POTUS 46.10: A New Hope

[LynahFan]

There is a lot of value in having wings of "old" planes (i.e. - planes that are not very modern, not very expensive stealth fighters). Air National Guard doesn't necessarily need stealth, especially when alternatives like the F15 are relatively cheap and remain incredibly combat effective.

The F35 has been plagued by having far too much demanded of it, I think. I've read a lot about the plane - the development, requirements, use, etc. Having three distinct variants already separates from the original mandate for one plane to do everything, for example. The military simply wanted the impossible and the time required to develop this mystical plane necessarily takes so long that the requirements change substantially by the time they get even halfway through.

But even if the F35 gets classified as a failure (I don't believe it is, but I'm far from an expert on this), the technologies it pushed and integrated are insane. The substantially expanded fly-by-wire frees pilots up to concentrate on mission. Data connectivity between planes substantially improves radar projection and reduces the need for larger, undefended AWACS (not replaces, but reduces). The integrated camera/helmet view gives pilots better visibility and awareness than any plane before it. It gets something like 2/3 the thrust of the Russian SU-57 with only one engine (our engine tech has always been a decade or two beyond theirs).

It's a tremendous fighter plane that faced an impossible set of development requirements and still met almost all of them. Of course there are going to be frustrations, setbacks, small failures, etc. But holding each one of them up and declaring the program a failure is myopic. And this is also, I think, technically one of two all-the-way 5th generation fighters as the SU-57 and Chinese J-20 cannot super cruise without afterburner. (though that is up for debate and the Russians reject this as a definitional aspect of a 5th gen fighter).

A lot to agree with here.

Just one nit: F-35 can't really supercruise, either. Only F-22 has that.

 

[dxmnkd316]

There is a lot of value in having wings of "old" planes (i.e. - planes that are not very modern, not very expensive stealth fighters). Air National Guard doesn't necessarily need stealth, especially when alternatives like the F15 are relatively cheap and remain incredibly combat effective.

The F35 has been plagued by having far too much demanded of it, I think. I've read a lot about the plane - the development, requirements, use, etc. Having three distinct variants already separates from the original mandate for one plane to do everything, for example. The military simply wanted the impossible and the time required to develop this mystical plane necessarily takes so long that the requirements change substantially by the time they get even halfway through.

But even if the F35 gets classified as a failure (I don't believe it is, but I'm far from an expert on this), the technologies it pushed and integrated are insane. The substantially expanded fly-by-wire frees pilots up to concentrate on mission. Data connectivity between planes substantially improves radar projection and reduces the need for larger, undefended AWACS (not replaces, but reduces). The integrated camera/helmet view gives pilots better visibility and awareness than any plane before it. It gets something like 2/3 the thrust of the Russian SU-57 with only one engine (our engine tech has always been a decade or two beyond theirs).

It's a tremendous fighter plane that faced an impossible set of development requirements and still met almost all of them. Of course there are going to be frustrations, setbacks, small failures, etc. But holding each one of them up and declaring the program a failure is myopic. And this is also, I think, technically one of two all-the-way 5th generation fighters as the SU-57 and Chinese J-20 cannot super cruise without afterburner. (though that is up for debate and the Russians reject this as a definitional aspect of a 5th gen fighter).

I'm kind of in the same boat for you. I've been fascinated by aircraft for as long as I can remember. The F-35's spec document basically read like:
"I want a plane that can win dogfights, provide close air support, and act as a bomber. Oh, and it has to be stealth."

The engineers:

The executives:

 

[LynahFan]

Yeah....the phrase "Jack of all Trades, Master of None" has been around since at least the 1700s. Who knew it would take us 300 years to produce the paragon?

 

[aparch]

Wait, wait, isn't that the exact story behind the Bradley Fighting Vehicle?

"[...] a troop transport that can't carry troops; a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance; and a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of D.C. [...]"

Did the Air Force really have to one up the Army?!?


https://youtu.be/-WybT2RHqrk

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Wait, wait, isn't that the exact story behind the Bradley Fighting Vehicle?

"[...] a troop transport that can't carry troops; a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance; and a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of D.C. [...]"

Did the Air Force really have to one up the Army?!?


https://youtu.be/-WybT2RHqrk

That movie is severely underrated.

 

[LynahFan]

Wait, wait, isn't that the exact story behind the Bradley Fighting Vehicle?

"[...] a troop transport that can't carry troops; a reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance; and a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of D.C. [...]"

Did the Air Force really have to one up the Army?!?


https://youtu.be/-WybT2RHqrk

For sure. When the USAF does it, that’s Billions, with a B.

Edit: couldn’t resist looking it up. The entire Bradley program, including the full production run of nearly 7000 vehicles, has cost around $6B. A comparable number for F-35 (development + production, but not sustainment and training) is somewhere around $400B

 

[Kepler]

That movie is severely underrated.

I just watched this scene. I need to watch the whole movie now.

 

[Swansong]

A lot to agree with here.

Just one nit: F-35 can't really supercruise, either. Only F-22 has that.

Interesting. I had thought they could, but it sounds like only sort of?

https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1112fighter/

The F-35, while not technically a “supercruising” aircraft, can maintain Mach 1.2 for a dash of 150 miles without using fuel-gulping afterburners.

Sounds like they can afterburner beyond the sound barrier and then turn it off and maintain. For a plane mostly designed for carriers or maybe even LCS's, I suppose the need for supercruise is less pronounced.

 

[aparch]

So I need to know from those who are a little more connected to the news: Is the UN really sh**ing all over Biden this afternoon, or is it just my "I'm not MAGA but they have good points" boss being an *ss because he hates Biden, Harris, and democrats in general?

 

[Drew S.]

Interesting story on the future of drones: https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...e-mq-9-reaper/

 

[net presence]

Not sure where else to put this so I’ll leave it here. Found this link in the comments section of a WaPo article. Very interesting read. Basically is a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the various 2020 elections at all levels. I strongly encourage all of you to read it as it lays out a premise that there may well have been intentional manipulation of ballets but, in favor of Republican candidates, especially in the House and Senate races.

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elec...2020-election/.https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elec...2020-election/

 

[net presence]

Not sure where else to put this so I’ll leave it here. Found this link in the comments section of a WaPo article. Very interesting read. Basically is a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the various 2020 elections at all levels. I strongly encourage all of you to read it as it lays out a premise that there may well have been intentional manipulation of ballets but, in favor of Republican candidates, especially in the House and Senate races.

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elec...2020-election/.https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elec...2020-election/

 

[sagard]

Not sure where else to put this so I’ll leave it here. Found this link in the comments section of a WaPo article. Very interesting read. Basically is a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the various 2020 elections at all levels. I strongly encourage all of you to read it as it lays out a premise that there may well have been intentional manipulation of ballets but, in favor of Republican candidates, especially in the House and Senate races.

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/elec...2020-election/

One one hand it definitely fits the Reps projection of bad deeds upon the Dems. But inevitably I don't believe either party is competent enough to pull of large scale undetectable election fraud.

When the Republicans choose to steal/overturn elections, it will be with State Legislatures and police forces.

 

[Kepler]

It is quite likely the Republicans are engaging in systemic voting fraud, which helps explain why they bray so loudly that we are. Everything they scream about is projection.

They are dying demographically and they know it. Their policies are not compatible with democracy and they know that, too. These next few years are more dangerous to the Republic than the Civil War. At least in 1861 the enemy declared itself formally. This time around they will engage in the same treason while denying it all along, like Hitler at Munich, and plenty of useful idiots and credulous cowards will believe them because the truth is unthinkable.

We're in a fight for our lives. It's them or us.

 

[bronconick]

It is quite likely the Republicans are engaging in systemic voting fraud, which helps explain why they bray so loudly that we are. Everything they scream about is projection.

They are dying demographically and they know it. Their policies are not compatible with democracy and they know that, too. These next few years are more dangerous to the Republic than the Civil War. At least in 1861 the enemy declared itself formally. This time around they will engage in the same treason while denying it all along, like Hitler at Munich, and plenty of useful idiots and credulous cowards will believe them because the truth is unthinkable.

We're in a fight for our lives. It's them or us.

There's a reason they screamed so loudly in disbelief about 2020. It's because they cheated, put up a GOP record for votes in a Presidential election, and then got smoked by 7 million votes.

Thus the voter suppression bills in every red state

 

[Drew S.]

It is quite likely the Republicans are engaging in systemic voting fraud, which helps explain why they bray so loudly that we are. Everything they scream about is projection.

They are dying demographically and they know it. Their policies are not compatible with democracy and they know that, too. These next few years are more dangerous to the Republic than the Civil War. At least in 1861 the enemy declared itself formally. This time around they will engage in the same treason while denying it all along, like Hitler at Munich, and plenty of useful idiots and credulous cowards will believe them because the truth is unthinkable.

We're in a fight for our lives. It's them or us.

Just curious, how do you think they’re trying to do it? I don’t think there is any doubt they are trying to end democracy right now, and their attempts at suppressing the vote is as shameful of thing that has happened in my lifetime, but it would be hard to pull off adding extra votes in any great numbers with no one finding out.

 

[psych]

CNN will have you know that there are too many Afghan refugees, some of them pregnant women, at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, where temperatures are dropping to freezing at nighttime. This process was supposed to take days, not weeks. I think the solution would have been to just leave them in hot Afghanistan, right? I bet if they actually asked the pregnant women in Germany if they’d rather be slightly cold at night with their freedom eventually in hand, or under Taliban control, they’d choose Taliban control. No doubt the media wouldn’t have reported on the US failing to get more refugees out of Afghanistan, and the process at Ramstein being much faster with 1,000 refugees to process rather than 10,000.

 

[dxmnkd316]

CNN will have you know that there are too many Afghan refugees, some of them pregnant women, at the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, where temperatures are dropping to freezing at nighttime. This process was supposed to take days, not weeks. I think the solution would have been to just leave them in hot Afghanistan, right? I bet if they actually asked the pregnant women in Germany if they’d rather be slightly cold at night with their freedom eventually in hand, or under Taliban control, they’d choose Taliban control. No doubt the media wouldn’t have reported on the US failing to get more refugees out of Afghanistan, and the process at Ramstein being much faster with 1,000 refugees to process rather than 10,000.

CNN completely unraveled with Afghanistan. Same with CBS.

 

[WeAreNDHockey]

Our constitutional crisis is already here.

I hope people think hard about these passages:

Most Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it. As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian. They have followed the standard model of appeasement, which always begins with underestimation. The political and intellectual establishments in both parties have been underestimating Trump since he emerged on the scene in 2015.

The Framers did not establish safeguards against the possibility that national-party solidarity would transcend state boundaries because they did not imagine such a thing was possible. Nor did they foresee that members of Congress, and perhaps members of the judicial branch, too, would refuse to check the power of a president from their own party. In recent decades, however, party loyalty has superseded branch loyalty, and never more so than in the Trump era. As the two Trump impeachments showed, if members of Congress are willing to defend or ignore the president’s actions simply because he is their party leader, then conviction and removal become all but impossible. In such circumstances, the Framers left no other check against usurpation by the executive — except (small-r) republican virtue.

And finally, in characteristics the insurrectionists from 1-6 share with many Muslim terrorists and suicide bombers:

The banal normalcy of the great majority of Trump’s supporters, including those who went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, has befuddled many observers. Although private militia groups and white supremacists played a part in the attack, 90 percent of those arrested or charged had no ties to such groups. The majority were middle-class and middle-aged; 40 percent were business owners or white-collar workers. They came mostly from purple, not red, counties.

I honestly believe this country's end is coming, and is likely to happen over the next 2 or 3 cycles of federal elections (mid-terms and presidential, '22, '24, '26). My only question is how violent will the end be?

 

[Kepler]

https://www.theonion.com/experts-confirm-functional-democracy-generally-requires-1847725693