is that mr belenko in USAF flying gear and an adversary aircraft????

and is the mig being loaded into a galaxy to be taken back to russia or away to an american airfield for a ‘closer’ inspection.??

coanda

i’ll try and keep a look out for her at the filton end, should be able to see her arrive from the uni library study rooms! what time are we looking at??

coanda

ok cool, when i get time/money to finish my training thats the first thing i am going to do! that and go to re acquaint myself with SA bulldogs again!!!

thanx v much, will mention you lot sent me over!

coanda

excellent, whats the deal with getting anywhere near a yak 52?????? are nppl’s allowed to fly them???

gee, couldnt see that one coming……

havnt heard a napier sabre running but i must say the tail feathers look a little on the small side for such a compact aircraft.

coanda

Re: anti-tamper technology for the JSF- costs $1 billion extra

QUOTE-Building export JSFs with less sensitive – and less effective – low observable (LO) features is practicable because the primary structure of the JSF is conventional, with most of the LO systems being added at the end of the assembly line.

REPLY-v true, i know that the design of this aircraft probably beats that of the F22 in terms of versatility and intelligent decisions at the design stage for maintainability.

QUOTE- The value of the contract would reflect the need to conduct a separate radar cross-section (RCS) validation program (including RCS-range tests of a modified model).

REPLY-this may be one of the reasons for the time delay. Besides weight overruns(working on solutions for…)

QUOTE-it cannot use high-off-boresight air-to-air missiles when in stealth mode. (show me a stealth aircraft that can bill? )

REPLY-IF you have a HMCS type system coupled to a suitable IR missile you have a good off boresight system(whether the missile is in a bay or otherwise). this is exactly what is happenning with JSF and the Aim 9X, and, although i am not sure, the ASRAAM aswell.

QUOTE-One source close to the JSF program says that the Pentagon’s theater commanders-in-chief (CINCs) have consistently advocated a single JSF configuration, because multiple levels of LO would complicate joint operations.

REPLY-however if you know exactly what each countries aircraft is going to look like on a radar doesnt that make for less chance of aerial fratricide and better mission management? altho i am sure that each country will not want others to know what its aircraft looks like on radar.

this will just mean that you will only be able to initially use USAF and UK aircraft, with other countries aircraft folowing on behind…if the threat really was that bad.

QUOTE- and to make LO systems so durable that they seldom require maintenance unless they suffer impact damage. “Now, whether you’re going to export the capability of repairing a leading edge, I don’t know,” he says. “You might ship it back and change it for a spare part.” One problem with this approach, though, is that no known LO program has yet achieved its maintainability targets.

REPLY-LM are looking at some remarkable maintainability figures and have done the most extensive testing of their LO materials that i think has ever taken place. for example some S3’s have JSF spec RAM on them to test their durability at sea, and apparantly its been fine for literally years. I am pretty certain that leading edges, fin leading/trailing edges and flying surfaces are just going to have to go straight back to LM…..i have an idea of what they might want to use for their construction and its all round very good, mechanically and electromagnetically. (IF its what i think it is). the uk might (and thats a MIGHT) be the only place outside of the US to have an LO maintainance shop, and even then they will only be produced state side. ( the LM special division are the sole producers and maintainers of this ) even within the US forces I think they might just go back to LM given the durability of the structure and coating.

This aircraft is a step change in aircraft design. it will be like no other LO aircraft(including what i feel will be a more fragile F22) , so comparisons would be pretty lame.

coanda

you know, if they had put sand UNDER the wings properly first, they probably wouldnt have suffered anywhere near as much.

I dont actually see what threat they face from outside right now, or in the near future, so why have fast jets?

and what does jordan have to offer?

I remember seeing a picture line of perfect condition mirage F1’s that were suffering from spare parts shortage due to a french embargo…..unfortunately i cant remember the nationailty now, possibly saudi??.

Still 12 mirage F1’s aint much for a country that size if it was under threat.

I was going to suggest turborprop aircraft of the tucano sort of range, because they would provide a good FAC/COIN capability for little cost, and still have useful speed and range, still sometimes jets are best……

so lets step away from politics and think about what the iraqi’s should/are going to actually get.