I remember reading one SR71 pilot claiming that they outrun a Fr F-1 while single engined over France (RTB after a recon on Libya). Max speed in that configuration was M2++

Bandua: somebody just seems to have Heard your doubts around the “rising cost” of the F-35.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-05-23/lockheed-martin-s-hewson-says-trump-influenced-the-f-35-deal-video

😉

SOURCE:
Bloomberg

Maybe we should not discard the high alt aptitude of both design. As exemplified by recent Houtis missile launches in Yemen, CAS will be a lot more complicated (and layered in function of opponents defenses).
I think then that the problem facing any planners is hence a lot more basic than going down to any planned upgrade of each platform. The B1B was built to sneak low and fast, a domain where it won’t be immune to fire without the burden of a supporting package.

B1Bs are not attritable, nor their place among the USAF irrelevant in term of deterence. And if this could be questioned in the future to the point that their unique capabilities are not as much valuable as in the past, the question remain why keep them in service.

The USAF had to let go the 58, the 111 and tomorrow will do the same with the B2.

Once again putting the assumption that there was a mass-murderer on board and then setting a path full of technical justification for that hypothesis is wrong.

Wrong.

Thousands of flight take place every days and there is statiscally far more criminals in the air than such reported occurrences. So why focus on the very narrow margin?!

Question: if you hear that the cabin is full of incapaciting smoke and fly above an unforgiving ocean, what would you do? You would probably attempt to depressurize the cabin and cut all electrical non-essential power In a desesperate attempt to starve any fire in the cargo bay. Then turn home keeping your alt (passengers have downed masks with enough O2 for you to assess the situation).

You can’t presuppose that one of the pilot or passengers was a mass murderer. Hijacker want money. And for that they need some bargain power… Which generally happen to be the passengers.

I am sorry 27Vet but this does not make sense.

IMOHO It could very well be that the captain or his copilot were heroes subdued only by overhelming elements.

On that occasion I will remind all that the cargo was full of Li batteries. The very one element now banned on any commercial flights.

Captains avid of Flight simmulations are not. Circuit breakers neithers. EoA.

The only point where the super Typhoon could win the place occupied by planned 35 orders will be on cost. Is there any visibility there to assess any advantages? No.
The UK industry could do way better committing on future platforms. Abroad interest for cooperation or UCAS shows a very segmented offer where nor the US, the French or the Russian have any advantages. If you think that LM would be able to offer an ISR stealth airframe at a lesser cost that what the UK can, you are blinding yourself in desesperation. Same for the loyal wingman. Idem with the Gremlin project.

Committ.

It wouldn’t escape any attentive reader that this had to be written on Pentecost day 😮

Joint US/French Operation:

The relationships being built during this exercise will matter when it comes time to operate together in combat conditions,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson while onboard the Bush on May 14 with his French counterpart, Adm. Christophe Prazuck.
“So we’re proud to be operating side-by-side with our French allies as we deepen our interoperability.
“As described in the National Defense Strategy, we’ll need combined training like this to become habitual so that we are prepared to compete and win in this new era of great power competition.”
There could be more international training and experimentation going on off the U.S. East Coast in September, when the newest British aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth expected to arrive to conduct her first F-35B Joint Strike Fighter VTOL operations, U.S. Navy sources tell Navy Times

Imagine if we had some F-35B too on a modernized class of Garibaldi carrier to protect the outremer territories and contribute to mass effect in near peer situation by embarking on RN or USMC bigger carrier.

Source:
Navy Times.com

Back in the fight: C-17 resumes airdrops in AOR

A remote base awaits their lifeline as skilled loadmasters push more than a dozen pallets of general cargo bound for Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

The C-17 crew has a grueling 15-hour day ahead that will take them from the deserts of Qatar over the austere mountainous terrain of the Afghan countryside.

“Our tasking and the aircraft selection for this mission really comes down to the C-17’s larger cargo capacity,” said Maj. Nicholas Coblio, mission aircraft commander from the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron. “The C-17 can complete this mission with one aircraft in one pass, minimizing risk and maximizing productivity.”

The 816th EAS, part the 385th Air Expeditionary Group and a tenant unit at Al Udeid, is responsible for undertaking this complex mission that represents a lifeline to those troops needing basic supplies on the ground.

[…]
As the cargo door opens and the ramp lowers, a controller on the ground radios to the crew “clear to drop.”

In the blink of an eye, the pallets seamlessly flow into motion and in mere seconds the once-packed cargo compartment is empty. One by one the massive bundles are consumed by darkness with the last fleeting glimpse being the tops of parachutes before the ramp goes up and the door closes.

Source:
https://www.dvidshub.net/