Adrian_44RE: Why all MiG #’s odd?
Don’t forget the system the US Navy had. First letter is the aircraft function (fighter, attack, etc.), the first number indicates the number of designs that company has designed for the Navy and, the second letter indicates the company that manufactured the aircraft. So the designation (usually) decode as following:
F-3F Wildcat _____ Fighter, 3rd aircraft from the company, Grumman Aircraft
F-4U Corsair _____ Fighter, 4th aircraft from the company, Vought Chance
F-2H Phantom 1 __ Fighter, 2nd aircraft from the company, McDonnell Aircraft
F-4H Phantom 2 __ Fighter, 4th aircraft from the company, McDonnell Aircraft
FJ-2 Fury _______ Fighter, 2nd aircraft from the company, North American
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: F-15N Sea Eagle
You talked as if the USAF at that time was happy getting it. The interservice rivalries were so intense at that time, this could have only have happened if this was forced down their throats.
In addition to the F-4 being forced upon the USAF, they also had to swallow the A-7 Corsair 2!
While legend has it the F-15 was designed to match the MiG-25, I would think that it was designed clearly not just to match that, but to also surpass the F-14
No, the F-15 was designed for air superiority. That meant denying the air to the MiG.-25 (or any other aircraft) reguardless of speed, altitude or, any other capabilities.
yet they still only managed to produce an aircraft that was equal to if not slightly inferior to the F-14.
Hummbug! At what the F-15 does….. to stay in an area, fight while outnumbered and, maintain a posisitve kill ratio, it is absolutely great. The way the F-15 operated over Iraq or Serbia is the way it was designed to operate. To go over enemy territory with the first attackers, remain to fight all challengers and be among the last to exist many hours later. At what the F-15 was designed to do, it was “UN-EQUALLED” until the Rafale and F-22 became operational!!!
What the F-14 did as an interceptor to protect naval assests was second to none. The ability to patrol long distances from its base, spend a long time on patrol station, secure large areas from mass air attacks. To be able to handle organized attacks against the fleet with little or no assistance. To use its technical edge to deal effectively with jamming, fighter escorts, etc.
While all this seems like just, dogfighting…. the way they approach their main task is very different.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: F-14 shot down by a Mi-24. Mi-24 combat record
how can you prove all the SAM claimed aircraft kills in 1991 were only SAMs caused and not by aircraft carreid air to air missiles beside the own NATO statements?
Colonel Zoltán Dani of the Yugoslav Air Force (JRViPVO) has stated the F-117 was shot down by ground defenses not, airborne. The F-117 was killed by the Serbian, 3rd Battalion of the, 250th Missile Brigade and used a SA-3 ‘Goa’ (S-125 Neva/Pechora). It is the Russians who keep insisting it was a MiG.-29 not the JRViPVO.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: F-14 shot down by a Mi-24. Mi-24 combat record
Hey guys, could it be an Iranian F-14A killed the Iraqi AF? The IRIAF lost a little over a dozen F-14’s. This assuming the photograph is accurate in that it is wreckage of an F-14A.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: The Balance of Iranian Air Forces
Authors Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop have writened three books on this topic. “Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat”, “Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat” and, “Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988”.
URL:
http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/cat_index_24.shtml
They travelled and interviewed Iraqi and Iranian pilots. They also discovered documents through the “Freedom of Information Act” which indicates the US intelligence services know a lot more than they let on to know or the official US Government line.
There is also on the Internet pictures of an F-14 at a Soviet airbase!! The Iranians have built an aviation industry to support their military aircraft.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Does the AIM-9x have NCTR?
The answer is YES, to the NCTR capability for the Sidewinder-9X. One reason the “-9X” is so effective is due to it having infra-red imaging I²R. This system does not detect a hot spot like prior IR missiles did. It detects an image which looks like a negative of a black and white photograph. Like the JDAM, this image is compared to images stored in the memory. The processor rotates the image detected versus the memory’s image. The rotation continues until an match is made. Once the match is made, the missile guidance then knows its direct angular relationship to the actually aspect angle to the target. Now the intercept algorithm can determine the most direct path to the target.
While this system can not replace IFF, it can recognize the type of aircraft the target is. (Many conflicts have the same type aircraft on both sides. The PGW#1 with French F.1, the Erethia/Ethiopia confict with Su-27’s.)
Before Raytheon won the AMRAAM contract, they had a great video on the Internet about four minutes long. After they beat Hughs, they removed the video!
I²R missiles also aim for the center of the fuselage, insuring a greater chance of a complete kill. In the video the missile will penetrated the entire F-4 Phantom target and destroyed it without the warhead exploding. Telemetry was takened and the infra red image of the target was shown right up to impact.
The seekers of the “-9X” and ASRAAM are similar but not identical. Sensors were just one area where the US Military was more aggressive than their European partners in the project. The US wanted to push the state of the art further making the project higher in risk, while European partners wanted to be more conservative and lower risk.
I am not sure (or remember) whether the seeker head is 128² or 256² elements?
One reason the F-22 will be difficult to detect using I²R is because most detectors use the 2-3µ and or 8-12µ frequencies to detect the target and, the F-22 is designed to be very low in these infra-red regions. The infra-red the F-22 is designed to be in other frequency regions.
Thank you Distiller for the I²R image.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Battle Scars – Aircraft that were able to limp home or just lived to tell their
This one isn’t true battle scar but, it is interesting.
On the Military Channel, the pilot of the F-15A was interviewed about this incident;
An Israeli F-15A was involved in DACT with an A-4 Skyhawk. There was a collision and at first the F-15 went out of control mostly on the roll axis. The pilot used ‘cross controled’ and was able to gain control of his aircraft. He was able to maneuver his aircraft to a divert base.
The pilot had not be able to see the extent of the damage for there was a spray of fuel comming out of right wingroot. He landed at about 250mph (400Km/h)! When he came to a stop he was able to see the extent of the damage.
When asked why he didn’t eject, he said when he flew his F-15A from the USA (not the same plane) to the base in Israel he remembered flying over his home town and seeing a hospital under construction. It cost as much as his plane -$25M, he felt an obligation to try and save his F-15A.
I forgot what happened to the Skyhawk.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Why Eurofighter was named Typhoon
Thank you Ken for the brief history. -Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Why Eurofighter was named Typhoon
I haven’t the faintest idea what the Germans named their aircraft 😮 . Sure you’ve got the Bf-109, Fw-190, Me 262 etc. but did they have names or were the names always given in German?
The Luftwaffe did not like the name at all and they expressed that point. The Typhoon of WW2 did a lot of damage to the German Army.
I have no idea why the Luftwaffe doesn’t name the EF-2000 by another name? During WW2 the Royal Navy called the F-4F Wildcat the Martlet IIIB.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Russia Cuts Back on Fifth Generation
I read a news brief in “Flight International Magazine” -12/??/05
United Bank -Moscow, a venture capital bank in a report feels that MiG and Suhkoi need to join together in order to remain competitive in the world market.
It is banks like this that recommend yes or no to these foreign investors about where to place their money. Banks like this is where companies like these go when they need large amount of money. So people listen to these reports.
The Russian Government has not spent enough money to keep either company open over the last fifthteen years. It was international investors that kept both companies open, and it was them who were the first to call for the two companies to merge. The PAK-FA is their only real chance at recovering their investment.
Russia will build the PAK-FA because that is where the largest potential market is. The market for the F-22 type aircraft is not great. The market for the “F-35 type” aircraft is huge. New radars and IRST systems mean that while they can function in combat, in an high intensity conflict, stealth to some real degree will be needed to avoid high attrition warfare. Third and fourth generation aircraft will be comming up on the end of the life of their airframes. They will also be at the end of their usefullness in upgrades and these will need to be replace. This market will be for well over four thousand aircraft!
There is one real problem, if Russia enters the market to late it will be very difficult to sell enough PAK-FA’s to break even with the money spent. It will take a total sales of at least five hundred aircraft to break even.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Passive radar on aircraft?
F-22 as its primary sensor (AN/ALR-94; and yes, its accurate enough to determine a target track for missile engagement).
True and the range of detection is almost three times as greater than the APG-77!
Digital RWRs can detect LPI, software programmed to analyze incoming radiation & detect LPI signals/ patterns.
LPI or not, a radar still have to illuminate the target with a powerful beam so that the returned signal (which is weak compared to the signal gathered by the target) is above the sensitivity level of the antenna. That’s more than enough for a good wide band RWR to determine it’s being painted.
Incorrect, LPI’s are just that not much chance to detect them. The F-22 is special in that each pulse is a different frequency -across several frequency bands. The radars for the F-14D and F-15C both have had LPI radars for a long time but, the AN/APG-77 is a whole new animal.
RWR’s look for a pattern, frequency of which it can recognize. LPI don’t follow this pattern. Add to this that if you are not approaching a LPI AESA headon, the direction of the signal is also changing. The AN/APG-77 radar transmitting power level is low enough and reciever sensativity great enough that it can detect an enemy aircraft with its active radar and the RWR recieving the signals will recognize the signal as “background random radiation”!
the 77 is still detectable…honestly today, with COTS processors all over the place, is there even such a thing as lack of processing power? The software is the tricky part, that & the ability to make sense of rapidly changing frequency agile low power signals and detect that signature..
Recognize that there are levels of COTS technology. What is produced by AMD, Intel, etc. is the latest in technology at a reasonable price! There are companies which produce COTS for super computers and workstations, where the price is a lot higher but, they are listed as COTS. They are COTS products also and their level of technology is greater than the microprocessors which power today’s PC’s. (If you were building a custom car, you could buy a engine for a Ford Focus or a Volvo…. they are both standard engines not custom engines.)
The trick is not just to design a good computer but, one of whom its architecture can be changed with little effort with a significant improvement in computing power. There is a reason the F-22’s computer has the computing power of two cray supercomputers with the ability to grow another 50%!
the apg-77 is very rarely switched on in a coordinated raptor fight according to the pilots
True, why take a chance on an enemy ESM recording data and after the battle goes back and analyize and discover that the “-77’s” signal was indeed detected. So, most often the F-22 that has his radar on, is just gathering data for other F-22’s in some other direction and, transmitting the information by ‘burst’ of data.
So while sometime in the future some RWRs will be able to detect radars that are state of the art today, the F-22 you detect might just be a decoy and when you head for it your group gets blind-sided -ambushed.
Soviet/Russian R-27P designed for just that – for engaging emmiting sources including aircrafts. This is perfect weapon in-service for your task.
It first must detect the signal as being man made and not natural background radiation. The other feature is the sensors on a missile tend not to be as sensative as the onboard sensors.
Current estimates are that Sukhoi Su-30MK Barrs radar can detect the F-22 at 18-20Km (11¼-12½ miles) but, the sensors aboard the Adder missile have to get within 2-3Km (1¼-1⅞ miles) for detection for terminal guidance!
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Raptor vs S-300/S-400 SAM
the point of stealth technology; stealth aircraft like the F-22A or B-2 are NOT invisible, they are just detected at greatly reduced ranges.
Correct, thus reducing the reaction time to counter the threat.
What kind of range can you get on a JDAM dropped from 50K?
The test done earlier this year, the F-22 at 50,000 feet and at Mach 1.5 dropped a JDAM at a range of 24 nautical miles (27 statue miles, 43.2 km).
The F-22 recently has been cleared for operations at 60,000 feet!
They would be deluding themselves.
No just the usual bantering going on between offense and defense.
To the credit of the Russian design bureaus, most of their more modern “double digit” SAMs are advertised as having the capability to engage ARMs and/or PGMs.
Do you think Russia would spend so much effort on stealth for their fifth generation aircraft if they felt stealth was useless?? Both the PAK-FA and the new air superiority fighter are to have true stealth, not a token amount like the new European aircraft.
Russia is spending about USD $1.5B which represents about 20% of the money needed through production.
most of their more modern “double digit” SAMs are advertised as having the capability to engage ARMs and/or PGMs. Bombs? I dunno, not sure if I’ve heard that one before.
Yes while impressive there is no information on what range this can be accomplished. Plus the standard PGM has a larger RCS than the F-22!
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Secondhand F-117’s for the IDF?
The IDF would not want the F-117 because its attack ability is more limited than the F-35. The F-117 is designed for killing high value targets at night. The Israelis want a more all around aircraft that could dogfight as well as drop bombs. The F-35 will also be the cheapest aircraft to maintain compared to any aircraft in service as well as any in developement! All of its major avionics are designed for lifetime reliability!!!
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: Super Hornet’s Performance!?
Good point about the F20… and what a plane. It spanked early F16 in almost every performance characteristic!
Not quite, the F-16A had excess power the F-20 did not. The F-16 was the closest fighter to what John Boyd wanted. His energy maneuvering theory was the new religeon in the Pentagon. The fuel fraction of the F-16 was higher than for any USAF jet (I don’t know what it was for the P-51?).
Its size is relatively comparable to a F-15 now. I was wondering how does the F/A-18E/F compares with say the latest version of F-15E+/K/SG…?
Boeing did a study of that exact situation and their conclusion was the only thing the F/A-18E/F was to land on a carrier!!!
F-15E carries a heavier warload, at a longer range, out turns, climbs, etc., plus cost less!
Now, the current situation with the SH having the AN/APG-79 AESA radar gives it a big advantage (in BVR) until the F-15E gets the equivilent to the AN/APG-63(V)2, designed with modifications needed for the “E, S or, K” type variants. The same situation with the helmet aiming system (JHMCS) for the “-9X”.
I talked to a F/A-18F pilot at the Salinas Airshow in Oct. 2004. He said in today’s world a plane takes off carrying a variety of weapons. Most all the time few weapons are used which means the F/A-18C/D must jettison some of the weapons just come aboard the carrier. The E/F can take-off with a larger weapons load and return with that weapons. This allows a far greater flexibility in carrier operations. It allows a smaller number of aircraft to maintain a higher coverage for several different missions.
Can the E/F maneuver as well as the C/D, no? It can dogfight as well as the C/D because of the AN/APG-79 radar in BVR and the HMDS -9X in WVR.
I then asked him how do you like the E/F compared to the F-14D? He said he preferred the E/F because the HOTAS is more complete, there is little he has to do that causes him to take his hands off the throttle and stick, especially as combat approaches. There are a lot more radar modes available to the pilot without the assistance of the RIO. I didn’t ask him, “does that mean there is less for the RIO to do? DAMN… I could kick myself now. I know for the FAC mission the RIO is an integral part, exactly what the RIO’s function in the E/F I do not know.
I did make mention of the fact that a test pilot for the Rafale described it as a “omni-role” fighter to which he said, “that is interesting.” He had a big smile for he felt that applied to the E/F also. A jack of all trades….
I said, “the F-18E/F community has done a poor job of explaining the benefits of the E/F over the C/D or F-14D for the current Navy.” He just shrugged his shoulders.
Adrian
Adrian_44RE: “The rest of the story” on the Super Hornet Raptor “kill”…
Thanx a million, for this posting. I appreciate the additional details.
Adrian
Sign In
