Ironically enough there is a video of our class trip to the US 2nd Infantry Division here at http://afnkorea.net/. Even though I was interviewed, I’m not in the video. Guess I didn’t look good.

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/080703/45/12ied.html

3 July 2008:
ROKAF KF-16 female pilot HA Yoo Mi shakes hands with South Korean fashion designer Andre KIM, for the red scarf.

I’ve seen her around the school (she was going to the Squadron Officer Course) but I didn’t put two and two together until my Taiwanese classmate mentioned it. She seemed to me to be on the quiet side but I didn’t talk her. Damn, I should have though…

PBAR

To re-engine the B-1 with F-119s would have cost over $4 billion for only 67 aircraft. We certainly don’t have cash like that laying around.

I’d like to the USAF buy a couple of squadrons worth of P-8As and use them in Iraq/Afghanistan-like low threat areas to save airframe hours on the B-1/B-52. Maybe strip out the ASW gear and replace it with ELINT and IMINT gear so you could do ISR and strike. With the ISR capabilities and large crew, it would probably be more useful than a Bone or Buff in the current unpleasantness. Forget the 2018 bomber and start work on the hypersonic 2037 bomber.
At any rate, the USAF has no intention of buying the 2018 bomber- it’s just trying to get Congress off its back with regard to its penchant for short-range fighters. Moreover, when the F-35 line ramps up, more B-1s and B-52s will probably be sacrificed to pay for it.

PBAR

It is possible to turn Tu-160 also into strategic interceptor (as well B-1B) but who needs this. ( .

I read in a book once that the Rockwell proposed a Bone version with Phoenix missiles to defend ships from the Backfire threat in the middle of the Atlantic. Also, wasn’t there a proposed Tu-160 variant with air-to-air missiles that was designed to intercept the air bridge (C-141s, C-5s, etc.) coming from the US to Europe?

That would have been wild to see a B-1 vs Tu-160 “dogfight”…

PBAR

http://kr.news.yahoo.com/service/new…&newssetid=746

It says;
A KF-16D with two pilots was doing a night training mission over the West Sea and then went missing. It is surmised by the fact that communication was lost for many hours of communication that the plane crashed.

The missing KF-16D took off today from Sosan Airbase today at about 8:26 pm and was in the middle of a night interception training mission.

After the plane was missing the Air Force dispatched two rescue helicopters ,1 transport airplane, and 4 high speed patrol boats to the accident sea area and rescue and search operations are combing the area. The [Korean] Air Force spokesman said, “It hasn’t been confirmed that the pilots have survived yet”.

The KF-16 type, including the last February crash accident into sea in front of Ch’ungnam Boryong, etc. has had 4 crashes in the same area since 1990 but all of the pilots had succesful escapes [ejections].

PBAR
bonewso.net

As an aside, Boeing offered to Australia some of the B-1Bs that went into storage a few years ago but were obviously turned down.

PBAR

I’ve always wondered why there is such a plethora of different business jet-type airframes in the US military, each of which requires it’s own training, logistics tail, etc.

For example, C-12, C-20, C-21, T-39, UC-35, C-40, C-143, C-26, C-37, C-38, etc.

One would think we could standardize on fewer types…

And let’s not get started on the hardware that goes on similiar aircraft. For example the B-52s ALQ-172 and the B-1s ALQ-161 electronic attack systems were developed roughly around the same time. We should have bought one system. Also, there are cockpit upgrades going on for both jets, but are they buying the same equipment, no, of course not. Given how similiar the missions are, they ought to be somewhat like the 757/767 cockpit commonality.

PBAR

Proposed OV-10A Charger floatplane; Blackburn B.20 retractable floatplane.

I saw on TV several years ago a clip of the “Waterworld” action show at Universal Studios and as part of the show, they launched a Bronco that floats into the water. I guess it was a surplus plane modified for the show but it looked really strange…

A couple of poor quality pictures can be seen here http://www.mouseplanet.com/usig/usig-ww-plane.jpg and here http://www.starlinetours.com/images/tour_images/WaterWorld.jpg