Fantastic images, Gavin. Thanks for posting. 🙂

Great atmospheric shots. Thanks for sharing!

Air Force Releases F-15 Crash Animation

http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=203425

Some F-15Cs were active at Lakenheath on the 9th Jan.

U.S. says Iranian gunboats harassed warships

Some interesting news above.

No doubt the conspiracy nuts will be claiming that Iran shot them down!

‘2 Hornets crash in Persian Gulf, crews safe’

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_hornets_crash_080107w/

‘Staff report
Posted : Monday Jan 7, 2008 15:44:08 EST

Two F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets from the carrier Harry S. Truman collided in midair over the northern Persian Gulf on Monday afternoon. Rescue teams saved the three aviators involved in the crash and safely returned all three to the ship.

The two planes — a single-pilot F/A-18E and a two-seat F/A-18F from the Truman’s embarked Carrier Air Wing 3 — were flying over the Gulf en route to a close air support mission in Iraq when the two Super Hornets crashed into each other, according to an official Navy statement.

The Super Hornets’ mission to Iraq makes it unlikely their collision was related to an incident Monday at the south end of the Persian Gulf when five Iranian attack boats harassed three U.S. warships emerging from the Strait of Hormuz, said 5th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via a satellite video link.

The naval aviators returned to the Truman by helicopter for medical treatment and are reportedly in “good condition,” Cosgriff said.’

We’ll have to waite and see, btw you do know that during the DesertStorm the coallition lost 63 planes (38 U.S.) Iran will do more than 38

You do realise how many combat sorties the Coalition flew during the Gulf in 1991? And for those losses how much equipment did the Iraqi’s lose? Consider how many Iraqi aircraft were lost in comparison? Chased from the skies and waiting to get plinked all they could do was fly hundreds to Iran.

The Iranian air force chiefs of staff know that they will lose their airfields and with it a large proportion of their fighter capability. Do you think they are going to sit down and explain that to the Iranian leaders? No, of course not.

The Iranians leaders believe that their air force will be slicing the ‘infidels’ from the sky! No Iranian air force chief is going to risk losing his job by giving the leadership a reality check. They are quite happy to continue flying their aircraft for as long as possible. They are quite content to put on a propaganda show in extensive annual exercises and have praise and decorations languished upon them. In a conflict with the U.S. the Iranians would be better off flying their aircraft up the Caspian Sea to sanctuary in Russia.

Meanwhile the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Air Force nutters will be attempting to fly their bombed up Su-25s into U.S. aircraft carriers. 1man, how far do you think they will get? Remember to tune into ‘Tehran Bob’ to see the Iranians churning out snippets of western vessels being blown up in old test footage.

Well like I said they can’t hit what they can’t see or know is an airbase, for all we know Iran could have already built these bases 2003/4 so one would have to post a U.S. military links showing “No construction has be built in odd area’s as off today”

So now they’ve already built them? Make your mind up will you?! Built them and saving them for a rainy day! Utter nonsense. And these bases are for operation of such aircraft as F-14s, F-5s and F-4s. Remember that F-4 and F-14 bases are going to get their runways plinked, yet you have these airframes escaping to and operating from these ‘secret airbases’. How long do you think that these ‘secret bases’ now crammed with aircraft will go undetected in conflict?

You are aware of how long a runway an F-14 or F-4 requires, yet you continue to believe that such a structure, or its construction will not be visible by overhead collection? What next? Have they covered them up all with sand and will sweep them clear when the ‘infidels’ come?! I’ll leave you to your world of fantasy!

Yes airbases can be built somewhere else and made small, for an imediate war, scince the U.S. will be coming from the west, they can put the planes closer to Iraq, and away from there normal bases, the U.S. wouldn’t know were they’re at unless they’re seem putting the planes, there, and ofcourse your gonna reply with that same excuse of “The U.S. will be watching evrywhere they’ll be no room to move” well that doesn’t happen in the real world, I’m not saying they will do this exactly like I’m describing, but they’ll do things that won’t be expected.

Still not thinking 1Man. For your ‘secret airbase’ magic plan to work the Iranians would have to be deploying and exercising on a regular basis. All those Iranian large scale exercises over the years and those ‘small secret airbases – close to the Iraqi border’ are not visible?

Think about it 1man! You are aware that such bases have to be protected by air defences. The movement and deployment testing and training of air defences cue such assets as imagery. You simply can’t hide an ‘airbase’ as you describe it. You have to train and deploy for such off-base operations under realistic conditions. Such aircraft as F-14s, F-4s, and F-5 – the bulk of the Iranian air assets – require clean paved operating surfaces. You can’t simply hide such an expanse of fixed infrastructure and the deployment of large numbers of fighter aircraft to such a base. How are you going to cover up aircraft heat signatures/afterburner plumes from overhead collection systems?

You might as well be telling me that the F-14s and F-5s are going to be zero-length launched from under cover of mosque domes! On the command the mosques domes are going to open up and the fighters launched!

I’m afraid that you are living in a fantasy world! The Iranians are exactly in the same position as the Iraqis in 1991. They have no solution to losing their large paved airfields.

1MAN wrote

2. The U.S. Military put that “canister” there inorder to justify “evidence” Iraq had WMD’s 1 canister would not have been found but thousands, if Iraq had WMD’s, oh but wait, you’ll have to stay there another 10 years to find the rest right

Read the report. The munitions were deemed to be the remnants of the Iraqi WMD programme. You are aware that hundreds of tons of WMD were destroyed by the U.N? Even the Iraqi’s couldn’t account for every shell produced or say with certainty that they were all destroyed. The U.N. investigation teams found that the Iraqi marking of chemical shells was not uniform. Even in 2002 UNSCOM were still finding chemical shells at sites previously searched. Do you not think that under such chaos that some of the thousands of tons of WMD were going to be unaccounted for?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/2004/isg-final-report/isg-final-report_vol3_cw-anx-f.htm

Read the UNSCOM report

http://www.fas.org/news/un/iraq/s/990125/dis-chem.htm

Here is the UNSCOM findings at Al Muthanna during 1996. Even though the site had been searched in 1996 UNMOVIC inspectors were still finding mustard-gas artillery rounds in 2002.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/muthanna.htm

From a 1996 inspection

“62. As a consequence, the decision was taken to excavate several destroyed buildings at Al Muthanna, the site of Iraq’s largest chemical weapons research and production facility. Since their aerial bombardment in February 1991, access to the buildings had been considered impossible owing to safety considerations. Nevertheless the Commission decided that it should make a major effort to excavate the site. From 24 February to 10 March 1996, UNSCOM 129B, an international team of 26 inspectors, excavated six sections of buildings at Al Muthanna and searched a number of other areas and buildings.

63. During this dangerous and demanding mission, the team discovered and retrieved some 5,000 pages of printed materials. These included numerous bound volumes, memoranda, organizational papers, booklets, letters, archive records, approximately 100 computer discs, books, catalogues and published journals. Some articles were intact, while others were in fragments. In addition, the team removed some 80 munitions and components, including 122 millimetre artillery chemical warheads and 155 millimetre “binary” artillery shells. Iraq contributed to the success of the inspection through the provision of technical support, including labour and heavy engineering equipment. This assistance was given without any problems or delays. The Commission’s experts are currently working on the translation and analysis of the newly recovered material. These results may help speed up the verification of Iraq’s declarations in the chemical weapons area.”