I remember this commercial when Ford was aggresively advertising the new Mustang. I thought it was a great spot to have Steve McQueen footage for the commercial.
Although I am not a Ford guy, I have to admit the new Mustang GT is a hell of a machine! It looks sharp and has the retro feel any Mustang afficianado would love!

I have followed the events which have transpired in the affected areas by watching updates on the news or by reading various newspaper editions. I was shockled to see how much devastation had been caused by this hurricane. The media is reporting that once the bill will be tallied, there could be close to thirty billion dollars in insurance claims and expenses to rebuild what was destroyed.

However, what hurts the most is seeing the loss of life caused by this storm. They are talking in the thousands now, as many are beginning to be reported missing by their loved ones! The desperation shown is hearbreaking and somewhat reminds me of what happened in Asia in December. A state of martial law has been imposed in order to control those who have been looting and to make it easier for rescuers to do their job.

I would like to extend my deepest sentiments to all who have lost a relative or a friend! My thoughts are also with those who will have to rebuild their lives from scratch through no fault of their own, but because they stood in the path of mother nature!

Shadow: mate I have had a long running battle with Alex the webmaster of the -technology sites. I keep him updated with military info but he never updates his stuff, I’ve just about given up on pushing for the Mi-26 to be listed on any of his three sites (Army, Navy, Air Force). He has said to me that the dynamic of the machine is so fluent that it can’t be placed in any one of these sites. I countered that there are many such systems that are in more than one site e.g NH-90 but that was the last I heard.

Maybe this guy shouldn’t be running the sites. :rolleyes:
That being said, I wonder what the Americans think of this potential deal. Do they view this as a threat to their Indian/{acific Ocean operations or do they see this as a way to maintain a certain proficiency level by organizing war games with the Indian Navy!

Can ya not speak in Scottish please lad

I merely thanked Steph for the incredible pictures and told him that I would be in France, hopefully sometime around Christmas time. I was hoping to make a quick trip to Toulouse to get a close look at the A380.

I actually had given quite a bit of thought to naval forces in the next 20 years, and came up with the following conclusions:

1)Aircraft Carriers are just sitting ducks for supersonic-hypersonic cruise missiles fired from SSNs from a great distance away which would make detection impossible. The nature of air-defense systems dictate that once the speed of a missile exceeds around Mach 3.5, it would be difficult to exterminate that threat.

2)Fast, high-powered, quiet subs will be important in future naval warfare. I am envisioning subs that would mainly carry cruise missiles with ranges exceeding 500 km.

3)Admittedly, USN SSNs are extremely capable and are the best in the world. That being said however, it is apparent that SSNs would not be able uphold the dominance USN currently holds over the Pacific. Let’s put it this way: the best chance for China to break out of US’ naval death-grasp is to initiate a naval-air blitzkrieg upon US naval and air bases in the Pacific, somehow disable them, and then quickly storm Taiwan. US SSNs are no help then. Nor are aircraft carriers, as they are not geared toward fighting high-altitude high-speed bombers, which I think is going to be a great priority to the Chinese, and which I believe they will be successful in acquiring.

The most important thing for China is to knock out the USN’s Pacific fleet in a very contracted period of time, which the Japanese in WW2 failed to do, including the fleet air arm, and also USAF bombers and strike aircraft stationed in the Pacific. Screw the Army, screw the Fighterjets, it’s the bombers and the strikers and the cruise-missile-launching SSNs that matter the most.

I think China is lucky in the respect that they could learn from the mistakes of the Japanese, if they do wish to use armed conflicts are a tool for clearing way for the Chinese rise. But generally, back to the topic, a full-out WW3 is really out of the question, whereas controlled, regional, short, capital-intensive, high-tech conflicts are possible, especially in the Pacific.

The Chinese military would have a hard time inflicting the amount of damage necessary to put the US Navy out of the equation. However, considering the amount of manpower China has at its disposal, anything is possible. On the other hand, the PLA would have to really bring the fight to them which, in the immediate, I don’t think they have that capability. It’s something that could happen in the next decade or so! Remember that the US has an incredible advantage on their side. Their technology is years ahead of anything the Chinese are presently developing. Again, this will change as China works with outside sources (France, Israel and so on…) to increase their competitiveness in the international scene. One only has to look at the J10 to know that China is slowly catching up to the west.

Not only would the Seawolf wreck havoc, but the first Virginia-Class subs are due to enter service in the next couple of years!

I agree, the Etihad livery does look good on the A332. Airline Owner is right, the second Etihad shot is very nice indeed. Has the flight test team accepted the second A380 into the flight test program yet and if so, when could we expect to see it flying?

The Catalina looks incredible and so does the Dakota. Both the Mustang and the Spit are beautiful as well!