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Yeah there definitely was some untapped potential with the SLUF. I mentioned this before on my old account but we had a bunch of solid light attack/low end CAS platforms during the cold war (OV-10, A-37, A-4M, A-7D/E etc) that all went bye-bye in the early 90s when we really could've used them in OEF/OIF. They had great loiter time but more importantly would've saved flying hours on 4th gen and could've been a cockpit filler for dudes flowing into fighters like they did in the 80s... Also sidenote and this probably belongs in another thread but IRT the F-20 I remember reading that Chuck Yeager personally botched a high profile business deal with some foreign country when he was representing it. Feel free to fact check me on this but needless to say dude was not a good salesman for Northrop

Fat Tony strikes again before he's out the door.

I was thinking more ATF, "you wanna mount cannons on an attack aircraft. Let's just dig into your background."

HA! You guys are full of great stories. That's rich, cheap FPV drones delivering warheads. Jumper must have laughed out loud. Next you're gunna tell me there will be land war in Europe in the 2020's!

When I was doing my graduate program we designed and built something very similar while working with Lincoln Lab. Pennies to build at scale. Was pitching it at a “science fair” to some USAF folks and got completely ignored. You could have a fleet of capable aircraft for the price of 1 training sortie. Quantity has its quality, not sure we understand that though. Or maybe we do, it’s all above my pay grade either way.

Always thought that was a missed opportunity like the F-20 Modernized A-7 model built by a hobbyist, probably pretty close to what an updated F/A-7 would be https://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=9313.0

Hot take but I think we should've bought the YA-7F with the afterburning motor and given it to the Guard. Maybe made a 2-Seat model for FAC-A. Would've still been cheaper than a Viper and came at a perfect time for COIN.

They don't need an image recognition system... Story time - My first tour in the five-sided wind tunnel was 2005-2006. I was at Quantico for school before that so had three years in the Northern Va area. I was always into RC airplanes and flew at a nice grass strip on the west side of town off Route 50. I was out there was weekday afternoon and there was only one other person out there with me. When I pulled up I noticed he was sitting in a chair and wearing some kind of goggles. Next to him was an antenna system mounted on a tripod. I watch him fly for a bit and noticed he was not looking at his airplane. When he landed I walked over and we had a chat, he was testing a home built system that pushed video from a camera in the plane to his goggles. We talked for a while and told me he posted a few videos of his set up and some of the flying on Youtube. He then gave me his channel on a card. A few days later I looked at his channel and while watching a video noticed and airliner go through his frame...a cold chill ran down my spine when I saw the airliner. The field was a few miles from Dulles and almost all of his videos caught an airliner in the frame making an approach to the airport. I immediately put that together with another project I was working in a small strategy cell I was assigned to in the Pentagon. In short, a just the previous two years prior a group of hobbyists flew an RC airplane autonomously across the Atlantic Ocean. I pitched the project to my boss and got some seed money. Long story short I proved an amateur could build an autonomous airplane that could lift a 20 warehead/payload, fly with a GPS auto pilot and hit a target at range or via FPV for under $1000.00. This was 2005...I wrote it up and tried to run it through the system only to be laughed at and ignored.

There's some, but not a whole lot, of energy/maneuverability stabilized above ref, below landing weight, on a 3 degree path. Not near as much (read: damn near none) during second segment climb. That's what I'm worried about. At least at my home drome I'm crossing the fence typically above 2.5k' and accelerating past 220kts.

Really? Seems like a different platform for a different set of requirements. Surprised they are not looking at a CASA 235 or other like aircraft unless they want a lotta range for PACOM.

Just posting to show the speeds these are achieving Father n son team built drone reaching 400+ mph https://www.businessinsider.com/drone-warfare-interceptor-guinness-world-record-bells-fastest-quadcopter-ukraine-2026-1

Yup or builds one or many with a camera, small image recognition system and goes into the engines on final just after the FAF. Other than massive land setbacks to geographically isolate the airport plus several layers of different anti drone systems, how else could you defend against this?

Found this on FB speaking of Crusader, an AI produced F-8 with side intakes Guns / Sidewinders in the wrong spots

First flights scheduled later this year, if it demonstrates consistent vertical takeoff and landing, it’s a big deal. Awww c’mon, I see a bit of F-8 with the chin intake

Or decides to make one the size of a Shahed track the ILS/FAF on a low IFR day. Maybe it gets picked up on radar in time.

All of the encounters mentioned above are "mostly" accidents. Imagine when someone TRIES to hit an airliner...

As if the Checkmate wasn't ugly enough...

Serious question, what kind of crazy FAA cert do you need to be able to shoot cannons? Did they have to lobby Congress or something? Awesome vid!

If you're not doing anything wrong..... Although the latest trend is for the cop to claim they smelled the weeed.

Cool looking airplane. Cool history too

Dibs? Truly awesome work! What a way to fly a warbird.

That is freakin awesome