Military Affairs & History
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Military Affairs & History
So I guess this is the place to put this-as we turned right from University Blvd onto Business 376 today there was a C5 lined up and ready to go on 28R. I think Mrs F thought she was gonna need to search in her purse for some tissues.
What a freaking massive aircraft. Seeing that thing lumber into the sky is just ridiculous.
What a freaking massive aircraft. Seeing that thing lumber into the sky is just ridiculous.
Military Affairs & History
I was at an airshow at Andrews in the 80s and they had a C-5 'demo'. The narrator/crew chief said "According to our unofficial calculations, the Galaxy is capable of hauling 275,000............. cases of beer."
Military Affairs & History
Also, the larger the aircraft, the slower 150 KIAS appears to an observer. The first time I saw an A380 rotate, I was like "Nope. Not flying."
Military Affairs & History
Prior to the fireworks display tonight we had a flyby of a KC-10 Extender with the refueling probe extended. Not necessarily all that noteworthy, but we were in the hottub when it flew by at low altitude, so that was neat
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This article is a couple of years old but it makes me happy. My dad served on the Enterprise in the early to mid 1960s. Pretty cool that the deck he walked on is going to continue to be used actively for a long time.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... for-combat
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... for-combat
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Military Affairs & History
Very cool. I like how the Big E gave one of its 20,500 lb. anchors to the USS Lincoln.
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Right!?Very cool. I like how the Big E gave one of its 20,500 lb. anchors to the USS Lincoln.
If there's one thing I remember vividly from my cutter days, it was never wanting to get anywhere near the chain works/hawse pipe. It's insane how fast that chain goes when the anchor drops, and I cannot imagine an anchor that size.
Military Affairs & History
I've only seen 2 carriers up close in-person, and it's weird how the scale of the thing changes depending on your perspective.
The first time I saw one (Kennedy, CV-67) we were on Pier 12 at NB Norfolk and had just driven past the adjunct NAS, so I was like "Dude, that is waaaaay smaller than an airport! How the heck does that work?" And here we are 40 years later and I have die cast models of Navy jets on my bookshelf.
The next time was Fleet Week LA around 10 years ago and Lincoln (CVN-72) was open for ship tours. When I got aboard I was like Ron Burgundy in the bear pit..... "This ship is MASSIVE!"
The first time I saw one (Kennedy, CV-67) we were on Pier 12 at NB Norfolk and had just driven past the adjunct NAS, so I was like "Dude, that is waaaaay smaller than an airport! How the heck does that work?" And here we are 40 years later and I have die cast models of Navy jets on my bookshelf.
The next time was Fleet Week LA around 10 years ago and Lincoln (CVN-72) was open for ship tours. When I got aboard I was like Ron Burgundy in the bear pit..... "This ship is MASSIVE!"
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I didn't want this to get buried in the Halloween films discussion in the Movies thread, but Netflix has a Dutch film, The Forgotten Battle, about the battle for the Scheldt Estuary, which defended the pass into the port of Antwerp. Without taking the Scheldt, that port couldn't be used by the Allies.
It's got some great set piece battles, and a great scene of how terrible it was to ride into battle on a glider. I'm not 100% on the history of the battle, because it is indeed not talked a whole lot like Operation Market Garden or Normandy. Worth checking out though.
It's got some great set piece battles, and a great scene of how terrible it was to ride into battle on a glider. I'm not 100% on the history of the battle, because it is indeed not talked a whole lot like Operation Market Garden or Normandy. Worth checking out though.
Military Affairs & History
I've seen that promoted on PS4 Video for the last couple days, been wanting to check it out.
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https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... inson.html
The Navy has confirmed that the dramatic video of a F-35C Lightning II fighter crashing onto the USS Carl Vinson that began circulating on Reddit and Twitter on Sunday is genuine.
It's the third unauthorized release of media surrounding the Jan. 24 crash that injured seven people, including the pilot.
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There's some sailors who are going to get in trouble. And I'm not talking about the pilot
Military Affairs & History
I've watched a lot of breakdown videos of that mishap by former Naval Aviators, including LSOs and F-35 program pilots. The thing that stands out to me is there is genuine panic in the LSO's voice when they call the waveoff. Approaches are waved all the time at sea for a variety of reasons; fouled deck, sea state change, wind shift, bad approach late in the pass, etc. But there is anxiety in the LSO's voice as the jet rolls out on lineup, and that's uncommon. It wouldn't be surprising if all the Paddles on the LSO platform bailed into the safety netting. Ramp strikes are no joke.
Consensus opinion is that the pilot rolled out too low and too slow, by significant margins, and their sink rate was consequently waaaay too high as a result. (They look like they're holding AoA all the way down) There's some ongoing discussion as to the possible role some of the automated landing systems may have played, but the errors in altitude and speed and sink were so great that whatever the systems were doing the pilot didn't recognize the errors quickly enough. This was what's called a Case 1 approach, which is basically as favorable conditions as you ever get at sea.
Also, I've seen that 4 enlisted and a JO were Hulk-smashed for the leak of the PLAT video.
Consensus opinion is that the pilot rolled out too low and too slow, by significant margins, and their sink rate was consequently waaaay too high as a result. (They look like they're holding AoA all the way down) There's some ongoing discussion as to the possible role some of the automated landing systems may have played, but the errors in altitude and speed and sink were so great that whatever the systems were doing the pilot didn't recognize the errors quickly enough. This was what's called a Case 1 approach, which is basically as favorable conditions as you ever get at sea.
Also, I've seen that 4 enlisted and a JO were Hulk-smashed for the leak of the PLAT video.
Military Affairs & History
Don't know if this is true, but I saw a comment on a posting of that video where the commenter was saying that LSOs are trained to raise the tone and volume of what they are saying (basically, go ahead and yell) as things get more upside-down. It's supposed to be a signal to the pilot of just how bad things are getting.
Military Affairs & History
That's accurate, to an extent. But this zero-to-60 immediately.
Military Affairs & History
Well, yeah, but I'm thinking that's because the RSO could see that the aircraft was about to experience a 150-to-zero* (in knots) event, which is Not Good.
* Or whatever else the touchdown speed of an F-35C is.
* Or whatever else the touchdown speed of an F-35C is.
Military Affairs & History
https://www.army.mil/article/255827/arm ... n_contract
The Army announced today that Sig Sauer has won the Next Generation Squad Weapon competition and will receive a 10-year contract to provide two new weapons, the XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle (which will probably lose the "X" at some point to become the M5 and M250). Those will replace the M4/M4A1 carbine and the M249 SAW in Army service. The XM5 is based on the SIG MCX. Both the rifle and the SAW will be chambered in 6.8×51mm, which is also called the .277 SIG Fury in its non-military guise. The .277 Fury uses a "hybird" case with a stainless-steel case head locked to a brass body, and it runs at a max of 80,000 psi, which is way up there. Vortex Optics also won contracts to provide optics for both the new rifle and the SAW.
So after more than 50 years of service, it looks like the Army will be phasing out the direct-impingement AR system and returning to a piston-operated rifle, while also phasing out the 5.56 cartridge for its main rifles and light machine guns. Although reports do say that the M4 will continue for the foreseeable future to be issued to non-close-combat forces. This also means that SIG will now be making all of the Army's official handgun, rifle, and SAW.
The Army announced today that Sig Sauer has won the Next Generation Squad Weapon competition and will receive a 10-year contract to provide two new weapons, the XM5 Rifle and the XM250 Automatic Rifle (which will probably lose the "X" at some point to become the M5 and M250). Those will replace the M4/M4A1 carbine and the M249 SAW in Army service. The XM5 is based on the SIG MCX. Both the rifle and the SAW will be chambered in 6.8×51mm, which is also called the .277 SIG Fury in its non-military guise. The .277 Fury uses a "hybird" case with a stainless-steel case head locked to a brass body, and it runs at a max of 80,000 psi, which is way up there. Vortex Optics also won contracts to provide optics for both the new rifle and the SAW.
So after more than 50 years of service, it looks like the Army will be phasing out the direct-impingement AR system and returning to a piston-operated rifle, while also phasing out the 5.56 cartridge for its main rifles and light machine guns. Although reports do say that the M4 will continue for the foreseeable future to be issued to non-close-combat forces. This also means that SIG will now be making all of the Army's official handgun, rifle, and SAW.
Military Affairs & History
I know nothing about military aviation. I know many of you are experts. How much substance is in this interview?
https://www-idnes-cz.translate.goog/zpr ... r_pto=wapp
https://www-idnes-cz.translate.goog/zpr ... r_pto=wapp
Military Affairs & History
"Lockheed Martin's vice president"
Go ahead and call it quits right there, chief.
Go ahead and call it quits right there, chief.
Military Affairs & History
"The F-35 is the most affordable and most capable aircraft that is currently available for the next few decades."
Yeah, I would disagree with both the "affordable" and the "capable." The F-35 is not only overpriced, many of its systems don't even work, and that's after being in production for 10 years. If the Czech Air Force buys them, it will need to spend even more money in the future buying updates for parts and systems that currently don't work. Shoot, the F-35 hasn't yet been certified to drop/fire multiple of the bombs/missiles that it's supposed to be able to use.
I see the current Czech aircraft is the Saab Gripen C. If were in charge of the decision, I'd just buy more of the new E/F Gripens and be very happy with it.
Plus, who would the Czech Air Force ever possibly be fighting? As a NATO member, the most likely answer would be "the Russians," and looking at what's been going on in Ukraine, I'm thinking that the Czech Air Force could probably kick the Russians' asses while flying Cessnas. The Russian military is corrupt, outdated, and held together with duct tape. Saab E/F Gripens would be perfectly capable.
Yeah, I would disagree with both the "affordable" and the "capable." The F-35 is not only overpriced, many of its systems don't even work, and that's after being in production for 10 years. If the Czech Air Force buys them, it will need to spend even more money in the future buying updates for parts and systems that currently don't work. Shoot, the F-35 hasn't yet been certified to drop/fire multiple of the bombs/missiles that it's supposed to be able to use.
I see the current Czech aircraft is the Saab Gripen C. If were in charge of the decision, I'd just buy more of the new E/F Gripens and be very happy with it.
Plus, who would the Czech Air Force ever possibly be fighting? As a NATO member, the most likely answer would be "the Russians," and looking at what's been going on in Ukraine, I'm thinking that the Czech Air Force could probably kick the Russians' asses while flying Cessnas. The Russian military is corrupt, outdated, and held together with duct tape. Saab E/F Gripens would be perfectly capable.
Military Affairs & History
The SpaceX facilities in Boca Chica Texas are heavily recorded and photographed by space geeks, who have cameras and drones all over the place. (SpaceX, for its credit, doesn't work in secret and doesn't seem to care about people recording). Boca Chica is right along the shipping channel into Brownsville TX, and Brownsville is the home of International Shipbreaking Limited, LLC / EMR Brownsville, which is the largest shipbreaking facility in the United States. The folks at the NASASpaceflight YouTube channel recently recorded the former USS Kitty Hawk making her final voyage to the breakers.
Military Affairs & History
Makes me sad that these big boats will be scrapped.
(Or, you know, as a museum.)
Many years ago I donated money to the group that was trying to get USS Ranger (CV-61) to come to Long Beach where she would've been moored adjacent to RMS Queen Mary as a museum ship. There would've been a whole center dedicated to the history of Naval Aviation and the role Los Angeles played in the Navy through much of the 20th century (Lexington and Saratoga, the first two real carriers, were home ported here). That effort came to nothing, and ultimately in 2012 we got the USS Iowa (BB-61) battleship museum, and Ranger was scrapped six or seven years ago.
(Or, you know, as a museum.)
Many years ago I donated money to the group that was trying to get USS Ranger (CV-61) to come to Long Beach where she would've been moored adjacent to RMS Queen Mary as a museum ship. There would've been a whole center dedicated to the history of Naval Aviation and the role Los Angeles played in the Navy through much of the 20th century (Lexington and Saratoga, the first two real carriers, were home ported here). That effort came to nothing, and ultimately in 2012 we got the USS Iowa (BB-61) battleship museum, and Ranger was scrapped six or seven years ago.
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