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AFE never buying a beer again.

Does this mean the F-15 is no longer 101-0? But seriously, glad everyone got out. Hopefully someone can go over some TTP's with the Kuwaiti ADA guys...

Another friend at my duty station has a spouse at Laughlin and said there's something going down but couldn't disclose what (lowkey performatively cryptric, but we were in a restaurant so fair I guess). Will follow up if they tell me.

dude, is there any chance alternates get a shot at UPT now too???? Man...

Good to know all those seat inspections from a few years back seem to have been successful 🤔

Fucking miracle. Nice to see our "allies" are prepared and trained to use all that fancy equipment they buy from us.

Fuckin wild man. 6 for 6 on all getting out and being upright though, can't ask for a better outcome than that.

3 Strike Eagles down over Kuwait. Blue on Blue. All made it out. Some wild pics and vid out there of the crews. https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/4418568/three-us-f-15s-involved-in-friendly-fire-incident-in-kuwait-pilots-safe/

TWO Eagles are down...Possibly THREE, all friendly fire, thanks Kuwait. Last I saw all four survives. Kuwait air defense popped both of them.

70K offload at Xnm. Going to purposely be vague on the distance... We broke the INDOPACOM model using shuttles back and forth to the IP...nearly three times the available offload at the IP. Big-Wings carry a lot more gas but it takes them a LONG time to get there. Also, being able to refuel all with on plane changed the requirements math as well. In one scenario a KC-390 was able to support a F-35B strike package, top off F-22 DCA and service an impromptu CV-22 SOF mission. Getting outside of our established TTPs really opened the aperture.

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