you guys are really into jets, check out Digital Combat Simulations, that's where it's at for flight sims nowadays.
Right, there are what, dozens of different blocks for F-16s? Upgrades over and over and over, that's why it's been exported so well and lasted so long.
I grew up within a few miles of Hill AFB. Hearing F-16s, F-35s now, is almost a daily occurrence for me. It has become almost white noise at this point.
EDIT: Speaking of which this thread seems to have a lack of F-16s.
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