The crew is officially missing, says so in your own link.
It’s not looking good though.
What about the Su-34? Is it even available for export?
A squadron or two of Hellducks would make for a nice deterrent, counter to those F-15Es etc. and of course an ideal replacement for the lost Su-24 fleet.
What Scooter said, and:
154th Wing, Elmendorf AFB – ANG unit
199th Fighter Squadron
– 19th Fighter Squadron, 15 Wing (Active PACAF) – ACTIVE ASSOCIATE UNIT TO 154 WING
They are based at Hickam AFB, Hawaii.
Oh, and the 325th Fighter Wing ist based at Tyndall AFB, Florida.
The wiki list seems to be correct with the exception of the 8th FS.
Quote from said list:
The United States Air Force is the only operator of the F-22. It ordered 187 aircraft with the last received by early Q2 2012.[273][274] By November 2012, crashes had reduced numbers to 182.[275] It is operated by the following commands:
F-22 Raptor at Houston’s Ellington Field from Tyndall AFBAir Combat Command
1st Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, Virginia
27th Fighter Squadron – The first combat F-22 squadron. Began conversion in December 2005.[276]
94th Fighter Squadron
49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico[277]
7th Fighter Squadron
8th Fighter Squadron
53d Wing, Eglin AFB, Florida
422d Test and Evaluation Squadron – The “Green Bats” squadron is responsible for operational testing, tactics development and evaluation for the F-22 at Nellis AFB, Nevada.[278]
57th Wing, Nellis AFB, Nevada
433d Weapons Squadron[279]
325th Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB, Florida
43d Fighter Squadron – The first squadron to operate the F-22 and continues to serve as the Formal Training Unit.[280] Known as the “Hornets”, the 43d was re-activated at Tyndall in 2002.Air Force Materiel Command
412th Test Wing, Edwards AFB, California
411th Flight Test Squadron – Conducted competition between YF-22 and YF-23 from 1989–1991. Continues to conduct flight test on F-22 armaments and upgrades.Pacific Air Forces
3d Wing, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska
90th Fighter Squadron – Converted from F-15Es; first F-22A arrived 8 August 2007.[281][282]
525th Fighter Squadron
15th Wing, Hickam AFB, Hawaii
19th Fighter Squadron – Active Associate PACAF squadron to the 199th Fighter Squadron (Hawaii Air National Guard). [N 4]Air National Guard
192d Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, Virginia
149th Fighter Squadron, Virginia Air National Guard – Associate ANG squadron to the 1st Fighter Wing (Air Combat Command).
154th Wing, Hickam AFB, Hawaii[284]
199th Fighter Squadron, Hawaii Air National GuardAir Force Reserve Command
44th Fighter Group, Holloman AFB, New Mexico[285]
301st Fighter Squadron – Associate AFRC squadron to the 49th Fighter Wing (Air Combat Command).
477th Fighter Group, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska
302d Fighter Squadron – Associate AFRC squadron to the 3d Wing (Pacific Air Forces).
Here’s an operational one: http://www.airliners.net/photo/Israel—Air/McDonnell-Douglas-F-15A/1123691/L/&sid=f9afd6a70edb89ccd8fa7d05b8d2aa71
The improved Baz update is comparable to the USAF MSIP so I assume the radar has been upgraded in a similar way.
Israeli F-15A-D with AMRAAM:
Note: it is an A model and it is at an airshow so it might not necessarily be an operational loadout…
Does the AIM-9 in that last photo cant outwards or is it just me? What would be the purpose of that? (Always wondered that when looking at the Magic missile installation on the Mirage III.
Yes, the Sidewinder rails are canted outwards: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-35_weapon_layout.jpg
Whether that’s for stealth reasons, clearence or maybe both I don’t remember.
@ 1batfastard: No doubt you had difficulties finding those pics. No external loads apart from Sidewinders, the gun pod and empty pylons have been flown to date. 😉
Hi All,
SpudmanWP,
And after what I said about your picture 😮
Berkut,
Cgi I don’t think so I assume it comes from the same camera artist who’s shot in particular is the last of these in the provided link.
http://http://www.jeffhead.com/usn21/f35.htm
In the meantime doesn’t this have the Aim9-L/M ? also the thread is ‘Just A Nice Pic’
Geoff.
The picture you posted is indeed a CGI, isn’t it obvious? Just like the last pic in your link.
And no, the Sidewinder on that F-35B is an X-model. But it is a nice pic I agree 🙂
Typhoon was never meant to replace the Tornado. The secondary A/G role was required to replace the Jaguars and maybe other light attack jets.
There were airframe changes on T2 and following Typhoons to cope with increased weight.
The F-15 on the other hand always was A/G capable and needed no changes except of course fitting bomb racks. It wasn’t an USAF requirement, but the F-15A could use various guided and unguided bombs. A/G radar modes were later deleted on USAF A and B models to provide more A/A modes. The C model with increased computer capacity reinstated A/G capability and some USAF units even practised bomb runs.
Or, just reply with Spinal Tap quotes.
Nigel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
Martin: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel: Exactly!
Martin: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Martin: I don’t know.
Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Martin: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder!
Martin: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?*Pause……..*
Nigel: These go to eleven!
It comes across better with Nigel explaining:
The Gripen too has the most useful dump-and-burn-feature.
Not quite as impressive as the F-111, but better than nothing: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3457/3763354770_520cb9bc11_o.jpg
I’m slightly worried now as I couldn’t locate the fuel dump exhaust on the Gripen Demo…
They do use AIM-7’s on board carrier. But i see much of the SH carrying A2A missiles and carry fuel tanks in VFA-102, no bombs. They mostly use the SH as a refueler and air to air platform. Never saw any bombs attached to the SH in VFA-102, only saw a little bit.
I think VFA-102 uses the SH mostly for air-to-air, air defence and refueler.
Have a pic of SH carrying AIM-7 Sparrow while on board carrier.
Nice, but that is also a training round.
I don’t think they use the SH mostly for A/A and refuelling since thats mainly a single seaters job (not that they don’t do A/G). F models are better suited for A/G work.
I too like the Gripen esp. the NG and not just because its destined to join the Swiss AF 😉
The NG version is a massive improvement not least in the stores department. A-D Gripen only has 4 stations available when carrying more than one tank which is a bit shabby.
Some pics with live ammo, and one with a load of dumb bombs:
No, all squadrons are multi-role, hence the VFA designation.
In the pics they are carrying Sparrows for training sorties. For real ops, they would use AMRAAMs. Not sure if live Sparrows are actually onboard carriers these days.
That isn’t a missile but a rocket, the nuclear tipped AIR-2 Genie to be precise.
Since this is sort of an inconclusive discussion, as nobody can predict the future, I will throw out a random bit of legacy Hornet trivia:
What other operational strike aircraft used the exact same engine/fuel gauge as the F/A-18 A/B?
The F-117? It’s more or less cobbled together from F-16/F-18 parts.