This is way too much fun…

Originally posted by Distiller
Ford was born in Omaha, Nebraska, July 14th, 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Hey, i doubt many people will see GWB as a Connecticut kid either. Nor Reagan being from Hollywood, Illinois. I think your disclaimer of “being born there doesn’t mean being from there” is a bit subtle.

Love the museum pic Skythe. Are you sure about the Mystères prior to 1956 though? I thought only the Ouragans were in service at that time.

Also, if you know the story behind the Albatross, i’d be happy. I’ve heard both stories that it was an actual candidate to replace the Tzukit, or that this L-39 was used for the Elbit/Bedek systems upgrade for later Albatross variants (like those for Thailand). The pic with the Star-of-David marked Albatross is definately taken at Vodochody in the Czech Republic though.

I forgot to tell the story behind the F-84Fs, will edit the posting.

If it weren’t sad it could be funny.

I don’t think anyone was killed because of it, so i do think i can afford a chuckle. I think it’s so silly, it’s definately funny!

Egyptian computer engineers in Cairo work with Israeli computer engineers in Tel Aviv on the most expensive and most important defense project Israel has developed in the last decade – the “Wall” project, that operates the Arrow missile batteries…

With no intentions to have this thread turn political (honestly!), i think the nomenclature is nice. The Wall is an ABM project, while the wall is actually a fence. May i interpret this as mild irony?

The Arrow is the world’s only operative ABM (Anti Ballistic Missile).

No, it isn’t. Moscow has it’s A135 Gorgon system, it’s operational since the mid/late 1980s and hasn’t stood down.

I think any Draken replacement is in poor taste anyway.

Gratuliere!

One or two years back, a few former Israeli Skyhawks also stopped over in the UK on their way to the US. And apart from the Singaporeans, there is now another Skyhawk operator Europe. BAe Flight Systems at Wittmund in Germany has replaced it’s F-100s with former Israeli Skyhawks. These F-100s occasionally visited some airshows, so perhaps the Skyhawks will do that too.

Originally posted by Jonesy
Like I said earlier, however, I would have been much happier to see the effort applied to getting Storm Shadow cleared for GR9, instead of the radar, as I’d rather the CVS group have the ability to attrite the opponents combat power from a very long way off as opposed to it relying on the air defence potential of an aircraft of even lower performance than the FA.2 and being forced to operate inside the opponents effective surveillance and weapons envelope.[/B]

Did you realise that was just one sentence? I thought mine were impossibly long, thanks for the moral support 😉
I disagree with your preference of Storm Shadow over an on-board radar though. Most important reason for me is that Storm Shadow is an excellent but expensive weapon to hit coordinates with. On the other hand, a radar is a device which acquires targets. Of course there is no difference if your target is a bridge or fixed radar site, but if your target is a mobile radar system, high priority convoy or even a forward deployed helicopter base, that radar is IMHO far more indespensible than a long-range coordinate killer like Storm Shadow.

Secondly, Storm Shadow (damn, i hate that name – it’s too long to write in full, but i don’t want to make an acronym of it either :rolleyes: ) is big and expensive. I don’t think the current British Harrier-carriers are able to take a strategical supplies of these missiles with them. Your HAS-plinking example a few posts up in this thread illustrates this perfectly: let’s say you need to attack a reasonably hardened airbase with 40 HAS’es and surface command/control facilities (tower, comms, stuff like that). Storm Shadows would do the job, i have no doubt about that. But when that job is done, your carrier’s arsenal is left with little more than rounds for your 27mm cannon and perhaps a few 500lbs bombs. And you can correct me of course, but i don’t think the RN has enough replenishment ships to support such operations for the duration of a campaign a few weeks in length.