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busdriver's summary above is spot on. I flew the CV for 12 years. I wouldn't say chip burns were a 'common' thing but a singular chip burn would be seen every so often. The only time I got multiple PRGB chip burns I turned home after the second one, had a third one on final, and subsequently MX found the gear box was chipped out. I was just doing local training, easy call to go home. I also flew over open ocean frequently and we would talk through various EPs that would suck (such as PRGB chips or a drive system failure). Overall, the general consensus was that unless we doing a no fail POTUS directed mission, don't fuck around with chips. Another thing from this accident that irks me is the rosy path we were led down by bell/boeing. We were always told to 'look for secondaries' associated with gear box chips. Well come to find out, you will see secondaries....about 6 seconds before the gearbox fails. Looking back, the logic was flawed. Reading through a lot of helicopter gearbox class A's shows that they don't give a whole lot of warning, such as loss of oil pressure, typically less than 30 seconds. The V-22 has an emergency lubrication system, that 'should' provide up to 30 minutes of lube. But that won't help if the loss of pressure is due to a gear coming apart. You just don't know what is failing inside the PRGB....not that it matters. Overall, I loved flying the Osprey. I firmly believe that if the Marana crash had not happened and set the political firestorm that was the V-22 program back then, people wouldn't be so emotional about the program as they are today. The safety record is smack in the middle of the pack. Oh and let's not forget that CAT5 lists the CV-22 on his bio....funny....because he crashed one.

I think the Blk3 Rhinos basically fit that description. Let’s just concentrate on those and speed up F-35 fixes/new shit 10x. Take NGAD tech and work what you can into F-35/Rhino. Start over for 6th gen with an IOC of 2035 - you’ve got 10+ fucking years acquisitions and industry, make it happen.

Possible extension of U-2 operations, according to noted British journalist Chris Pocock. Things are getting interesting, assuming he is somewhat accurate. https://dragonladytoday.com/2024/08/17/keep-the-u-2-by-downsizing-the-operation/

Dude abortion is a 70/30 issue these days. If it’s intentional then he’s intentionally being an idiot. The right wing religious types skew older and generally turn up in good numbers to vote anyway. Going hard on abortion buys you absolutely nothing. The people he’s firing up and driving to vote are on the left because he keeps handing talking points and OBGYN horror stories to the Dems on a velvet pillow. Outrage over the abortion issue already neutered the red wave that was supposed to happen in 2022, how many times do these guys have to lose to figure out it might be time to change strategy

If he is going to ramble he should just stand at the podium and say...Border!....Inflation!....Economy!

It's enough to give a man hope! How long is/was that transition from heavy to T38 course, anyway?

My only two not requested cents would be that light fighter also means light on the pocket book, the 5th gen light fighter concept looks cool but if it gets pricey (say above 65 million a tail) then it’s too expensive to buy, maintain and fly in quantity but too pricey for the amount of capes it brings per million versus an F-35. It needs to be cheap enough (but still relevant) to buy, fly and man at a significant multiplier to the heavy fighter (3 x sounds right) to bring a massed and concentrated capability to meet heavier and more capable platforms when need to fight in WW3 but as it was procured in quantity it can be dispersed to meet our diverse and world wide requirements (Europe, Asia, CENTCOM, etc…) Tejas Mk 1 comes in at around 37.5 and 4k an hour to fly, not sure about Mk 2 but just say 20% more to buy and 10% more to fly so that’s 45 mil a tail and 4.4 to fly, that’s affordable in the ARC to buy in quantity (500+) and fly and crew sustainably. Couple that with reciprocal buys of US equipment and further develop ties with India.

Knowledge Thanks

Recently discussed here. Save for the UCT studs, the T-1 is a gonner.

That’s what NGAD started as (open architecture, rapid adaptability, etc.) and then the mil industrial complex kicked it into 6th gear and fucked it all up. I don’t blame the AF for taking a pause after seeing some of the more recent costs and demands from industry. Acquisitions and industry - For the love of God, just fucking produce something that is relevant, adaptable, at least realistically affordable (even if still a rip off), and doesn’t take 20 years. Why is this so hard?

70 Years Ago This Week: 23 Aug 1954 -- First Flight of the YC-130 In 1954, President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower sat in the Oval Office; the US Air Force Academy was founded; and the first of over 2,500 Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft took to the skies. By that time, the Cold War was in full swing. The newly independent USAF had begun to recapitalize its fleet around the atomic bomb and the jet engine, with its tactical and mobility fleets making due with the World War II leftovers. Though those aircraft were less than a decade old, the intervening advent of the turbojet engine had ushered in a new era for aviation that made the classic piston-and-propeller propulsion combination nearly obsolete. The Korean War made clear the deficiencies of those legacy transports; what was needed was a medium-sized tactical airlifter for delivering heavier equipment or paratroops quickly and over long distances to combat areas, yet capable of operating from short, rough airfields. The key enabling technology was the turboprop engine. Standard turbojet engines that relied on expelling hot gas for thrust were terribly inefficient at low speeds, making them impractical for transports. The new concept of a turboprop engine instead harnessed the jet engine’s energy to drive a propeller, combing the compact power of the jet with subsonic efficiency of a propeller. Because the Air Force had ceded turboprop development to the Navy, while they focused on turbojets, they had to derive the intended engine from its sister service’s programs. In June 1950, the Air Force released the first General Operational Requirements Document for a new medium turboprop transport, with requests for proposals coming the following January. Of the five contractor submission, Lockheed was announced as the winner on 2 July 1951, receiving a contract to build two YC-130s on 11 July, powered by Allison T56 turboprops. The prototypes were designed and built at Lockheed’s California facilities—it was just then re-activating the former Marietta, Georgia, B-29 plant for future C-130 production. As legend has it, the Hercules’ mockup debut resulted in stunned silence...and not the good kind, because it bucked the sleek-and-streamlined trend of the early Jet Age. Skunk Works founder Kelly Johnson reportedly dismissed it entirely. On 23 August 1954, just about a year behind schedule (due to both engine & airplane delays), Lockheed test pilots Stan Beltz and Roy Wimmer, and two flight engineers, ran up the engines on the second YC-130, tail number 53-3397, in Burbank, California. Just 10 seconds and 855 feet later, their plane leapt into the air for the first flight of the C-130. An hour later, they landed at Edwards AFB where it would undergo the rest of its flight test program.

Today is 1 August... On this date in 1955, Tony LeVier went for a taxi test on Groom Lake in a new Lockheed aircraft that had yet to be flown. However, the aircraft had different plans, and before he knew it, Tony was airborne in what was the unplanned 1st flight of the U-2. So today, the pressure-breathing, pressure-suited prima donnas celebrate 69 years above 69,000 feet. And tomorrow, over 25% of all living U-2 pilots on the planet will gather for an exceptional Homecoming to celebrate the solo flights of what could be the last class of U-2 trainees. Hail Dragons

Recent history matters, and UKR has had their territorial sovereignty violated twice in the last decade by the same hostile invading force. That’s a fact. Im not missing all the history of UKR-RUS, and considering my job I’m probably more well-versed on their 30-year history and current ops than most anyone here, but none of that excuses Russia’s current actions. WRT our policy, you’re right. We do not have a good track record nation building. The ME was a fvcking whack-a-mole debacle on a lot of levels, even if some of it was unavoidable. I argue this is different, though. We are supporting a sovereign nation (not trying to build one) against a long-term adversary of the west (not a bunch of radical shitheads). That particulars adversary is the second most prominent member of the SCO and has committed a host of belligerent acts against us and our allies. We are collecting a ton of info for a relatively (good argument to be had here) low cost. There are significant 2/3 order effects - want RUS to have a land bridge to Moldova? This is not AFG 2.0.

One of the greatest has flown West. Maj Gen Pat Halloran was 95. He had 100 combat missions in the F-84 before being selected for the highly-secretive U-2 Program in the 1957 time frame. Pat went on to be one of only 18 pilots to check out in both the U-2 and SR-71. After retirement, be remained involved in flying experimental aircraft and homebuilts, including some very exotic replica aircraft from the Tom Wathen Collection, like the De Havilland Comet. He was a regular at Oshkosh. Just a fantastic guy and incredible pilot. A toast to the General...

Honeymoon may be coming to an end...the day before her speech at the DNC convention where she will role out epic spending in what is being called Bidenomics 2.0, the Labor Department revises job creation DOWN by 800,000. At the same time CBP announces they have lost track of 32,000 unaccompanied minors!