HeyEng

Actually I have found some good information on News Nation. In additional to Langley, there were several Navy bases near the area that were targeted as well. Despite the size of the drones they flew in a precise synchronized formation (some sort of data link synthetic radar?) Some appeared to be quadcopter style drones while others were fixed wing and probably launched off a ship out at sea.

Wait, there’s been other large scale drone swarms over bases lasting over two weeks that required NASA surveillance aircraft to track them?

What I meant is why is Langley targeted at the exclusion of other bases? Is it because Langley is near the water and these drones (which witnesses are saying are as large as cars) are operating off of ships and more inland bases are out of reach or launching and recovering these drones over land are not practical without getting caught? If so I would think you would see many Naval installations targeted as well. And for that matter why stop at installing anti-drone netting at just Langley? I would think that any base that has F-22, F-35, B-2, etc. should have anti-drone protection installed.

The War Zone is reporting that Langley is installing anti-drone netting around the enclosures for the F-22 to help combat drone intrusions at and around the base. In addition to being a physical barrier, the netting is assumed to help protect the aircraft from electro-optical snooping as well. It’s still curious as to why Langley is the base being targeted for these drone swarms, maybe its proximity to the ocean?

Is your job primarily Title 32 orders or Title 10? The Guard can be quite stingy when the State has to pay. Also the Guard sometimes forgets their own regs. I remember when I first went to the Guard they insisted they were not allowed to do digital signatures on any documents, only wet signatures. Since the Guard did have all their Regulations on the web it was an easy matter to do a search to find the equivalent regulations that matched the AFI for paperless signature requirements.

I would love to report that my friend’s retirement pay issue has been resolved but since he ran out of options he got his congressman involved and MyPers basically said we are going to halt what little effort they were doing to try and resolve this and just let the congressional process play out!

More information on the psyops campaign against the Sinovax. Facebook actually found out about the disinformation campaign and complained to the Pentagon about it since it fostered vaccine hesitancy but the Pentagon promised that it was only directed against China even though many people suffered in the Philippines and the Middle East. These countries would have gotten the Sinovax for free but instead were coerced into buying the Pfizer vaccine.

I retired back in 2014 but many of my Squadron mates are reaching age sixty or hitting the age sixty rollback and applying for their retirement and running into long delays getting their retirement pay (mine took six months). Apparently when the ARPC implemented a new FSS system back in January there was a massive data loss with over 60k people affected. Many veterans who were already long retired and collecting a check had to resubmit their retirement packages. As a result there is a huge backlog for ARPC to close out retirement applications. As you know once you turn in your CAC card you are effectively cut off from all your digital data and are at the whim of whatever data remains in the various support commands so needless to say it’s important to back up as much data as you can prior to retirement. If you retire after twenty years and will not collect until age sixty that means archiving that data so it will be preserved through multiple iterations of computer, software, and OS updates!

I just read on FB that the Bird in Hand at Mildenhall is closing due to the gate being extended or something like that? I have not stayed there in years and when I did I often stayed in one of the newer billeting buildings so I’m having a hard time remembering the place.

Are you referred to the tan line and four big bolts or the kill markings?

The WB-57F was recently used for the 2024 Solar Eclipse as well. They flew in a two ship formation at an altitude of over 50,000 ft using a special multi camera setup to catch the corona in different wavelengths.

Too true!

OPSEC!!!! When Col. Bill Grimes wrote “The History of BIG SAFARI” he went through the proper requirements and it was approved for public release by WPAFB Public Affairs under Case Number: 88ABW-2013-1703, Disposition Date: 12 Apr 2013 The mission Danger41 mentions against the Iraqi Kari Radar systems is covered in the book.

That is mentioned in the book. It was called SCATHE MEAN and BQM-74C Chukar Drones were modified and used similar to what the Israelis did during the Yom Kippur War against Egyptian Radars. The ad hoc team had to buy camping gear and other supplies from Walmart and Sam’s Club. Trucks were purchased and painted desert tan but had to be deployed so quickly they were never registered which created problems when they were returned to the states.

One of the topics I neglected to mention was where I got some of the information on the RB-57. For a fascinating history of this and other specialized aircraft I recommend the book “The History of BIG SAFARI” by Col. Bill Grimes. This book was a trip down memory lane and brought back memories from when I was a B-52G Crew Chief back in the ‘80s and my line supervisor worked on RC-135 aircraft in Alaska before being transferred to Bombers. He would regale me with tales of fantastically modified RC-135 aircraft (sometimes for a single mission) that I sometimes thought he was just embellishing to make a compelling story. After reading this book I wish I could remember more of those stories since they were all true!

Also it may be the only jet flying that has turbofans buried in the wings! (At least in the US, I’m not sure if the British still fly the Nimrod)

The NASA WB-57F aircraft made the news after it was revealed that it took part in collecting data on Drone Swarms off the coast of Virginia in the vicinity of Joint Base Langley. The WB-57 has probably one of the longest service careers in the US Military, it was originally a licensed built bomber from Martin Aircraft and based on the English Electric Canberra and was one of the first US jet aircraft to drop bombs in combat. It found a new life as a Reconnaissance platform and continuously modified over the years in programs such as SECOND SLICE/RIVET SLICE, TROPIC MOON and RIVET RAP. The WB-57F bears little resemblance to the original design with TF33 Turbofans and new, outer enlarged wing sections. After being retired from the USAF, a handful of aircraft were donated to NASA for use in atmospheric research. As to the Drone Swarms, there is little to say about that story and will probably soon disappear from the news altogether! https://www.twz.com/air/mysterious-drones-swarmed-langley-afb-for-weeks

Ha! In reality apparently there is an electric rocker switch on the top of the seat with a cover to move the seat in and out while your are standing. The switch was loose allowing the cover to activate the switch when the FA put their hand on the back of the seat. Drove the pilot right into the yoke and kicked off the AP with considerable nose down input to the yoke!

An IL-76 was reportedly shot down and crashed. One engine appears on fire but this alone should have not caused a crash so maybe there was additional damage. https://warisboring.com/second-russian-military-transport-plane-comes-down-since-january/?fbclid=IwAR1qGCJ8p9y3aR3l4pv61kOg9aO2A0cqsxkR8654UesdBuUHlDnQsRoZiYw_aem_AaM4aJCKbEEF5pjC1t-0cIyK7ZH9AstX8CqYNQBosEK5FrsdJMUD-sCr3zPPpq06zMw#ltp4tr1qbv0ccfq0vuf

My favorite 70’s movie as a child and that I recently re-discovered is “Colossus: The Forbin Project” A massive mainframe computer is built inside a mountain to take over decision making for launching nuclear weapons. It discovers a similar computer in the USSR and makes contact. They jointly take over the world. The movie has a “Andromeda Strain” tech-thriller quality to it.

This is a good video of the upcoming changes coming to the AF. The two commentators are former military and their discussion regarding the reintroduction of “no-notice” inspections is interesting as well.

Another spy balloon has been spotted! https://www.cbsnews.com/news/military-tracking-balloon-western-us-military/?fbclid=IwAR1KA0RNP3C7_d-9COHIa22wPTlCrqSVsOS5QSwVWh_06oSQ4eh0KgwaE4I_aem_AWr06Prmdh8nZSd_-MwrYzz5wsoN-4JE_2lkYUOPUMH_yGeoZs9n5r3n5OC32mVe3O8

Mover & Gonk echoes everyone else’s skepticism on this program since there doesn’t appear to be any incentive at all that Big Blue is offering to lure you into this windowless van!

And of course anti-ice valves never stick in the open position! Boeing has auto anti-ice systems that automatically turn on and off during icing conditions but to maintain the same type rating as legacy 737 aircraft, these type of systems are not installed on the Max. The Max with the LEAP engines should have had a new type certificate but Southwest would have not have purchased the aircraft to begin with and so Boeing did a lot of pounding a square peg in a round hole to emulate handling characteristics of legacy 737. Even the NG had a different wing and cruised faster than the 100 to 600 aircraft and it could be argued that Boeing should have changed the type certification back then.