Last F-22 Rolled Off Line Today

Woot! Right next to me

 

Seen it! very good and its kind of what I was refering to.

 

Are the Marines gettind rid of the Harrier? I freakin loved that plane, I wanted to fly those a while ago.

Oh I live near the Marietta plant, it is cool seeing unpainted F-22's flyin around with the F-16 chase plane.

 

... ^^^ ... I used to live in Marietta and see the cool planes there and Air Force One would come in so low (over hwy 41) that you could see the pilot ...
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Nice! Dobbins gets in a good mix of various aircraft. the C-5's are always cool, but i see lots of 18's. 16's, v-22, C-17's. Up in Kennesaw I see AH-1's every not and then.

I will be happy to leave GA though in a few months. It shouldn't feel like August in April.

 

1.) That F-22 in Alaska hit the ground at abut 1000 mph.

2.) It is a POS.

3.) The Harrier is a POS as well. That cool VTOL shit was without much ord.

4.) The military waste more money between 8am and 10am than most countries spend on defense in a month. The F-22 is yet another example of politics over protection.

 

Wow

I couldn't agree more

 

Wow, a lot of hating going on here... The OBOGS was a problem but there was also a bleed air issue with the aircraft that crashed in Alaska. The avionics did crap out over the dateline the first time they flew over, but it's not the first plane to have that issue. I have handled many of these jets and feel deep in my heart that they are not pieces of shit. It is easy to sit back and say empty insults without knowing the full capabilities. Being "out of gas" after a thrust vectored flight in an F-22 is still more efficiant than the F-15 which is still an incredible aircraft too, just outdated. I will refrain from more comments due to my personal attachment, but if we all knew what these jets were capable of...there would be a lot less dispute. All jets break at times and all have bugs when they start out. This jet has made advances faster than previouse fighters and not all things can be made from the lowest bidder from what I've seen.

 

Damn I miss The F-14.. But anyway what is the next up and coming plane?

 

No ones saying its not cool or whatever and I know from personal experience that working on fighter attack aircraft are a blast. It's just not practical. It's like taking your Ferrari to a
Honda show. It's not needed. Neither is the F-35. Let me ask you this. The platform's avionics and weapon systems were engineered in the mid 90's. How much do you think it cost to upgrade that? I have a computer from 2003 that I will never use again. It's been replaced. Why pay so much money for something that is so expensive to upgrade? why not make a user friendly interface that can be constantly upgraded as the technology changes? Everyone wants to make money off this when the core purpose of the aircraft is to protect freedom and democracy around the world right? It's rediculous.

 

I HATE when legacy maintainers say that. Yes the raptor has its down side but so does everything else. BUT it will out perform the F15/16.

No thats true. I worked that jet a year prior to it crashing. Yes it was part of the OBOGS. But the jet was so destroyed. I remember having a commanders call about it that next morning when the jet didnt return that night.

 

I couldnt have said it better myself. I was starting to get angry about all the other comments.. I miss working those jets.

 

YF23 was a far superior bird from the git-go, but it was political from the git-go, and Northrop had one problem in that the engines were not ready for the test article in time for the beginning of the fly-off, so the first demo flight was with smoky engines.

Gave the pentagon a legit excuse to hang the decision on... "Supposed to be stealth and it leaves a mile-long smoke trail"

Plus Northrop/MDC had recently been awarded the B2 and C17, and military contracts have always been about spreading the cash around among the contractors.

 

The F35 is being touted as the replacement for the F16, AV8B, and A10 for CAS.


What's that they say... jack of all trades, master of none?

 

Also the carrier version could replace the FA-18 and EA-18 which would be wonderful but we can all dream can't we.

 

Although wait till that single engine dies and you are
1000 miles from land

 

.
IIRC ... the military brass did not like the "looks" of the YF-23 and also tried to kill the A-10 because it was ugly. And the A-10 has been a huge success in both costs & performance.

Very true about spreading the $$$ around too to keep all in business to bid on projects later.

Defense contractors in the US used to be "niche builders" (certain products for certain companies) until all the mergers & acquisitions blurred those lines.
.

 

Bingo.

We'll see what happens, but I don't see the Navy buying the F35 for carrier operations.

The YF16 was put up against the YF17 and the Pentagon's idea was to use the winner for all branches, in no small part due to engine parts commonality with the F15.
Navy said "fuck you, we want 2 engines" and commissioned the upgrade of the -17 design into the F/A-18.

 

It's already been tested and approve for carrier operations after delivery

 

Yup... I remember when it was "retired" but never really retired because of Desert Storm.

Ugly?

Ugly is in the eye of the pilot.
One of my first RC models was an A-10 slope glider, and I've always wanted to build a ducted fan model.

Ugly?

What's ugly about a titanium bathtub with a big assed gun strapped to the bottom of it?