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Maybe they'll declare war on Ukraine? I don't understand the thought process that Ukraine somehow should have their hands tied about what targets they can strike. I get that the rest of the world doesn't want to the war to bring other countries in, but Russia invaded and all of Russia's targets have been in Ukraine. Why should Ukraine be held back from striking Russia? With how much Russia is struggling against Ukraine, I don't imagine Putin wants the war to widen either. The interesting thing to think about if these are drone strikes; does Ukraine now have drones capable of reaching that long range of a target or are there Ukrainian SOF units inside Russia?

“Twitter using its power to silence misinformation is ok…. They are a private company entitled to treat the discourse on their platform to what they decide is truthful and fair…” *person with non liberal slant purchases twitter and even hints at changing the status quo* Facism! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

STS? Lol

I looked it up and according to the Marines website (https://www.aviation.marines.mil/About/Aircraft/Tilt-Rotor/) The inventory between the MV, CV, and HV (Navy) variants should total about 450. These started flying operationally in 2006 and have hit 700,000 hours in that time. For comparison, the U-28 fleet with 1/15 the fleet size, has amassed the same amount of hours approximately. I highlight this point purely to show that I really, really, really hope that the V-280 has alot of the maintenance issues figured out. I'll admit that the V-22 is much more complicated than a PC-12, but damn.

That thing looks like it'd be fun to fly. I've never flown a tilt rotor. I've always enjoyed watching them transition (sts) from a hover to forward flight. How does that feel in the cockpit?

Whatever you do, do NOT do option 2. Since you already have the AD slot, I suggest taking it. Further, I’ve heard of people swapping out to guard/reserves in the beginning of UPT - that’s something you can look in to. Would probably have more success trying to swap back to the old into that way anyways. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app

I do see some argument that there is a case to be made that keeping production giants in competition against each other over the life cycle of the platform versus the initial bid, does have some merit. Like any asset investment, its hedging the risk. So if in 5 years we determine the Bell is an absolute shit show in some capacity, perhaps that is now hedged by the Boeing product which is not quite overall as great, but at least does that one thing well. There's also the idea that you are keeping multiple production facilities open now which is a great hedge for a WW3 type event. Especially since Bell might be reliant on ball bearings but Boeing not so much. (This is all hypothetical). Maybe structure it so that the best overall performance to cost aircraft gets 2/3 to 3/4 of the buy and the remainder goes to the loser, but ONLY if the losing aircraft can still meet the contract minimums. In any case, I think the DoD does need to start getting more creative with how it buys/contracts. The B-21 thread is the perfect example. We are stuck in evolutions and not revolutions. At some point you can only invest in the same strategy for so long before the returns of that strategy diminish. I'm concerned the B-21 wont be the massive leap over the B-2 we need for the type of high tech warfare 2030 and beyond is looking to encapsulate.

I find Juan Brown is usually at least respectful. Dan Gryder is condescending and exceedingly full of himself.

Regarding Twitter’s duty to protect free speech by Rep Khanna, D-CA https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitters-duty-to-protect-free-speech-elon-musk-social-media-democracy-new-york-post-ideas-freedom-11670281265

Sounds like they took reasonable precautions to avoid injury or damage to persons or property.

It's like how you never go through dry and you can always save a landing...never go around!

Interesting, thanks for posting. Our CV-22s appear plagued by MX and parts issues; any idea if this program will avoid similar pitfalls?

100% right. The FBI had in their possession proof of multiple felonies. Instead of investigating or prosecuting, they hid those crimes and even deceived tech companies into thinking it was Russian disinformation so they would silence investigative journalists. This is deeply partisan criminal behavior, and clearly not an isolated incident. We have the largest and most advanced law-enforcement agency in the history of the world orchestrating third party First Amendment suppression, at massive scale, to manipulate citizens and change election outcomes. Is there a more serious scandal in American history?

Have you ever heard of 230? Of course there is a case when they hide behind 230. As for the FBI, it should be far more than criticism, the depths of rot are actually frightening. Just curious, have you looked at anything Elon has released? By name they have the FBI agent that met with Big Tech weekly SPECIFICALLY said there would be an October surprise and it would have something to do with Hunter Biden. They knew about the laptop, they knew it was real yet they put their fingers on the scales that at least impacted the election. I don't care which side of the aisle you are on, that should make your blood boil as an American.

Fact - Big Tech suppressed the laptop story. Fact - The FBI was meeting with Big Tech Weekly Of course you are not nearly as sure, because it didn't happen to your side. Please tell me one negative story about trump or his kids that was suppressed by Big Tech. Dear god, do you actually believe what you just typed. First, as you well know the attention span of the average American is at an all time low. Most Americans now get their news from social media. Additionally, we are completely politically bifurcated, it is the independents who decided most elections and the independents didn't know to go to the NY Post. Not only did they stop users from posting the story, they stopped it from being DM'd or shared on both Twitter and Facebook. Seriously brother, you are a smart dude, you have to understand how this suppressed the story. A story that was TRUE! Here is the money shot, you can't even comprehend that something nefarious might have happened. Sorry brother but I want to know the truth. Put aside your hate for the orange man and think about the long-term impacts on democracy and our way of governance. So flippant about the implications, anything for victory? As long as the Big Guy gets his 10% and you get rid of the orange man all is well...really sad, REALLY sad.

You must be exhausted looking for someone, with a (D) after their name, who makes any of those policies a priority. How do you even mine that information out of a candidate who’s party has been tirelessly combatting the horrific racism of daylight savings time, ensuring their neighbors, in the PTA, are on terrorist watch lists, and isn’t hopelessly perplexed by the complexities of X and Y chromosomes??

When you two are done giving each other a reach-around… Sent from my iPad using Baseops Network mobile app

As your roommate on 5 deployments and still AD slug, this hurts. I’ll forever treasure the memories of you crapping your pants in Bagram and owning that intel SrA in Call of Duty.

This conversation proved my point: you immediately jumped to conclusions with the rules and laws why it cannot be done before even understanding the proposal. Turns out your assumptions were false and his point was 100% valid. I have seen that microcosm of interaction play out many times over the past 20 years of GWOT, which we lost, because we real time litigated every engagement in a fools errand of “near certainty.” How different might the outcome had been had we violently seized the initiative and exploited every target of opportunity with lower standards for perfection in an inherently, messy business? We will never know because lawyers shut it down, prolonged the conflict, and claimed a moral high ground for doing so. We are not a nation of barbarians who revel in innocent bloodshed (unlike many of our enemies), so don’t start by assuming the worst. However, academic definitions of “wartime atrocities” developed over coffee in Brussels have handcuffed us beyond the ability to win against true barbarians. “It doesn’t bother you in the slightest” to see it differently, a luxury provided you by tacticians who took moral risk to attain victory.

A great Google Earth find...simply enter 32°04'02.0"N 64°51'00.0"E to see an A-10 conducting a gun run near Sangin Afghanistan.

The US Army has something like 2,100 Blackhawks, so I assume V-280 Valor buy will eventually be somewhere in that neighborhood. And obviously more opportunities to replace Air Force and Navy Blackhawk variants down the road, USMC H-1s / V-22s, etc. I don't like the "Winner take all" approach of these competitions. Proponents talk about "economies of scale," and the like, but there is never a focus on the benefits of a split buy. Keeping competition in the industrial base, for one. Along with protecting yourself from any technical/reliability issue grounding your entire fleet. I would have liked to see the US Army do a split buy between the Valor and the Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant-X.