Armchair Dragoons Forums

News:

  • The ACDC returns in 2025!  17-19 January 2025 we'll gather online for a variety of games and chats all weekend long
  • The 2024 Armchair Dragoons Fall Assembly will be held 11-13 October 2024 at The Gamer's Armory in Cary, NC (outside of Raleigh)

News

The ACDC returns in 2025!  17-19 January 2025 we'll gather online for a variety of games and chats all weekend long

Author Topic: F-35 News  (Read 61288 times)

bayonetbrant

  • Arrogance Mitigator & Event "Organizer"
  • Administrator
  • Staff Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 16185
  • Going mad, but at least going somewhere
    • Six Degrees of Radio
Reply #15 on: November 15, 2018, 01:57:36 PM
they're doubling the fleet with a 17-plane order? 

it's like they're working for the Biafran Air Force or something

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++

Random acts of genius and other inspirations of applied violence.
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Six Degrees of Radio for songs you should know by artists you should love


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #16 on: November 19, 2018, 02:50:34 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


bob48

  • Smeghead.
  • Warrant Officer
  • Lead Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 12353
Reply #17 on: November 19, 2018, 03:06:33 PM
Is that wise?

“O Lord God, let me not be disgraced in my old days.”

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #18 on: January 11, 2019, 07:00:52 AM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


ojsdad

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 2747
Reply #19 on: March 01, 2019, 04:26:10 PM
Glad to see the F-35 get some good press.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/time-when-f-35-stealth-fighter-took-place-10-warthog-45902

Quote
That Time When an F-35 Stealth Fighter Took the Place of an A-10 Warthog
And for a good reason.
by David Axe
Follow @daxe on Twitter

A U.S. Air Force A-10 Warthog squadron from Missouri deployed to Hawaii to train alongside the U.S. Marine Corps for one of the most dangerous missions in aerial warfare -- and one that's about to get a lot more dangerous.
Slipping past enemy defenses to rescue a downed pilot.

The A-10 soon might have company on such missions as other plane types, potentially including stealth fighters, join in. But a rescue pilot's experience level always will matter the most, regardless of the kind of plane they fly.

The 303rd Fighter Squadron, an Air Force Reserve Command unit whose home station is Whiteman Air Force Base, in February 2019 deployed to Marine Corps Base Hawaii. The squadron's A-10s took part in a range of realistic training events that took advantage of the nearly-four-decade-old Warthog's low speed, maneuverability and toughness.

The twin-engine, single-seat attack planes practiced refueling from austere airstrips. They escorted Marine Corps rotorcraft during simulated troop-transport missions. Perhaps most notably, they flew alongside Marine MV-22 tiltrotors and practiced a mission the U.S. military calls "tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel," or TRAP.

Official Pentagon photos of the training depict at least three A-10s carrying camera pods and external fuel tanks escorting at least two MV-22s over the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii's lush, green terrain.

"TRAP is a Marine Corps mission performed by any combination of aviation, ground or waterborne assets for the specific purpose of the recovery of personnel, equipment and/or aircraft when the tactical situation precludes search and rescue assets from responding and when survivors and their location have been confirmed, Joint Publication 3-50 , the Pentagon's official personnel-recovery guide explains.

In one famous example in 1995, Marine CH-53 helicopters transported a platoon of Marine riflemen into Bosnia to rescue U.S. Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady, whose F-16 had been shot down by a Serb SA-6 missile. Marine AV-8B attack planes escorted the CH-53s.

TRAP is dangerous, as it requires forces quickly to infiltrate enemy air space. The peril escalates as rescue forces approach the downed pilot. "This period is very dangerous because it requires two parties, unknown to each other and located in hostile territory, to meet without being detected by either enemy forces or elements of the local population and without compromising either party’s security," the recovery guide explains.

A-10s are ideal as rescue escorts. They can fly low and slow around the rescuers and the downed pilot, quickly peeling off to fire their guns at any enemy forces that threaten the recovery.

But flying low and slow could expose the Warthogs to enemy fire. TRAP could get more dangerous as that latest Russian- and Chinese-made air defenses proliferate and allied stealth aircraft penetrate deeper and deeper into enemy territory.
 
Critics of the A-10 contend that the 1970s-vintage, non-stealthy A-10 cannot survive high-tech enemy defenses. The Air Force as early as 2013 wanted prematurely wanted to retire its roughly 300 Warthogs in order to free up a few billion dollars for more F-35 stealth fighters.

Congress blocked the proposal and the A-10s remain in service -- and continue training for the TRAP mission.

Hedging its bets, the Air Force developed tactics for F-15Es, F-16s and even F-35s to help escort rescue forces. The 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada around 2016 began trying out F-15Es and F-16s in the rescue role and, according to Combat Aircraft magazine reporter Steve Davies, found that both could do the job, each in its own way.

But then the surprise. The squadron’s F-35s got involved.

"The F-35 was not a formal part of the test," Davies wrote, "but became involved only when the squadron commander needed an A-10 ... pilot and the only one available was a current F-35 pilot."

"In the middle of the test, we threw a couple of F-35s into the fray," Lt. Col. Joshua Wood, the 422nd TES’s commander, told Davies. The lead F-35 pilot, flying an older F-35A with rudimentary Block 1B software, wound up coordinating the entire mock rescue.

And excelling. "No kidding, he shows up and within five minutes on station he’s quarterbacked the whole thing," Wood recalled. "They’ve rescued the survivor and everyone goes home." Wood attributed the test success to the former A-10 pilot’s deep experience as a rescue-escort pilot — and to the F-35’s high-tech sensors.

But Wood stressed to Davies that the F-35 does TRAP differently than the A-10 does. Warthog pilots fly low and slow, keeping their eyes on the ground, both to take advantage of their plane’s toughness and excellent handling and to stay below enemy radar coverage.

F-35 pilots can fly high, beyond the reach of many enemy defenses. Which is good, because the F-35 comparatively is fragile. Fortunately, the lofty vantage also gives pilots a wider view of the battlefield for the stealth fighter’s sophisticated radar, electronic receivers and cameras.

It's the pilot that really matters. Which is why training, such as the 303rd Fighter Squadron experienced in Hawaii, is so important. "I’m not worried about the future of [the rescue mission]," Wood said, "because if I were looking at a scale of how important the platform is versus how important the training of the pilot is, I would say 75 percent is the pilot."

David Axe serves as Defense Editor of the National Interest. He is the author of the graphic novels   War Fix , War Is Boring  and Machete Squad .

Here at ACD, we all pee the same color.


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #20 on: March 14, 2019, 01:33:39 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


trailrunner

  • Corporal
  • **
  • Posts: 1076
Reply #21 on: March 14, 2019, 03:35:13 PM
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26939/japan-buying-joint-strike-missiles-for-its-f-35as-is-a-much-bigger-deal-than-it-sounds

I don’t think this is that big of a deal. The US is also going to put this Missile on the F-35 and there is benefit from commonality.

I’ve spent half my life’s earning on wargames, women, and drink. The rest I wasted.


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #22 on: March 14, 2019, 03:44:05 PM
It's a bigger deal for them than for us. It's one more indication of a departure of the Japanese military's post-war role as a "self-defense force". It provides a significant offensive capability to the F-35s operating off the new Japanese carriers. And it all serves to put China on notice.

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


Sir Slash

  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 5464
  • Head of the Honorable Order of Knights Hotwings
Reply #23 on: March 14, 2019, 03:46:38 PM
Bring back the Yamato!  :applause:

Any Day is a Good Day That Doesn't Involve Too Much Work or Too Little Gaming


BanzaiCat

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6640
  • Puns Puns Puns Puns
Reply #24 on: March 14, 2019, 04:05:34 PM
WWII Yamato or Space Battleship Yamato? ;D

============================================

Solosaurus Podcast: https://solosaurus.libsyn.com/
(includes Solosaurus Plays)


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #25 on: March 14, 2019, 04:13:52 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


Sir Slash

  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 5464
  • Head of the Honorable Order of Knights Hotwings
Reply #26 on: March 14, 2019, 07:44:23 PM
All the above as well as a larger than normal topless dancer I used to know that we called, "Yamato". She could sink the 7th Fleet.  :bigthumb:

Any Day is a Good Day That Doesn't Involve Too Much Work or Too Little Gaming


mirth

  • Cardboard Mohel
  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 7291
    • Armchair Dragoons
Reply #27 on: March 28, 2019, 07:37:15 PM

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


Sir Slash

  • Lance Sergeant
  • ****
  • Posts: 5464
  • Head of the Honorable Order of Knights Hotwings
Reply #28 on: March 28, 2019, 07:40:59 PM
Now everybody knows.  :doh:

Any Day is a Good Day That Doesn't Involve Too Much Work or Too Little Gaming


BanzaiCat

  • Patreon Supporters
  • Lance Sergeant
  • *
  • Posts: 6640
  • Puns Puns Puns Puns
Reply #29 on: March 28, 2019, 07:45:18 PM
Pretty sure China knew long before TheDrive did.

Then again, sometimes it's nice for protagonists to know how much of a butt-kicking for goodness they might get.

============================================

Solosaurus Podcast: https://solosaurus.libsyn.com/
(includes Solosaurus Plays)