T Navy’s past 20 year history of developing a completely new airplane which wasn’t derived from an earlier model isn’t good.

Too much salt in your coffee!

All this talk about survivability but survivability to what end? This isn’t air policing or expeditionary operations against a mid/lower rung military.

Since the aircraft operate dispersed they can’t be knocked out of the battle with a strike against the airbase? Okay.

But can it blunt an enemy air offensive. 30 years ago it was possible for fighters to go up in the air encounter a foe, maneuver till fuel ran low and return to base calling it a draw. But since the enemy op was checked the mission could be deemed a success. How likely is that situation today with the widespread employment of HMS, high off-boresight IIR seeking SRAAMs with LOAL capability, thrust vectoring and a laser fuzes?

And how do you hide in today’s net centric aerial battlefield? Lets say the enemy inducts 2 AWACS and refueler into the theatre. 24 hour coverage. With escorts. How do you get close enough to take a shot at that? 30 years ago you could have used ground clutter for concealment. Not really feasible against today’s ground mapping AESAs, not to mention the range of your missile shots will be reduced to nothing.

Point is this notion of guerilla air warfare is a tough call in an environment that can be (near) saturated with hostile sensors. And if its the only option (presumably until allies arrive), the aircraft you want is the one that can remain (relatively) unseen.

Well said.

I put that here. I think it’s interesting. Even only if drawing a context line:

Philip Wood, Diego Garcia Update: Girlfriend Says She Got Death Threat After Malaysia Airlines Plane Disappeared

“nausea, running eyes and dizziness, ”

“There are no reports of illness from pilots or passengers”

Interesting

An MD AV8B Marine’s Harrier crashed in arizona

Spokesman Mikhail Sundust said the aircraft experienced engine trouble. The jet went down near Vah Ki and Wetcamp roads, he said.[…] pilot was uninjured

Sources:
Reuters
abc.15.com
.

But where cotain an LIon accu arsenic? The contain LiCO2 and a water free electrolyte or a polymere (the PO in LIPO). A burnig LiOn or LIPO produce a huge amount of white fume. Then 2t LIon accus must be storaged in a special container. LiOn or LIPOs transported with storage voltage equal to 20% up to 40% energy content. For a simple reason, new LIons contain an inhibitor. This inhibitor make LIon storable over long time and full load storage would harm the accus anyway. The killer is the electrolyte or polymere. LiPF6, Polyvinylidenfluorid (PVDF) or Polyvinylidenfluorid-Hexafluorpropen (PVDF-HFP),Li3PO4N Lithiumphosphatnitrid.
The all produce HF during the combustion process and the endproduct with atmospheric humidity is then fluoric acid. But HF produce an eye-stinging smell.

Hi KKM57P,

I have to say that I didn´t take a look at the chemical formulas. I did trust what was said (wrongly) on the dailyBeast (see my post 468)

Ettel explains that in what is called a “thermal runaway” the batteries give off toxic fumes including arsenic, which are not necessarily detected by normal smoke alarms and can be lethal if not vented.

So I went on Wiki and dug out this concerning the effect of Hydrofluoric acids

Because of the ability of hydrofluoric acid to penetrate tissue, poisoning can occur readily through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident. HF interferes with nerve function, meaning that burns may not initially be painful. Accidental exposures can go unnoticed, delaying treatment and increasing the extent and seriousness of the injury.[8]
Once absorbed into blood through the skin, it reacts with blood calcium and may cause cardiac arrest. Burns with areas larger than 160 cm2 (25 square inches) have the potential to cause serious systemic toxicity from interference with blood and tissue calcium levels.

Not forcely related but I noticed that also:

Hydrofluorocarbons in automatic fire suppression systems can release hydrogen fluoride at high temperatures, and this has led to deaths from acute respiratory failure in military personnel when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fire suppression system in their vehicle

Perhaps this conflict will cause nations around the world to shift money allocation away from attack helos

The Hind have long proved vulnerable due to tactics and size. Nothing new. Great the crew made it.

An interesting read so far (Raf for Canada)