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#11
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"Harry Andreas" wrote in message ... In article , Scott Ferrin wrote: 4. *shudder* buy "Super"Hornets for the Air Force? And start a whole new logistics tail? Not bloody likely. An RPL model based COTS logistics trail used in the F/A-18E is not optional. It is the future and the major reason to believe the F-35 will have a better chance of success than the obsolete logistics system the F-22 sufferers from. It could be very educational for USAF to see how USN has applied AFRL's changes. |
#12
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"Scott Ferrin" wrote in message ... On Tue, 6 Apr 2004 12:12:16 +0300, "Yama" I'm not sure you can just insert F119 to F-15. Very costly anyway. However if F-22 is canned, some sort of Eagle upgrade is obvious. That's not what I said. Gut the F-22 of electronics and use Strike Eagle avionics in an F-22 engine/airframe. Think an F-22 that is a Strike Eagle under the skin. My bad, I misread. Anyway, my uninformed opinion is it wouldn't much good either. |
#13
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"Yama" wrote in message ... If we were to be gutting electronics, a transfer from the F/A-18E into some Super Eagle would be a low risk option. The electrics in the F/A-18A were basicly F-15 developed, including the FBW system. Such a change would also introduce USAF procurement to the present, as defined by AFRL's changes. |
#14
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"John Cook" wrote in message ... IF F-35 ever gets ready...and it can't really replace F-22 in any case. Unless given more money... There's several tens of billion dollars if the F-22 is cancelled, the JSF price just took another hike, I'm on the record as saying something's got to give as the numbers don't stack up, Oh, they will, when you increase the budget a bit... 5. Buy foreign? Not a hope, but out of interest - if forced to which would the US prefer Typhoon, Rafale, or a Russian jobbie. It would never happen in a million years. No, make that a billion. However should the decision come to that I don't see why they would choose anything else than Typhoon; French have too many systems totally unique to them, to say nothing about Russian planes. Whether Typhoon is the best available plane, is totally another can of worms... I'm on record saying in 1997 or so that cancelling F-22 would be gigantically stupid because the program is too far advanced. Cancelling it now would be...well, something. Its only development money:-) , hopefully the JSF will be better managed, canceling the F-22 only means a red face for the US, but its the lengths they will go to avoid canceling it, that's the real question, if the reports of the F-22 being a bit of a lemon are true how far will they go to defend it. At some point, programs will proceed to point where you just have to soak it up even if things are not progressing 100%, because cancelling it will be even more expensive (in the long term). In case of F-22, that point IMHO has been reached years ago. Of course it doesn't mean that it CANNOT be cancelled... |
#15
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On Tue, 06 Apr 2004 14:40:52 -0600, Scott Ferrin
wrote: Not a hope, but out of interest - if forced to which would the US prefer Typhoon, Rafale, or a Russian jobbie. Out of those options IMO since none of them are stealth aircraft the best way to go would be to start with a gutted Su-37 and stuff it with American engines, avionics and weapons but chances are even if the US could make itself do that, by the time they were happy with the aircraft it would be damn near as expensive as the F-22. Err, you've lost me here. Not only would the US be more liekly to buy even a French aircraft than a Russian one, the Su-37 is not in any way a stealth aircraft - from the front you can see both compressor faces. Both the Typhoon and Rafale were designed with some reduced observables involved. Typhoons and Rafales seem like nonstarters for the simple reason that whatever aircraft is chosen would also do air to ground. Let's see you hang a 5000lb PGM or two on either of those aircraft. Sure you can go on about small bombs etc. but it's tough to duplicate the flexibility of being able to carry a heavy load. Again, you've lost me - we're talking about an F-22 replacement - I've not seen any proposals to hang TWO 5000lb weapons on them. Given the options of Typhoon, Rafale, and SU-whatever, I just don't see an option other than Typhoon. Be nice to get more funding for things like tranche 3 and the radar upgrades. --- Peter Kemp Life is short - drink faster |
#16
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Out of those options IMO since none of them are stealth aircraft the best way to go would be to start with a gutted Su-37 and stuff it with American engines, avionics and weapons but chances are even if the US could make itself do that, by the time they were happy with the aircraft it would be damn near as expensive as the F-22. Err, you've lost me here. Not only would the US be more liekly to buy even a French aircraft than a Russian one, the Su-37 is not in any way a stealth aircraft - from the front you can see both compressor faces. Both the Typhoon and Rafale were designed with some reduced observables involved. That's one of the things they'd likely fix if they went with the Flanker. They could put in the radar blockers like in the Super Hornet to hide the compressor faces. Typhoons and Rafales seem like nonstarters for the simple reason that whatever aircraft is chosen would also do air to ground. Let's see you hang a 5000lb PGM or two on either of those aircraft. Sure you can go on about small bombs etc. but it's tough to duplicate the flexibility of being able to carry a heavy load. Again, you've lost me - we're talking about an F-22 replacement - I've not seen any proposals to hang TWO 5000lb weapons on them. How 'bout two 7500lb weapons? One of the things being looked at is carrying a Lockheed Minion UCAV under each wing. Also on the F-22 each of the four pylons is stressed for 5000lb so if they wanted to carry multiple 5000lb weapons they could. The Flanker can carry a Sunburn so 5000lb weapons wouldn't present a problem from a load perspective. Given the options of Typhoon, Rafale, and SU-whatever, I just don't see an option other than Typhoon. Be nice to get more funding for things like tranche 3 and the radar upgrades. The Typhoon would be the most palatable from a political standpoint but I'd think any foreign solution would be political suicide for anybody involved in the decision. I'm wondering if maybe the US has lost the expertise and vision needed to see a program through to completion. B-2, Commanche, F-22 has been stretched out for nearly a decade (it was originally intended to be in service in 1995) and the problems with the F-35 are just starting to be shown. I don't think it's a question of technology but more of a lack of talent in management, planning, and dumbf--k politicians. But hey that's just my opinion. |
#17
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"Scott Ferrin" wrote in message ... Out of those options IMO since none of them are stealth aircraft the best way to go would be to start with a gutted Su-37 and stuff it with American engines, avionics and weapons but chances are even if the US could make itself do that, by the time they were happy with the aircraft it would be damn near as expensive as the F-22. Err, you've lost me here. Not only would the US be more liekly to buy even a French aircraft than a Russian one, the Su-37 is not in any way a stealth aircraft - from the front you can see both compressor faces. Both the Typhoon and Rafale were designed with some reduced observables involved. That's one of the things they'd likely fix if they went with the Flanker. They could put in the radar blockers like in the Super Hornet to hide the compressor faces. I don't think it would necessarily be that easy, nor are the turbines the only source for a return. The Su-37 is anything but a stealthy platform (all sorts of sharp angles, canards, big whomping flat surfaces, etc., not to mention no ability to carry internal stores, which is about the only way you are going to achieve true stealthiness). Typhoons and Rafales seem like nonstarters for the simple reason that whatever aircraft is chosen would also do air to ground. Let's see you hang a 5000lb PGM or two on either of those aircraft. Sure you can go on about small bombs etc. but it's tough to duplicate the flexibility of being able to carry a heavy load. Again, you've lost me - we're talking about an F-22 replacement - I've not seen any proposals to hang TWO 5000lb weapons on them. How 'bout two 7500lb weapons? One of the things being looked at is carrying a Lockheed Minion UCAV under each wing. Also on the F-22 each of the four pylons is stressed for 5000lb so if they wanted to carry multiple 5000lb weapons they could. The Flanker can carry a Sunburn so 5000lb weapons wouldn't present a problem from a load perspective. Where have you seen *any* kind of requirement for the F/A-22 to carry 5000 pound munitions? GBU-37 is apparently the biggest "regular" bomb we now have in the inventory (at about 4000 pounds), and it remains the property of the big boys (specifically the B-2). In fact, the reasoning is going in the opposite direction--they have already done some shape-mating work with the SDB on the F/A-22--nobody has even mentioned making the GBU-37 a fit for the F/A-22. Given the options of Typhoon, Rafale, and SU-whatever, I just don't see an option other than Typhoon. Be nice to get more funding for things like tranche 3 and the radar upgrades. The Typhoon would be the most palatable from a political standpoint but I'd think any foreign solution would be political suicide for anybody involved in the decision. I'm wondering if maybe the US has lost the expertise and vision needed to see a program through to completion. B-2, Commanche, F-22 has been stretched out for nearly a decade (it was originally intended to be in service in 1995) and the problems with the F-35 are just starting to be shown. I don't think it's a question of technology but more of a lack of talent in management, planning, and dumbf--k politicians. But hey that's just my opinion. And B-2 has done fairly well so far, albeit in a niche role for which it was not originally really intended. Your statement in regards to a lack of expertise or vision is a bit disconcerting--I imagine had you been around back in the days when the F-16 went from being a true lightweight to a multi-role platform before it even entered into service (with attendant design changes), or when the F-15 went through its original rather abysmal operational readiness rate due to a radar that was down more than it was up, or when the F-14 was experiencing some rather nasty teething troubles, you'd have claimed the same thing? You are amazed that the F-35 is experiencing some development problems? Gee whiz, who would have thunk it--they should be able to just slap one together, kick the tires, and zoom off into the wild blue, keeping the myriad different customers both here and abroad smiling the whole time, right? Fact is that aircraft these days are *much* more complex than they were forty or fifty years ago, and development timelines are extended across the board (note the length of the Typhoon and Rafale development?); add to that the fact that many of these programs were originally conceived under a drastically different threat scenario and you can begin to see *why* there have been significant changes in the fundamental basis underlying such systems. Yeah, there are SNAFU's; and sometimes even programs that *deserve* to be cut (witness both Commanche and Crusader); but methinks you are being a bit too quick with your knife in regards to "expertise" and "vision". Brooks |
#18
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6.Call Northrop,and have 'em make some F-23's? Awww never mind :-)
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#19
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That's one of the things they'd likely fix if they went with the Flanker. They could put in the radar blockers like in the Super Hornet to hide the compressor faces. I don't think it would necessarily be that easy, nor are the turbines the only source for a return. The Su-37 is anything but a stealthy platform (all sorts of sharp angles, canards, big whomping flat surfaces, etc., not to mention no ability to carry internal stores, which is about the only way you are going to achieve true stealthiness). Whoa. I NEVER claimed the Flanker was stealthy :-) I said IF the US were going to purchase it they'd want to tweak it to reduce the RCS. I mentioned those blockers (I don't recall the "official" name for them) as an example of what they could do. Typhoons and Rafales seem like nonstarters for the simple reason that whatever aircraft is chosen would also do air to ground. Let's see you hang a 5000lb PGM or two on either of those aircraft. Sure you can go on about small bombs etc. but it's tough to duplicate the flexibility of being able to carry a heavy load. Again, you've lost me - we're talking about an F-22 replacement - I've not seen any proposals to hang TWO 5000lb weapons on them. How 'bout two 7500lb weapons? One of the things being looked at is carrying a Lockheed Minion UCAV under each wing. Also on the F-22 each of the four pylons is stressed for 5000lb so if they wanted to carry multiple 5000lb weapons they could. The Flanker can carry a Sunburn so 5000lb weapons wouldn't present a problem from a load perspective. Where have you seen *any* kind of requirement for the F/A-22 to carry 5000 pound munitions? The four underwing hardpoints are rated at 5000 pounds. Roughly the weight of a 600 gallon tank with 2 AIM-120s on siderails. Lockheed themselves mentioned the Minion UCAV (search r.a.m. for "Minion" on dejanews) and it would weigh 7500 pounds. So though the *requirement* to carry one may not be there, if they decide to do more than SDBs on it it would be able to handle it. GBU-37 is apparently the biggest "regular" bomb we now have in the inventory (at about 4000 pounds), and it remains the property of the big boys (specifically the B-2). The GBU-28 is used on the F-15 and it is roughly 4700lbs. The GBU-28 is a laser guided bomb. The GBU-37 replaces the laser guidance with GPS so the B-2 can carry it. There really is no reason why they *couldn't* drop the GBU-37 from the F-22 other than software changes and flight testing that would have to be done. The point is it COULD do it and the F-15 CAN do it. To cancel the F-22 and replace it with the Typhoon would eliminate that capability. In theory even the F-35 would be able to handle it. It's pylons are supposedly 5000 for the inners and 2500 for the outers. In fact, the reasoning is going in the opposite direction--they have already done some shape-mating work with the SDB on the F/A-22--nobody has even mentioned making the GBU-37 a fit for the F/A-22. I don't think that's what I said. I was saying they COULD if they needed to since the airframe is already stressed for it. I don't know that you could say the same for the Typhoon or Rafale. The centerline on the Flanker is pretty beefy though to carry that Sunburn. And B-2 has done fairly well so far, albeit in a niche role for which it was not originally really intended. Your statement in regards to a lack of expertise or vision is a bit disconcerting--I imagine had you been around back in the days when the F-16 went from being a true lightweight to a multi-role platform before it even entered into service (with attendant design changes), or when the F-15 went through its original rather abysmal operational readiness rate due to a radar that was down more than it was up, or when the F-14 was experiencing some rather nasty teething troubles, you'd have claimed the same thing? No. (Acutally my dad took me to Hill AFB when they had the open house to show off their brand new F-16s so I was around. . .sorta :-) ). The F-14, 15, and 16s eventually got to where they were cranking them out regularly and the price was under control. The times from prototype 1st flight to inservice were approximately: F-14 First flight 12/21/70 In service: Two squadrons deployed 9/74 So from first flight to well into service: 3yrs 9 mo F-15: First flight 7/27/72 In service: First deliveries to Langley 1/76 So roughly: 3 yrs. 6mo. F-16: YF-16A first flight 1/21/74 In service: Hill AFB got their first on January 6 1979 and had 102 by the end of 1980 So roughly: 5 yrs. F-117: Have Blue 1st Flight 12/1/77 F-117 in service: 10/83 So roughly: 6 yrs. (To be fair the F-117s 1st flight was in '81 which would make it 2-3 yrs) F-22: YF-22A first flight 9/29/90 In service: 2005 estimated So roughly: FIFTEEN YEARS. Commanche: First flight 1/4/96 Cancelled 1/23/04 Eight years and hadn't gone into service yet when it was cancelled. F-35: X-35 1st flgiht 10/24/00 In service: 2008 supposedly. You are amazed that the F-35 is experiencing some development problems? Gee whiz, who would have thunk it--they should be able to just slap one together, kick the tires, and zoom off into the wild blue, keeping the myriad different customers both here and abroad smiling the whole time, right? Chill :-) No I don't think that. But the magnitude of the weight problem is. . .well, I'd think "alarming" would be accurate. Fact is that aircraft these days are *much* more complex than they were forty or fifty years ago, and development timelines are extended across the board (note the length of the Typhoon and Rafale development?); add to that the fact that many of these programs were originally conceived under a drastically different threat scenario and you can begin to see *why* there have been significant changes in the fundamental basis underlying such systems. Yeah, there are SNAFU's; and sometimes even programs that *deserve* to be cut (witness both Commanche and Crusader); but methinks you are being a bit too quick with your knife in regards to "expertise" and "vision". Brooks Perhaps (God I hope so). But there are too many days when you hear about so-and-so whining because a program is somehow much more expensive then they thought so they want to stretch it out or a program has a MINOR problem so up go the red flags everwhere and out come the politicians, hearings, and so on and so forth with everybody looking more to cover their own asses than trying to solve or even understand the problem. Anymore the big ticket items tend to sound like one cluster f--- after another. And then there's the other end of the spectrum when you keep personel to a minimum, nobody who doesn't need to has even *heard* of the program, and they achieve seeming miracles. I realize Rutan's rocket isn't an F-22 but look what Scaled Composites has achieved on their relatively miniscule budget. Anyway enough of this rant. And it's not just with military equipment anyway; just look at the mess of a space program we have. Okay I'm stoping. (Time for my meds LOL) |
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