Rapier01

Correct

The Raptor is full operational as far as the aircraft is concerned. All the stuff with life-support system has more or less been taken care of about a year ago. But with the sequester, a number of units were grounded, but they're back up until the next government shut-down or other buffoonery on the Hill causes another debacle. But in any case, the USAF is looking at further training hour cuts in the '14 budget and probably the '15 budget.

You are quite correct, sir. http://news.usni.org/2013/11/05/lockheed-martin-sr-72-plane-paper

He's not being forced out. But he was cryptic on his future plans... I think the general consensus here in DC is that the Admiral got this program on the right track-at least as much on the right track as humanly possible. I know General Bogdan, he'll be a damn good program manager.

No, he is. Talked to him yesterday.

That was the idea... especially since I know exactly how that original very one sided report got out.

Well, that's why I put that DEW Line post up. I literally cut and pasted from the article I wrote months ago when this bufoonery popped up again.

You're still alive... good to see you back.

The purported German "victory" is less than it seems. I was there and I also talked to the US pilots-- they say pretty much the opposite of what Germans said. http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-german-eurofighters-impress-during-red-flag-debut-373312/

It's almost certainly the MiG-31 unless there are some MiG-25s left in service somewhere... in which case it's the MiG-25.

The terminology may be getting us screwed up here... But the F-22 is designed to display to the pilot a fused, corolated picture of what's going on 360 degrees around the jet. I've seen the sim myself and talked to dozens of Raptor pilots and program guys about this for years. That's the radar and ALR-94 plus whatever it recieves via the Link-16 and IFDL and what not... Bottomline, the jet fuses that data and displays it to the guy in the cockpit so that he can make the tactical decisions he needs to--it's actually quite similar to the F-35's displays in many respects (which I've seen the uncl

The Marines are already getting 80 F-35C models to cover their squadrons that deploy with Navy carrier air wings. The rest of the USMC fleet wil be comprised of 340 F-35Bs. The USMC originally just wanted 420 F-35Bs to replace the F/A-18 and AV-8B, but the Navy didn't want the B-models on the carriers because it would screw up the launch and recovery cycle. So the USMC is basically being forced to buy 80 C-models. Mark, as you may or may not be aware, Elmendorf has already got a bunch of Increment 3.1 equipped Raptors that are upgraded with SAR radar mapping and Small Diameter Bomb capabi

They're not. They are actually the newest jets. The original Raptors at Langley were shipped off to Holloman, Hickam and Nellis when the Lot 8,9,and 10 jets started to arrive.

Apparently, up to 300 knots the Harrier will out accelerate anything short of a Raptor, but then the drag from that intake is just too much and it hits a brick wall.

Some more details about Eglin http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120228/DEFREG02/302280012/Eglin-Pilots-Should-Take-Air-F-35-Next-Week-USAF?odyssey=tab|topnews|img|FRONTPAGE