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They were far from new, both belonged to NASA who was happy to divest them. I "stole" them and got funding for the test from OSD that would turn into Combat Dragon. We used a group of Navy pilots that had been working the A-29 at Pax River. They were without a home so we rolled them in. One was outfitted with an extended boom and a development version of a GPS based stationkeeper system for cropdusters strapped on the front nose. Basically a series of lights that visually depicts spraying lanes for pilots. I understand it is very common now. The second was outfitted with a tank and a spray coil system that was used to test anti-ice systems. Airplanes would fly behind the bird as it sprayed water to see how thier systems dealt with ice build up. Here is bird one in the hangar at Pax, its been painted and we are about to remove a bunch of the NASA gear.

That's the crux right there. It would be great to have a disruptor with operational experience. But we don't. I'm not a big Tulsi fan, but what we need right now are people willing to slaughter sacred cows, and the best people for that task are the ones who have been scorned by the priests of the old religion.

Finally arrived, can't wait to shoot it.

Lets see here, having a staff position at the Pentagon or HHQ were the wife has powerhouse job inside DC or move your family to Ft Hood dealing with your female troops who under the constant threat of sexual assault or murder. My complements to the O5's who take this thankless job.

There were so many videos of prisoners being freed from horrid conditions- legs sawed off, faces burned by acid, etc. CNN finding the single fake one in that flood of legit humanitarian sorrow is why they truly are fake news. And I’ve looked for additional fakes, can’t find them.

so let's get this straight, tulsi was good enough to be vice chair of the DNC, good enough to run for democratic presidential nominee, good enough to be elected to US Congress FOUR times where she served on the HSAC and also the House Armed Services subcommittee on Intelligence, BUT she's not qualified. you're wrong sir. and maybe sexist? (see what I did there), or maybe racist against women of color? (hmmm) tulsi is extremely qualified to lead our IC and hopefully clean house

Yep, she's a Democrat. You usually put a solid D in the DNC, not someone that waffles on the D platform. As for the sexist part, there are plenty of posts on this forum that Harris only got as far as she did because she was a woman and innuendo'd certain womanly acts. I'm not saying that, although I wouldn't put it past Trump to pick her just for him to see her everyday. I'm saying she is a Democrat with no IC experience. Why can't we have a solid R that has some IC experience? Is that too much to ask? Isn't that what you want? I can't understand the die hard, rah rah for her. Is it just because Trump picked her? As for cleaning house, which one? If you've never interacted with a DNI, then I understand why you think this. I'm not saying I know more, but I got an hour presentation from one years back and it was enlightening. It's an important role, probably one of the hardest because the ODNI is not in charge of the other IC entities and has to herd cats, and is a role worthy of Senate confirmation. Lastly, this all stemmed from an article that says her Senator meetings are going poorly; unprepared they say. In your example, I'll bet that dude crushed it by learning everything they could about the world they were about to enter. But at least is still a pilot. Just making the point, not defending the person in the role was a good choice.

Didn't make the news but a AFSOC OA-1K had an engine failure that resulted in an off-runway excursion. I am told the aircraft had a chip light the day prior. Maintenance changed the oil, did an engine run and signed it off to fly. The next day the crew was taking off when the chip light illuminated, followed quickly by a low oil pressure warning and the engine seized shortly thereafter. The crew did a great job of getting it down but ran off the end of the runway...no one was hurt. The thing is a beast, looks like they could bang the dents out, wash it off, bolt a new motor on and go fly. The bigger concern is the PT-6 failure, one of the most reliable engines out there. I don't think a U-28 would have has the same outcome.

Could my post on “WB-57F and Drone Swarms” over on the General Discussion be move over or combined as well? There’s three pages so maybe just the last few threads.

Certainly, wasn't trying to stir anyone's pot just an observation on the handling of the airframe. Tail dragger types do raise the operational risk level.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14196789/Prisoner-freed-CNN-Assad-intelligence-henchman-report-claims.html The 'hidden prisoner' who was rescued from a Syrian jail by CNN was a member of Bashar al-Assad's forces and killed and tortured civilians, a new report has claimed. The prisoner, whose real name is Salama Mohammad Salama, was a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence, which served former President Assad, Syrian fact-checking organization Verify-Sy reported. Salama allegedly killed civilians and was responsible for detaining and torturing young men in Homs on fabricated charges, the organization claimed, citing residents. But Homs residents claim Salama was thrown in the Damascus prison less than a month ago, due to a dispute with a higher ranking officer over money he allegedly extorted. He has since been trying to gain sympathy following the fall of the regime, claiming he was 'forced' into committing his crimes, Verify-Sy reported.

To BQZip's mom's house?!?

Thread bump here vs the NJ Drone / Iran discussions but only if an inexpensive capable platform had been proposed that had a lot of capabilities in unsung but necessary missions, like intercepting and investigating / prosecuting low speed small targets economically

in case you haven't been paying attention the "trust the experts" class has been thoroughly discredited the last 4 years. covid, hunter biden laptop, "inflation is transitory" etc etc etc. it's time for a shakeup.

It was experimented with by a different organization and had U28 folks involved in their IZ assessment. It failed, program canceled. Definitely not a U28 in that hard mud, but we had one sink landing on a sand LZ in Arlit and after an inspection it flew back. And these OA1Ks are more analogous to the NMC PC12 right? We put a few of those off into the dirt training and they were quite robust. We did need a prop change in the incidents I'm aware of; just under 1 mil both times & aircraft were flying by weeks end. Concur on how robust the 802 is. Remains to be seen if AFSOC leadership can wrap their minds around a totally different risk calculus than CV/MC/AC.

Yup - Navy’s Combat Dragon test Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This thing looks even sexier covered in mud.