Again I know why the Brits did what they did, the design is set, its gonna have 2 islands. I still think its the wrong design, but, for some reason, I was not consulted.

Probably because you have nothing that any of the apprentices to the designers doesn’t have more of… outside of your blind belief that you know more than anyone else.

And for your enlightenment, I’m not British, and I have always thought that both CVF designs were too small and too slow… and too compromised by “fitted for but not with” and “dual-use CV/LHA” constraints.

However, I understand why the politicians chose those options, so I’m content for this ally of my country to get ships that are better than what they had the last 30+ years.

I’ll leave the detailed design to the professionals, in any case.

–> USN will lose one operational aircraft carrier group (From ten to nine).

This cut doesn’t actually impact the active carrier fleet.

When CVN-65 Enterprise is decommissioned next year* the total number of USN CVNs will drop from 11 to 10.

Since there is always a CVN in RCOH (refuel and complex overhaul… essentially a mid-life modernization that takes ~23 years), there is only need for 10 (9 from 2012) carrier air wings and carrier group staffs.

Currently, the number of carriers will rebound to 11 when CVN-78 Ford commissions in 2015… but there is serious talk about keeping the CVN fleet at 10 by slowing the build rate of the Ford class and retiring CVN-68 Nimitz early.

That would keep the required number of carrier air wings and carrier group staffs at 9.

*Last month CVN-65 returned from what the USN described as “her last combat deployment”. Her decommissioning is authorized “in FY2013″… which means between 1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013.

How costly would it have been to add a fold in the wings just aft of the out rigger wheels?

Somewhat… more in weight penalty on a very weight-critical aircraft than in design/build cost.

Interesting bit here:

After her husband died in 1997 she lived there for four further years until, in 2001, she decided to return to England for good.

Initially she became a resident at the Stafford Hotel in St James’s Place, off Piccadilly, which had been a British and American forces club during the war. Nancy Wake had ordered her first “bloody good drink” there in 1946, lured to the bar, like many former secret agents, by the hotel’s then general manager, Louis Burdet, who had himself also worked for the Resistance in and around Marseilles.

In old age Nancy Wake was to be found on a leather stool in the hotel bar most mornings, nursing the first of the day’s five or six gin and tonics.

Though she celebrated her 90th birthday there, and the hotel’s owners welcomed her, they were obliged to absorb most of the costs of her stay, helped occasionally by anonymous donors – thought to include the Prince of Wales.

What a great shot! I wonder what the reasoning was for the AMRAAM fit in that particular case.

I bet some of the FA.2 fans around here probably get a little weepy eyed thinking about it…

(For the record, I feel your pain as I like the Sea Harrier too.)

One thing that always bugged me about the FA.2 was how AIM-9’s and AIM-120’s couldn’t be carried together while the 30-mm cannons were also fitted. You had to pick two of the three.

With the AV-8B you get the 25-mm gun, plus AIM-120, and AIM-9. 🙂

A nice package I must say.

A few years ago (after this thread was started), the USMC realized that the F-35B’s entry to service would be delayed, and they went ahead and integrated AMRAAM… it was easy since the Italians & Spanish had already done it.

I believe the installation is unique to this particular Coronado, as JATO units were normally hung externally under wing and shed after take off. The article features 33 high resolution photos of the rocket motor installation and tests thereof; a schematic of the installation; and a detailed technical description of the program. Worth checking out if you are a fan of vintage flying boats and unusual test vehicles!

-Jared

Also on the fuselage sides or under the belly.

The navigation is brilliantly easy and straightforward, click ‘Map’ tag at upper right, a plan drops down the screen showing all the floorplans of the display halls and their various vantage points, click ‘071’ in the ‘Cold War’ building and you are stood right next to the F-106.

Funny… but when I do this NOTHING HAPPENS!

As I stated in my first post, the map serves no function whatsoever… at least on my computer.

{edit: but now it does… and I clicked on exactly the same spot as I had before… yes, I had clicked while the “Cold War 070” was showing on the map, and nothing had happened. I had even tried this 3 times.

Perhaps the site was not functioning correctly then.}

Yes I meant Syria, sorry, and the campaign could be led by proxy.

The US managed to make France and the UK get involved in Libya after all.

Nic

SO, what is your theory about how the US “made” Sarkozy:
1. take the lead in the UN to get the resolution authorizing military action passed,
2. take the lead in getting more NATO nations to commit forces,
3. commit more assets than any other nation (including the US), and then
4. continue to be the most aggressive of all the “coalition” nations in conducting combat missions?

It sure must have been something… because Sarkozy sure gave the impression of being willing to act alone and without UN sanction!