^I actually rather suspect the F-35 won't be as much of a joke as people say. It's been doing very well in its tests

Scytale wrote:^I actually rather suspect the F-35 won't be as much of a joke as people say. It's been doing very well in its tests

The F-35 has not been doing well in its tests. It gets outmaneuvered by the 40 year old F-16, its massive VR helmet doesn't fit in the cockpit with the top closed, a couple have caught fire, it can't carry the ordinance designed for it, it's 10s of billions over budget. It's so bad, the USAF has forbidden pilots from speaking about.

Arclite wrote:

Scytale wrote:^I actually rather suspect the F-35 won't be as much of a joke as people say. It's been doing very well in its tests

The F-35 has not been doing well in its tests. It gets outmaneuvered by the 40 year old F-16, its massive VR helmet doesn't fit in the cockpit with the top closed, a couple have caught fire, it can't carry the ordinance designed for it, it's 10s of billions over budget. It's so bad, the USAF has forbidden pilots from speaking about.

Yes, the approach at that time was to develop one model for all purposes and just adjust it for the various branches (Navy, Air Force, Army), hoping for reduced dev time and cost. However, this approach failed badly, see the Wiki entry. In short: Over budget, too little ordonance capacity, too short flight range and too poor maneuverability. The F-22 Raptor doesn't have most of those issues, and it will be interesting to see if the Chinese (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang_J-31) and Russian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_PAK_FA) 5th generation fighters will come close or exceed their American counterparts.

That being said, I sure hope I'll never see those fighters engage each other in real action.

I think piloted fighters are obsolete these days. More so if they're semi-failed, over-budgeted projects. But hey, military usually goes against all logic, so what.

Lum wrote:I think piloted fighters are obsolete these days. More so if they're semi-failed, over-budgeted projects. But hey, military usually goes against all logic, so what.

Uhm, you do remember how the Iranians got that American Sentinel drone? See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%8 ... 0_incident

Just sayin'.

Oh no, you misunderstood... Piloted fighters are obsolete because that kind of war will soon become obsolete. That's also true for drones. Kudos for the iranies, at any rate

Lum wrote:Oh no, you misunderstood... Piloted fighters are obsolete because that kind of war will soon become obsolete. That's also true for drones. Kudos for the iranies, at any rate

I see this more as mankind becoming obsolete. I'm a German, and the American nukes on German soil (and even more so the modernized variants that German pilots - and other NATO partners - are supposed to be training with) send a shiver down my spine. The completely unnecessary stepping up the tensions by the US might soon enough lead to the next Cuban Crisis - and with loose cannons like the Poles, the Baltics or the Bulgarians you never know who has a twitchy trigger finger.

Netzbummler wrote:

Lum wrote:Oh no, you misunderstood... Piloted fighters are obsolete because that kind of war will soon become obsolete. That's also true for drones. Kudos for the iranies, at any rate

I see this more as mankind becoming obsolete. I'm a German, and the American nukes on German soil (and even more so the modernized variants that German pilots - and other NATO partners - are supposed to be training with) send a shiver down my spine. The completely unnecessary stepping up the tensions by the US might soon enough lead to the next Cuban Crisis - and with loose cannons like the Poles, the Baltics or the Bulgarians you never know who has a twitchy trigger finger.

Yeah I know, I'm sort of with you on that one. Lets us not derail this topic any further, though

Lum wrote: Yeah I know, I'm sort of with you on that one. Lets us not derail this topic any further, though

Yeah, right, this is not the place for politics. LT is a place of hope, peace and the occasional 50 megawatt plasma cannon.

I hear from Dino that Belgium is nice this time of year.

Yeah, right, this is not the place for politics. LT is a place of hope, peace and the occasional 50 megawatt plasma cannon.

If you can't say hello with a 50 megawatt plasma cannon or higher it's just not worth getting out of bed.

DWMagus wrote:I hear from Dino that Belgium is nice this time of year.

Oh yeah, if you like rain

Ledorian wrote:

Yeah, right, this is not the place for politics. LT is a place of hope, peace and the occasional 50 megawatt plasma cannon.

If you can't say hello with a 50 megawatt plasma cannon or higher it's just not worth getting out of bed.

"Ah, I love the smell of Na... a 50 megawatt plasma cannon in the morning!"

PLASMA ACCELERATORS

Take ANY matter (rock, atmosphere, wreckage) super-heat it, and chuck it at great speeds from a giant magnetic cannon at you'r proponent. Easy to find ammunition for, so if you are going to distant galaxies without rearming shipyards, this is you'r top pick.