SM-3 could well be going ASAT,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7245578.stm

Suck on that China.:diablo:

Depending on the max altitude the SM-3 could reach while still having the necessary kinematics to kill the satellite, it might not be. Remember this particular satellite is nearly at entry interface altitude, not in a stable, useful altitude any other satellite would be placed in.

I think they still have five; aircraft commander, copilot, EWO, nav, and radar nav. Why the navs and EWOs aren’t dual-qualified like the B-1’s WSOs are, is another story…

PBAR

Correct on the B-52 crew members. The tail gunner MOS was discontinued ~93 IIRC. I do know 0 H models arrived at Barksdale with guns in the tails. Several neighbors when I lived at Barksdale were gunners and either left the service or retrained, mostly to loadmasters so they could keep flight pay.

The extra seat is still installed and used for IP’s or relief pilot on ferry missions (Diego or Guam).

I wonder how these Russian defense systems show on their western aircraft’s radar warning receivers? Does it show as a hostile site or friendly?

I wonder why the first one was jockey-ing the throttles like that and why the second one was in burner for so long. I’ve seen Bones take off and even seen an alert scramble from Dyess, but never seen one stay in blower for that long. It would make sense if they were going from Nellis to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl flyover since that’s just a quick hop and they would be fat on fuel.

The only more impressive AB display I’ve ever seen was in 88 or 89 when the SR-71 visited Barksdale for the Proud Shield symposium. He did a low pass and lit them off. The flames seemed to be 100ft long to my 12 year old eyes.

If the Soviet Shuttle was a copy of the US shuttle why was the Soviet shuttle 20 tons lighter?

You said it yourself. The Buran didn’t have it’s own launch propulsion engines. All the energy for launch comes from the Energyia.

Imagine the size of the components the ISS could be made of if the Buran was operational?

Don’t you mean “if Energyia was used to launch the components instead of Proton rockets with later Shuttle add-ons?”. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Buran cargo hold was of a similar volume to the shuttle’s was it not? Sure it could carry more weight on launch because it didn’t have to lift it’s own engines, but the size of objects carried would be similar.

I’d look like this:

😀

I’ve always thought the F-15 needed a second underwing pylon. One what could carry real ordinance, not just an ECM pod. Just look at all that wasted space.

If only others could see it this way.:diablo:

It doesn’t suit their purposes to see it this way.:rolleyes: