mind, this FB-22 will not be the greatly enlarged delta-winged F135-engined plane detailed in popular sci some years back. it’s just a slightly stretched F-22A with bigger wing and deeper weapons bay. a second crewman is a possibility. sounds good too, and much cheaper than pop sci’s version.

it’ll be interesting to see how “low-observable” they can make those wing pylons. i figure they’ll still wreck the plane’s RCS…

i thought one of the main reasons for a two engine jet is that if one engine fails you can still nurse the plane back to base on the other… perhaps the plane was too low for the pilot to regain control after the failure? the article seems to pretend MiG-29s only have one engine (“its engine”).

Optical sensors, drop of horizon, long-range fire in short form. 🙂

i suppose a sensor-equipped crow’s nest would do the trick? 😀 (climbs up rope-ladder with binoculars….)

if the Raptor isn’t stealthy… then what is? and if nothing can be stealthy, what’s the point of such a description anyway?

maybe he’s confused the jurassic-age dinosaur Raptor with the 21st century one…. a big dinosaur like that definitely isn’t stealthy haha.

the ‘Vark, along with the A-6, has got to be one of the few fighters where you can make out in the cockpit. hmm…. “c*ck” and “pit”, now that u realise it hehe. i wonder if F-111s ever flew with mixed-gender crews? 😀

for civvie purposes i suppose cheaper groundbased radars and airport control towers and the odd ATC centre will suffice. you don’t need such humongous range and you won’t be expecting fighters sneaking up on you at 100ft.

all nuclear weapons to me are big time BS, undesirable, ugly, stupid, stinky and every single bad name in existence and including those bad names yet to be invented. 😡 (this goes also for those who invented them and those who still make money with them)
sorry but i hate nukes with passion
Camaro.

i think nukes should only be used against alien motherships and incoming earth-threatening asteroids.

hmm. i don’t think that’s anything that can’t be done with a modern computer and some good algorithms. UAVs and autopilots nowadays already do better than that rat brain in the F-22 simulator.

i’m not doubting the potential of this though – soon organic artificial brains would probably indeed be more powerful than chips-and-wire computers. bioneural gelpacks anyone?