Cool! A labor union site!

A Labor Union site which just happens to be sending it’s members to Everett Washington for “Meetings”!

Interestingly the START I treaty expires in 2009 so after that Backfires can have their inflight refuelling equipment reinstalled… That would make them much more useful regarding range and payload options because to take off with a full payload of 24 tons they have to offload a large amount of fuel. Being able to top up with fuel after takeoff would greatly improve their performance…

That would also mean the external hardpoints for the B-1 would be back in play since they were restricted by START 1.

I too think the second pic is a Fulcrum. It’s the wingtips and LERX that do it for me. From the video and pics, it does not look like the tips are cut like the F-15’s and I can’t make out the squared intakes an F-15 would show from the bottom.

Thanks for the info Ken

It sounds a lot of effort on behalf of the Soviets in reconverting from tanker to bomber?

I have always wondered how the Russian’s (especially their Afghan War vets) must have viewed the American invasion of Afghanistan and their apparent ease of smashing the Taliban?
But with many years on – I wonder what these same Russian veterans must be thinking know?
Pity?

Regards
Pioneer

Probably what they figured out at the time and what we’re finding out in Iraq now…. you can’t win a ground war without the support of a majority of the local population, otherwise you’re always surrounded by potential enemies with no reliable intelligence on those enemies. From what I understand about the Soviet/Afghan war, those directing the Soviet side of the war had little respect for the Muhajadeen fighters and never came up with an effective strategy to counter them, allowing themselves to be bogged down and worn down.

When the US went to war against the Taliban, we had an allied force of Afghans on the ground (the Northern Alliance) who was able to provide some security and intelligence on the Taliban, in return for advisers, weapons and air support. That combination, for the most part worked there. The difference in Iraq is the lack of support from a majority of the local population.

That should be the case iregardles of any Air Force program.

Do you realize how smoother that would make this country run?

The giveaway on John’s pic is the static dischargers on the outside of the wingtip in addition to the ones on the trailing edge. That is definitely a B-1 wingtip. Where’s the rest of it, though?

Something I find strange is the jump from the first part of the vid to the shoot down. How are the two parts related? If not, why show the first part? Maybe just to get a bit of identifiable coast line to prove that this incident was over Georgen territory? But why can’t they have just released the entire vid?

Something else strange is how the drone knew the Fulcrum or Flanker was there at all. Would have been awefully lucky for the ground crew to have just noticed it as they were panning from one ground target to another. Especially if the Russian jet came in guns blazing and fired as soon as in range.

Another part of the video shows radar tracks of the Mig inbound, during the attack and a high speed egress. The operators likely had some warning and were looking for it. Other than the scene showing the mig rolling in on the drone, the video is edited. CNN has a slightly different version with additional narrative.