Without nukes on those cruise missiles though how much damage could they realistically do (both because of warhead types and numbers)? Do they even have BLU-109 equivalent penetration?

I doubt. I think a Harpoon (or the cruise missile version), carries some 1000lbs (or even less, maybe only 500lbs). Anyways, to penetrate the enrichment facilities in Natanz you need BIG stick.
In a study released by two M.I.T. graduates they assume a strike would need something between 20 and 30 GBU-28 warheads. One GBU-28 is 4000lbs!

The other targets are less difficult, but the Uranium enrichment is large, buried and hardened.

Nice looking machine. Cuddly koala-nose.

So… anyone care to bet if the extended fuselage variant is proposed before, or after the initial deliveries are completed?

If landing requirements are eased, I think there is some fantasy in the A400M. Maybe even on the civil market. The Hercules didn’t really score any civil success back then, but the Hercules was also smaller, a bit slow and fuel prices were in the single digit dollar area. Would be interesting if there is interest in the cargo market for an A410F (stretched A400M).

Well yes, that would be a good reason to bolt on a gun turret on to it… would look a lot cooler if the gun turret was in the nose though…

Any chance of a “gunship version”, a la C-130 Spectre, that would be just as cool?

For the RAF maybe a vintage version having some resemblance to a Short Stirling might sell.

Contrary to popular belief around here, yes, the Blackbird was the first generation of stealth technology designed to reduce radar detection range. Now duck and cover because that one will get people riled up 😀

I guess the misunderstanding comes from different look on stealth. The laymen think it must be invisible. The SR-71 surely is not invisible.
But an SR-71 must basically be hard to track from forward down, the most likely angle a SAM would attack from. The high speed and altitude makes it immune from rearward attack by missiles.
Likewise the F-22: Being unstealthy from rear hemisphere does not really matter in most situations.
Now people might argue that any detection will increase the likeliness of being shot down by other assets, for example directed fighters. That is true, but if 20 F-22 attack there is hardly the time to vector each fighter into WVR attack position.

Then you should read the source material which seems to make it quite clear that the F-22 can not do mach 1.7 over it’s entire combat range of 800 Km’s on external fuel. Sure it can be refueled but so can others fighters that costs 4 times less with similar general performance margins. I could not find the data that shows as much but as i recall both the Su-27 and F-15 can fly at high supersonic speeds for at least as much time as the F-22. If you can bring sources that show otherwise ( the magical super cruising engines that does not burn fuel) i would be more than happy to accept them as i am not happier than you are that the American people are paying trough the teeth for something that does not even beat the F-15 in high speed dashes or in range.

What exactly does this confusing cloud of ASCII elements exactly tell us? Not muc i fear.

F-22 can not do mach 1.7 over it’s entire combat range of 800 Km’s on external fuel.
I think nobody ever argued it could. Why external fuel?

others fighters that costs 4 times less
Deducting the non-recurring development costs, the F-22 cost about 50 to 100% more than a Eurofighter (depends how you want to look at it).
By the way: 4 times less, how can I calculate that? One time less would be 100% less. Pretty good price, 4 times less would be minus 400%, that means, you actually earn when you buy it. 😮

Su-27 and F-15 can fly at high supersonic speeds for at least as much time as the F-22
Again, nobody argued otherwise, as high supersonic speeds normally start at M1.9ish, the limits here are temperature. But who cares about time at Mach 2?

does not even beat the F-15 in high speed dashes or in range.
In normal configs the F-15 hardly exceeds Mach 1.9.

Seriously, are you drunk?

I would like to know if one can order it with a tail gun turret.

the supersonic speeds come with a price, the visible drop in specific range. However, cruising for prolonged distances supersonic is an advantage, and its ability to go farer at higher speed is nearly unequaled.

41 minutes on Mach 1.5 (groundspeed: ~860kts) equals 590nm range. Doesn’t exactly look like an operational figure (according to the specific ranges the remaining fuel afterwards is barely enough to reach the next tanker), but even two thirds of it is a good achievement.

Fun fact: the stated 7 minutes an F-16 can go are exactly the 100nm that are listed in the “default mission” of the Raptor.

And Israel is in no position to tell another nation they cannot have nuclear weapons. Neither is the United States. Nor is Russia. Next.

Isn’t the whole idea of the non-proliferation treaty about making the club most exclusive? I think if there was something the USA and USSR always agreed about, then it was that the nuclear club needed to be small. France and England was acceptable, as they did rarely behave differently than the USA (in global questions).
China was less acceptable, so was India. Israel limited its ability to the region and did not have any ambitions in the region (except for its very own survival plus security perimeter).

China, Russia, USA, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan all agree that Iran neither needs nuclear weapons, nor needs the ability to produce them (Japan, for example, is allowed the ability to produce nuclear weapons, so is basically Germany, too, or some other “nuclear nations”). Where the limit for its nuclear industry exactly is not agreed to the detail, and what kind of sanctions are to be used.

Not incorrect, but incomplete! Once you get around 65-70,000 feet, the temperature and the speed of sound INCREASE. They increase and decrease based on atmospheric temperatures all the way until you hit space. Saying that the speed of sound decreases because the temperature decreases is not correct, since eventually the speed of sound will increase again.

I am designing aircraft, not spacecraft.
I am further an engineer, no physics nerd.
And Pi roughly equals 3. :diablo: