busdriver

I'm not sure I buy it. Another news source questioned the source of the "fatwa," since FGM is not prevalent in that area. But then again, most of those extremists have a weird aversion to women.

This argument could not be any dumber.

Be a bro and a peer leader. You should strive to be the best you can be, and that means bringing those up around you. If your peers are struggling, you should be helping them, if you're struggling your peers should be helping you, Foster the type of peer environment that you and your bros are on the same page and everyone's goal is to make the group better. The team gets better, then the Air Force gets better. The rest is just careerist asshole stupid shit.

GE is claiming something like a 20% increase in thrust on top of the 414's increase on the 414-EPE due to improved hot section durability blisk magic, well according to wiki anyways. i know I've read some Navy articles lamenting about the Navy not buying the EPE engines.

I guess I'll ask this then: if you lost the sustained G of the Viper but gained the high alpha of the Hornet, is that a net gain or loss in your mind?

Promotion isn't a reward

I didn't forget about the vertical, I just didn't address it as I was picking and choosing, just like the single data point that is the publicly released spec. i have no doubt that the F-35 is draggy pig however, it sure looks the part. But that's actually what I'm talking about, if you look at empty weights (yes I'm going to use wikipedia here, I don't have anyone's dash one available), combat radius examples from that same crappy website and a baseline 2k lbs ordnance load (ballpark 6xAMRAAM) I end up with a wing loading for the F-35 that is comparable to the Super Hornet and the thrust to weight ratio that is comparable to the legacy Hornet. While not eye watering, it ends up being right in the middle of the fourth gen aircraft kinematically. In other words, the F-35 is not an improvement in fighter kinematics, just more of the same. Is that OK given the improvement in other areas? EDIT: Sorry I said i wasn't going this far outside of my lane, but napkin calculus and afternoon lager got the better of me.

As a fellow slow kid unable to choose when a fighter tries to shoot me I appreciate the ability to run away. I'm rapidly getting away from my area here, so I'll leave with this: I'm skeptical of the internet pundits who decry a reduction to 4.6g sustained since that is one data point that doesn't tell the whole story. As an example on paper I can pick a point where an H-60 can better a Viper in sustained rate and radius. All that said, it does look like a chubby fucker when it's in the same hanger with an F-22.

To be fair, Sprey/Boyd/etc didn't want any radar on the F-16. The mindset was that air to air radar was useless based on Vietnam experience because radar missiles didn't work, ROE would always require visual ID, and we had no effective airborne early warning. "They" said the E-3 would never work, the goal was to flood the sky with mk1 eyeballs and BFM the shit out of the enemy since all aspect IR missiles didn't exist. What does out turn it really mean? They down graded the sustained turn requirement at some altitude and weight that we don't know and increased the allowable acceleration time in the transonic regime. That says exactly nothing about corner velocity or acceleration below the transonic regime or high AOA performance. Sustained turn circle geometry is a very basic way of looking at aircraft performance, one that the AIM-9X+Helmet combo royally fucks with my students.

I get what Sprey is saying, but goddamn that man distrusts technology to a level that is almost absurd. If he had his way, fighters would be day only no radar BFM monsters, CAS aircraft would be standby pipper gunfighters and everything else is who gives a shit. He bases all his analysis on WW2 and Vietnam.

I'd say as long as you don't really have any real job to do that's fine. But once you enter training, knock that shit off and be good at your job. If you have as much of a head start as you seem to, finishing it should be cake if the pendulum swings again. Moseley said "If we want you to get a master's, we'll send you." That changed with the next chief. I think the current chief's message has a bit better chance of sticking (get it done on your own time, but we'll change the timeline) but we'll see. That said, I know a retired O-5 who said the AAD question came up when he went looking for a job within the defense industry when he got out. Considering he described his salary as "silly money" it may be a worth while investment in time if you aren't looking for an airline gig.

I would tell young dudes to get CMR first, then start your masters. Don't overload yourself, take breaks if you need them for upgrades, or whatever. If you start early you can string that shit out over multiple years with no fear. At the minimum that puts you in a decent spot to be able to surge if the pendulum does swing back. In other words, don't be me. I'm at the point I would have to double up on classes to finish before my O-5 board, saved by the CSAF I guess. Edit: I skated by the O-4 board, meant O-5

Well, this too: Kurds Seize Kirkuk

Saw that this morning, was wondering when it would hit the major news networks. I also wonder when the Kurds will say enough is enough, that's pretty close to their home turf.

Am I smoking crack? I thought Arghandab district was in Kandahar province? Nevermind, bet they're actually talking about where the Arghandab river "flows" through Zabul by Day Chopan. In many ways the story of the AH-X vs F/A-X is more about two services that just don't talk to one another very well. The Army wanted to develop air-mobile, they saw the need for fire support, so they developed it on their own. When the Air Force reaches out the Army says you're good, so the Air Force keeps doing what it's been doing. Air Force decides it needs a CAS airplane, develops the A-10. The AH-56 fails due to technical problems, the Air Force now has the A-10, the Army presses with what would become the AH-64. I'm not trying to argue one platform over another, just that those two services in particular don't have a good history of communicating and deciding on a unified front of how to press forward with requirements.

He said something to the effect that if the Infantry dude knows where the target is.... But what if they don't, I know for a fact you guys do a shit load more than kill whatever the Army dude tells you to kill. That smells like shit to me. He views CAS as an alternative to artillery. Combined arms is a foreign concept to him. He has some points with respect to availability of CAS in an MCO fight, when air power is better suited to killing the exposed second echelon forces, but push CAS in Desert Storm proved we could do both. "Overlord" is a great read and instructive. It's not nearly as simplistic as the good LtCol implies.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20140609/NEWS04/306090036/Opinion-10-needs-go Article by an Army Infantry officer, just re-enforces the fact that the Army guys view CAS as flying artillery. Also a an example of not understanding the air piece which is pretty common amongst Army Infantry from what I've experienced.

O & M Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Because I truly care about the PR mission and I think I can still make an impact. I know there are plenty of Hawg guys that feel the same way; this last weptac was an epic argument that proves people's passion.

And as was said, this is bigger than Bowe Bergdahl. Until we actually debrief him we don't really know what was going through his head when he decided to walk off post. My guess is he was a disillusioned, naive and sheltered young man who thought he was somehow going to go pull a Rory Stewart (The Places In Between) and be amongst the people and do something something. At the end of the day he deserves due process, that can't happen if he's stuck with the Taliban. Those that died searching for him and those that put themselves at risk to bring him home were supporting the American sense of justice. That is worth supporting regardless of Bergdahl's actions. At the end of the day, bad shit happens in war, sometimes due to stupidity, sometimes shitty situations, sometimes crappy training and sometimes crappy leadership but everyone one of us knows that we'll bring you home no matter what, at least you'll be answering for your actions from American soil or buried in it. As a PR guy, I'm willing to risk my life to honor that contract.

In the end, we don't get to decide who is legitimate or not, despite what we say. Those who rule do so at the consent of the governed, either by design or implicit. Afghanistan is a 3rd world shit hole, and will operate and be governed like a 3rd world shit hole. No amount of money/lives/hope spent will change that until the people of that country want it to be something else and are willing to stand up and fight. Bergdahl back is a good thing, he may or may not be a deserter/dirtbag/disturbed dude, but he's our guy. We reserve the right to pass judgement, no one else. What happens after, I don't really care about. I'm more interested in ensuring the institution keeps faith with those isolated. I can only hope that those dirt-bags released are kept on a short leash, with a game of catch with a Hellfire on the other end.

That checks, my brother is a firefighter.

Well said Joe. The immigration is bad, and they don't assimilate meme has been around forever; Chinese, Irish, Italian, German, Soviet Eastern Block, etc. Part of the reason illegals don't assimilate well is because they're illegal, they have to band together or risk getting caught. The other part is going where they're comfortable, that takes a couple generations to fix unless they get caught in the low income crime trap, which is worsened by being illegal since they can't rise above it regardless of effort. The barrier for legal entry is too high, forcing people to enter illegally. If legal entry was easier (but managed appropriately) less would enter illegally, thus making cracking down the criminals hiding amidst the sea of current illegals much easier as their sea would become a puddle.

The Army would have upgraded the Apache fleet regardless. They've never been happy to rely on another service for air support, regardless of the quality of that support. That said, of the legacy fighters the A-10 is the only one that would provide unique capability once the F-35 shows up in full force, assuming it lives up to the promises. Makes me wonder what that unique capability could truly be if we invested in a modern RF jamming system. Having said all that, the long endurance CAS stack right on top of the friendlies isn't survivable in a modern battlefield. Regardless of the fighter dropping the ordnance, we need to invest in the JTAC side of the equation both training and technology. The other big A-10 mission area (I'm biased, I know) is CSAR, while just about any fighter can do the Sandy 1/2 mission given the training; the Sandy 3/4 mission is a different story. We either need to arm the helos to self escort, which adds weight (always a problem with helos) or shift to another platform that can overfly the low altitude threat. Problem right now is the Osprey can't pressurize, and has no real weapons and is a crappy hover platform. The FVL is 15 years away at the earliest, and the Army is leading it up, so who knows what they'll pick. We've leveraged the farm on the F-22/F-35 combo, but I think we've sold other missions down the river in the process; at least for the next 15ish years. But I've been known to be wrong on more than one occasion.

Dry lakebeds happens every year.