All Activity

Kuwait's Minister of defense said "several U.S. military aircraft have crashed." Here's hoping they all got out.

Video

Looks like an Eagle is down.

Was that 70k at launch or at X nm from launch?

More than 40 years in the making. About damn time.

Recent Vance T-38 class patch.

In before but rapidly removable (modeled on the Benson (sp), tanks. Embraer thought about it before hand and it was already plumbed for the cargo tanks. Our engineers swore it was an easy swap, I was a bit more cautious given in the 130 the ramp and door are part of the structural integrity of the airframe. Being a smaller aircraft all of our effort was on getting to 70K of offload so running cargo at the same time rapidly fell off the table which was a good thing for design. Embraer also put a lot of work into the cargo handling system with a series of motors and pulleys under the floor which allowed for single loadmaster operations. We removed that system at the start to get the weight down and fuel load up. Still able to load via dual rails.

Yeah who wants to drive up that ramp with no winch? No thanks.

Hey, if the ramp and cargo door mods are indeed swappable then fine, that limitation is gone. If it’s tanker-only and no cargo beyond pax and hand-loaded stuff/bundle loads, then not a problem. That’s what Boeing did way back in the day to make the C-97 the KC-97. But those cargo doors were basically bomb-bay doors but at the back , modern airlifters the ramp is part of the cargo storage area, a lifting aid, part of the structural integrity for stuff like ditching, pressurization, etc With the boom on there tho, how ya gonna load the palletized fuel cells? That looks awkward. Or put them in before the boom ramp/doors?

Since we're measuring, I've been a contractor with those fun clearances for 20 years now, and while I've seen my fair share of shenanigans, the vast majority of companies realize it's not in their best interest to put candidates with known issues before the customer. Not saying it doesn't happen, but the smart ones will avoid it! However, most don't contact references or double check claims on resumes, which has bit many on the ass more times than I care to remember!

I dunno, they call out Duggan (the former Marine) by name in the press release as someone with "similar charges," but they leave Brown's co-conspirator unnamed. Have to assume there are more than just Duggan and Brown who fell into this line of work. Wonder how many have gone down this path...........

Apparently, Israel whacked this asshole too. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad killed

This

Nothing against Clayton, but he is mistakenly cross-walking C-17 issues to the KC-390. BLUF - The requirement is for GAS NOT for cargo. Again, the problem in INDOPACOM is not cargo. Remember the bridge tanker program was to address the gas shortage program for strikers. The KC-390 is much smaller and the intent was NOT to perform cargo and refueling operations at the same time. The KC-390 met the need and broke the models because it did not rely on the bigwing tanker plan...the ability to operate of short and unimproved strips meant you had nearly three times more gas at the edge because you were not limited to the few 8,000 easily targeted runways in PACOM. TGhe KC_390 could easily shuttle FAR more gas out of short strips operating much closer to the rally points. In it's current configuration the KC-390 can do both but that is because it is offloading much smaller fuel loads. To meet the 70K requirement it would be all in as a tactical tanker that can do helos, Tilt Rotor and fast jets via drogue and traditional USAF via the boom. KC-390 was great not only because it brought more gas but it brought more booms/drogues and increased flexibility for the strikers. Think of the increased capability if one jet can cover all three refueling sets at the SAME time without being reconfigured. The company I worked for designed a swap-able ramp that could be replaced in a few hours. Extra tanks were also designed that could be loaded in the cargo bay (think MC-130P). Again this demonstrated how trapped we are in our thinking...bring a new approach means testing new tactics and when we ran the models it was an epic difference but of course USAF was stuck in 1972 thinking.

I believe the co-conspirator was a Marine pilot. Throughout these communications, Brown consistently stated his intent to train PRC military pilots in combat aircraft operations. In the resumé he prepared for his application, Brown wrote his “objective” as “Instructor Fighter Pilot.” A co-conspirator told Brown that he hoped Brown would be assigned to “my base, but otherwise you’ll go where is the local equivalent as the [U.S. Air Force] Weapon School.” Later, he stated to a co-conspirator that, upon his arrival in China, “Now…. I have the chance to fly and instruct fighter pilots again!” In December 2023, Brown traveled to China to begin his work training PRC military pilots. After his arrival, Brown answered question for three hours about the U.S. Air Force on his first day in the PRC and then, on his second day, prepared and presented a brief about himself for the PLAAF. Brown remained in China until he traveled to the United States in early February 2026. The charges against Brown follow similar charges filed against former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Daniel Edmund Duggan in the District of Columbia in September 2017. Duggan was charged with providing and conspiring to provide defense services to Chinese military pilots without authorization in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, as well as for conspiring to engage in international money laundering. Like Brown, Duggan received significant training during his career as a pilot in the U.S. military, then used that training for the benefit of the Chinese military. In particular, Duggan is alleged to have trained Chinese military pilots on the tactics, techniques, and procedures associated with takeoff from and landing on an aircraft carrier. Duggan was arrested in Australia in October 2022 and is currently pending extradition to the United States.

Good point Looked on the web, I couldn’t find anything addressing this, @ClearedHot is there anything publicly released addressing this? Looking at the jet Mounting on the side, either on the tail section or the lower central fuselage, if the sides and gear sponsons were replaced with a new integrated structure, giving up one of the paratrooper doors, might have had to rework the landing gear system The main issue I see with side mounting versus low and center mounting is the extension of the boom, it would be mounted higher and the boom would always be extended near the end of it’s range, maybe still in the range but with less play and without the lateral movement possible to the opposite side it’s mounted on

DOJ press release also includes the F-15 and F-16, but it's unclear if he was pilot or sim instructor in those. Looks like he went to China in Dec 2023, and returned Feb 2026, after which he was arrested. Seems like a pro tip would be, if you're going to go play these stupid games, plan on never coming back to the US. ETA: Press release mentions conversations with a "co-conspirator." Would seem to make sense this guy wasn't the only former US serviceman over there. Have to think the rest of them have taken notice, and plan on not coming back.

One of the unexpected benefits of once again relieving the world of "WMDs and Terror" is that it's also a logistical attack on China.

Well, that happened...the Ayatollah is dead. Seems odd that Iran decided to drone strike civilian airports in response (amongst other strikes). Wonder what's next.

My wife and Khamenei have something in common, today was their last day working for their respective governments. Wife retires from the USAF tomorrow, Khamenei retired from life.