Originally posted by Mark2
USAF JSF STOVL does nothing for CAS except provide some very limited PR value.

I’ll admit I’m pretty stupid sometimes, but where does STOVL improve CAS???

Ah… you’re closer to the ‘troops’ using partially useable runways and/or unprepared surfaces thus reducing transit time. Don’t think so… the most responsive CAS support will be provided by JSFs that have just come off the tanker and are sitting in ‘on-call’ CAS orbits. Having the JSF closer in terms of ‘bare basing’ does nothing more than greatly increase complexity of getting the gas, weapons, support equipment, etc etc to this ‘forward’ base.

I’m still of the opinion the STOVL JSFs are only there to ensure the requirement for the ‘boats’ that go with them!!!!

Mark

I’d respectfully disagree on that one Mark. In some situations a jump-JSF will get more sorties per day going and won’t use tanker resources coming from long bases. That will still be done with other platorms, but the more you can do that the better. You aren’t getting many sorties per day out of… lets say an F-18 that might have 1 LGB and 1 JDAM on it doing a 6-8 hour flight with several tankings ( a la OIF ). Certainly many operational situations are different and a jump JSF isn’t going to solve ALL problems but It would have been very useful in OEF and OIF type of scenarios. Bare base supply and replenishment can be handled by C-130 / C-17 if need be. A Paveway 4 ( like what the Brits used in OIF ) version of the GBU-12 might be a good thing for bare bases. It is both LGB and GPS/INS. That way you are hauling less munition types to the bare base.

Good. Somebody is thinking. Get rid of the idea of the manned scout junk. We will have more and more sensor platforms coming out our ears that can feed realtime data into the Apache. Off board sensor platforms are already making the Apache much more useful. The idea that we have to run out and buy a manned scout helo in the future is stupid.

Thats a hanger in the background. 😉

Originally posted by Arthur
[B]Nothing really surprising if you ask me.

1. USAF likes the idea of STOVL JSF for CAS
. Stating an interest in CAS again after ignoring it for decades to me seems like a political move to keep it’s turf in stead of losing it to the Army.

USAF hasn’t “ignored” CAS. Not by a long shot.

A-10 will ( as mentioned ) press on with putting new gen Laser/Sensor pods ( LITENING proof of concept ) SNIPER – XR if it gets funded.

The A-10 as mentioned has less and less work to do. ( Tank killing being not the best use of it when other platforms do it better (WCMC CBU 105 and other PGMs ) The A-10s biggest advantage is not only the gun for doing straffing but its ability to fly out of some crummy airfields. That combined with the fancy pods will give it some good ability eventually ALL weather ability. Otherwise not counting its lousy airfield abiliy, Other jets do many forms of CAS better. ( F-15, F-16, F-14, F-18 dropping LGBs through cloud cover with a G-FAC lasing, that and all the other fancy PGMs.
Also one opinon for some of the A-10s getting shot up in a few cases, was too much loitering after a strike. Also some Marine G-FACs look at an A-10 with an amount of caution. They don’t want to get shot up because of how an A-10 drivers mark one eye ball might respond to their directions.

JSTARs is one of the most requested sensors by theater commanders/ground commanders. One reason is that its downlinking to mobile army ground stations is great, Its ability to coordinate a “stack” of PGM carrying birds, Its also a life line to G-FACs including the ones attached to 10 man or smaller SPECFOR teams or patrols. It also is helping rebuild the reputation of the Apache with its ability to feed target cueing carrots into the Apache crewmembers display. This gives the Apache some very good situational awareness.

CAS is still rapidly transforming. Not all platforms are on a rapid “net centric” setup.( Strikers, Sensor Platforms, G-FACs, Command, all on the same page on a rapid network. ) That is one of the things that is changing.

He says the F-102, weighing in at more than 15 tons at takeoff, was a “flying rock.” And it carried just two hour’s worth of fuel, with no chance for midair refueling, which meant pilots had to get up and back down relatively quickly or risk running out of fuel.

You risked your life going on any mission in that airplane,” he said. “It had some engine problems. It had a gear, called a bull gear, that came apart, and that happened a couple of times to our unit. You lose your fuel control, your hydraulics, your electronics, and it flames out and you’re basically a glider, because you can’t restart it.” …… “They’re just not that great of a plane, and every pilot I ever sent off was very apprehensive about going up,…..

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37162

The Texas ANG had the F-102, and probably wished it didn’t. According to Campenni, “The F-102 was underpowered and, unlike modern fighters, had a split front view through the canopy. It literally had a bar down the center, so you’d have one eye on each side of the bar. It also had a built in altimeter error of up to 500 feet, which made it interesting when you were at 500 feet out over the ocean at night.” Flying and training in the ‘102 was a dangerous job that required a lot of smarts and flying skill……..

http://www.nationalreview.com/babbin/babbin200402190855.asp

Originally posted by Distiller
Last 100 years

Young Bush: Connecticut
Clinton: Arkansas
Old Bush: Massachusetts
Reagan: Illinois
Carter: Georgia
Ford: Nebraska
Nixon: California
Johnson: Texas
Kennedy: Massachusetts
Eisenhower: Texas
Truman: Missouri
Roosevelt II: New York
Hoover: Iowa
Coolidge: Vermont
Harding: Ohio
Wilson: Virginia
Taft: Ohio
Roosevelt I: New York

from Northern States: 10
from Southern States: 6
from the West: 2

Of course being born somewhere doesn’t mean “being from there”.

President Ford was from Michigan