Bye-bye F-35?

#357
#357
#361
#361
85SugarVol said:
I think their Tornado fleet carries them now
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They do, but the Raphael never got certified (if memory serves) which is why they were looking at the Super Hornet to replace them... which isn't nuclear certified either lol.

The F-35 is already certified for B61 ops. But honestly, I think they should have looked at the F-15EX instead if they were looking for a nuclear interdiction airframe. The F/A-18E just doesn't have the legs for a deep strike nuke mission. The F-35 does have good abilities, but I'd honestly think the new Eagle would be perfect for the role.

Regardless, the Tornado was certified while the Cold War was still going on. But those birds are showing their age.
 
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#362
#362
Grand Vol said:
They do, but the Raphael never got certified (if memory serves) which is why they were looking at the Super Hornet to replace them... which isn't nuclear certified either lol.

The F-35 is already certified for B61 ops. But honestly, I think they should have looked at the F-15EX instead if they were looking for a nuclear interdiction airframe. The F/A-18E just doesn't have the legs for a deep strike nuke mission. The F-35 does have good abilities, but I'd honestly think the new Eagle would be perfect for the role.

Regardless, the Tornado was certified while the Cold War was still going on. But those birds are showing their age.
Click to expand...
Yea it would appear the F-35 offensive capabilities are an “also can”. It’s a flying sensor suite.

I agree though - either a Strike Eagle or new EX would be a great platform (and economical).
 
#363
#363
Grand Vol said:
They do, but the Raphael never got certified (if memory serves) which is why they were looking at the Super Hornet to replace them... which isn't nuclear certified either lol.

The F-35 is already certified for B61 ops. But honestly, I think they should have looked at the F-15EX instead if they were looking for a nuclear interdiction airframe. The F/A-18E just doesn't have the legs for a deep strike nuke mission. The F-35 does have good abilities, but I'd honestly think the new Eagle would be perfect for the role.

Regardless, the Tornado was certified while the Cold War was still going on. But those birds are showing their age.
Click to expand...
I saw two F35s flying around Redstone last week. I've never 35's here before. I wondered if they were fitting it for some advanced missile system. Of course I wonder about a lot of things going on in this area.

This showed up on weather radar in Huntsville on a clear day a few years ago:

12877820-large.jpg

Redstone radar blob: 'Whatever it was' versus what we know it wasn't (updated)
 
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#364
#364
Hunerwadel said:
I saw two F35s flying around Redstone last week. I've never 35's here before. I wondered if they were fitting it for some advanced missile system. Of course I wonder about a lot of things going on in this area.

This showed up on weather radar in Huntsville on a clear day a few years ago:

View attachment 439629

Redstone radar blob: 'Whatever it was' versus what we know it wasn't (updated)
Click to expand...

That's just the mobile version of HAARP they installed in the F-35.

Nothing to see here...
 
#365
#365
85SugarVol said:
Yea it would appear the F-35 offensive capabilities are an “also can”. It’s a flying sensor suite.

I agree though - either a Strike Eagle or new EX would be a great platform (and economical).
Click to expand...

It would also help defray the development costs on our end...
 
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#366
#366
Grand Vol said:
They do, but the Raphael never got certified (if memory serves) which is why they were looking at the Super Hornet to replace them... which isn't nuclear certified either lol.

The F-35 is already certified for B61 ops. But honestly, I think they should have looked at the F-15EX instead if they were looking for a nuclear interdiction airframe. The F/A-18E just doesn't have the legs for a deep strike nuke mission. The F-35 does have good abilities, but I'd honestly think the new Eagle would be perfect for the role.

Regardless, the Tornado was certified while the Cold War was still going on. But those birds are showing their age.
Click to expand...

I always wondered what is specific to being nuclear certified..ie special arming switches I would imagine. I would hope our newest planes are EMP hardened with Faraday cages and such. They are basically placing supercomputers in these latest planes.
 
#368
#368
Hunerwadel said:
I saw two F35s flying around Redstone last week. I've never 35's here before. I wondered if they were fitting it for some advanced missile system. Of course I wonder about a lot of things going on in this area.

This showed up on weather radar in Huntsville on a clear day a few years ago:

View attachment 439629

Redstone radar blob: 'Whatever it was' versus what we know it wasn't (updated)
Click to expand...

I was driving in Huntsville on a back road years ago. I heard this swish on my car. When I got home I noticed hundreds of hardened small micron clear gel droplets on my windshield. It was so hard I had to take an ice scraper to get it off.Not sure if I got crop dusted with something or not but very weird.
 
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#372
#372
Orangeburst said:
Check out best F-15 display ever..F-15 MAKS Sunny. Dang thing does TV maneuvers which had never been displayed.

Edit: Might be the Cloudy day version. yea Cloudy.

Click to expand...


That is a bad ass machine.

How do those planes maintain lift flying upside down. I’ve often wondered that. I mean a commercial jet would surely stall out if it went inverted, right?
 
#373
#373
DC_Vol said:
That is a bad ass machine.

How do those planes maintain lift flying upside down. I’ve often wondered that. I mean a commercial jet would surely stall out if it went inverted, right?
Click to expand...

That is an F-15E which is not even as agile as the F-15C.. The Russians can do some crazy backflips and such so they are unreal really, but not sure if really useful as you always want to maintain energy in your flight. Looked for it online buy for years I used to subscribe to Air Forces Monthly and it had the photos.

Here it is..

 
#374
#374
Orangeburst said:
That is an F-15E which is not even as agile as the F-15C.. The Russians can do some crazy backflips and such so they are unreal really, but not sure if really useful as you always want to maintain energy in your flight. Looked for it online buy for years I used to subscribe to Air Forces Monthly and it had the photos.

Here it is..

Click to expand...


Big brass balls!
 
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