General Discussion

I know you guys are tired of hearing the "which aircraft are at which base" question so I figured I'd try to help out future pilots and pilot-selects. Black=Operational base Orange=Training base Blue=Operational & Training base F-15E - Seymour Johnson (NC), Mountain Home (ID), Lakenheath (UK); Active force inventory: 217 F-15C - Kadena (Japan), Lakenheath (UK); Active force inventory: ? F-16 - Luke (AZ), Spangdahlem (Germany), Aviano (Italy), Osan (Korea), Kunsan (Korea), Misawa (Japan), Hill (UT), Shaw (SC); Active force inventory: 444 A-10 - Davis Monthan (AZ), Spangdalhem (Germany), Osan (Korea), Moody (GA); Active force inventory: 144 F-22 - Tyndall (FL), Langl…

I can’t believe I have to post this, but let this serve as a reminder, do not even think about posting anything close to the line on this site. 1. Declaring your operational background, then using sites like FAS.ORG as a reference for classification is outright dumb and won’t be tolerated. 2. Sending me (someone you don’t know, who could be sitting in Beijing or Pyongyang for all you know), a PM declaring that you fly XXX and that you have a Top Secret Clearance is perhaps the most egregious lack of SA I have ever seen. YGBFSM!!! Bottomline, this is great site and none of us is perfect, but when it comes to no-shit OPSEC, don’t even think about posting on thi…

Good video from Ward Carrol about the projected retirement of the A-10 and its effects on pilot training and GFM.

Air Force requests 100 light-attack planes By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer Posted : Monday Aug 3, 2009 16:49:24 EDT Air Force pilots could be flying light-attack airplanes in less than three years. On July 27, the Air Force took an early step toward buying small airplanes able to fly attack and reconnaissance missions. The “request for information” came from Air Force Materiel Command’s Aeronautical Systems Center. According to the center, the Air Force seeks to buy 100 fixed-wing aircraft starting in 2012 and declare initial operational capability in 2013. Air Combat Command would operate and maintain the planes. Specifications call for the plane to have two …

Maybe this has been tried before, but it seems like it would be a good idea to list all the track selects and assignment nights in one thread instead of starting new ones every three weeks. Here was the breakdown at CAFB tonight for the 07-10 track select: 5 T-38s 3 T-44s 1 UH-1 13 T-1s (I think) I'm not sure how many ANG/AFRC slots were given out, so if anybody has the lowdown...please share. Fusion

Initial report of TB among illegal immigrant minors at Lackland https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/07/immigration-crisis-tuberculosis-spreading-at-camps/ Not for a iron fist response, a lot of them are young kids in a very vulnerable spot but this is a turning point - we're going to control who comes in and stays or not. This latest crisis makes me think we don't need a pivot to Asia but a pivot to Central America.

I see this topic come up as "thread creep" in other threads, and figured I'd start a thread. A nice photo of an RV was recently posted. I figure there is a good brain-trust around here with the RV-line of aircraft, and others. I met a Captain building an RV-14. Sounds like the ultimate RV to me. Really interested in learning more. Do any of you have experience with one yet? https://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv14.htm

Trump's Foreign Policy is a big departure from President's past. He removed the criminal leading Venezuela, Iran is about to fall and, not getting much press is the full court press on Cuba. Not a fully named embargo but little oil is getting in and they likely have less than 30 days reserve on island. Interesting that Maduro's protection element was all Cuban and it is coming to light that there was a lot of fentanyl coming in through via and enabled by Cuba. Numerous Russian military transports have landed in Cuba the last three weeks...intel indicated Air Defense, attack drones and ECM assets. Would be interesting if he took, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba all off the table …

Kind of a random question, but when the missing man formation flies overhead and the guy pulls up and away, how high does he typically go before proceeding elsewhere?

Boeing wins Air Force contract for NGAD next-gen fighter, dubbed F-47

Just me or are there a lot of commanders getting axed this year? 375th WG/CC fired https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/12/12/wing-commander-at-scott-air-force-base-fired-after-5-months-on-the-job/ WS/CC fired https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/09/26/air-force-squadron-commander-was-fired-after-allegedly-drinking-on-duty/ This dude was screwing around with an E-4... on the surface it seems he deserved it. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/05/02/squadron-commander-at-moron-air-base-relieved-of-duty/ Thunderbirds https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2017/11/29/air…

While the news has been covering Venezuela Iran is in the middle of a revolution regime change. Reports indicate Khamenei plans exit to Moscow.

Decade forecast from Stratfor, sounds plausible, world somewhat FUBAR somewhat functional. https://www.stratfor.com/forecast/decade-forecast-2015-2025 Here's the Jack Ryan part: It is unlikely that the Russian Federation will survive in its current form. Russia's failure to transform its energy revenue into a self-sustaining economy makes it vulnerable to price fluctuations. It has no defense against these market forces. Given the organization of the federation, with revenue flowing to Moscow before being distributed directly or via regional governments, the flow of resources will also vary dramatically. This will lead to a repeat of the Soviet Union's experi…

CBM folks, I caught wind of a recent incident where Ex-Lax was put into the donuts/cookies at the Ops Desk by some pilot... with expected results. YGBSM. What's the rest of the story? Pretty shitty situation!!

I’ve talked about commercial training for ratings for a SGTO a bit before but here’s an actual AETC article talking about it. It’s the brain child of Matt Leard the AETC/A5/8. https://www.aetc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4024636/us-air-force-partners-with-academia-industry-to-test-future-pilot-production-mo/ oh and the T-7 is still a dumpster fire. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/usaf-rejiggers-t-7-plan/

So I read this and it’s only 1 article in a Trump friendly paper but… it seems like Greenland needs some freedom, not necessarily kinetically delivered. https://nypost.com/2026/01/16/world-news/greenlanders-speak-out-against-danish-rule-they-stole-our-future/ Should we force this issue? A new arrangement with a new independent Greenland or no more NATO?

Thread to discuss.

So I saw an article about the latest shadow tanker being seized, this time by France in the Med. I did some quick Gemini searching, and that puts the seizure count at 8 in the last month, with European plans to ramp up this type of thing, and the Russian Navy beginning escorting tankers. The fleet size is substantially larger than I realized (estimates vary, but around 1000) so the overall impact is still small on a numbers basis, but military escort of tankers sounds like the portion of this story that matters. Lots of opportunity for a spark here. ReutersFrance intercepts suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker i...The French navy intercepted a Russian tanker on Thursd…

Well, they finally did it. ,

Light Fighters... interesting article and worth a read IMHO. https://warontherocks.com/2022/02/the-light-fighter-is-the-air-forces-manned-unmanned-team-solution/ Author leaves room for discussion for what I would call mission requirements vs platform requirements, that is what is the mission and then what is the platform required or capable of meeting those technical / performance requirements. How many UCAVs / UAVs would it need to control, at what distance, how resilient to EA to that supplied link, how much organic capability for offense/defense for this platform, etc... most of that I think would be a result of what the cognitive load is determined to …

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We’re gonna see a lot of news from this office in the next few weeks.

Could be two topics. Things appear to be ramping up on both fronts. First the DOW released video of an engagement that is clearly an AC-130J engaging a Narco Boat. The first round is the 105MM and it functions slightly low and aft. You can see a larger area in the center with most of the frag but it has "tails" off to the side which create the smiley face. You will note the sensor immediately offsets (two-shot) and begins engaging with 30MM from the MK-44 Bushmaster. The first 30MM round appears to hit a gas can or something flammable. Another 105MM prox with offset is a direct towards the end. AC-130-Narco_Boat_Strike.mp4 Next we have an engagement against what I …

Hey guys, after a little break from Baseops, was checking back in with you all to see what stuff I need to be aware of. Are there issues out there you think I need to know about or concerns, etc? Im not going to engage in debates or complaints about votes I have taken, but was curious if there is anything I need to be aware of. I'm still flying in the guard so I know about many of them, but wanted to see what was up Feel free to PM if youd rather, cant guarantee Ill be on often but Ill take a look occasionally. Hope everyone is doing well.

The War ZoneThunderbirds F-16C Fighting Falcon Crashes in CaliforniaThe jet's pilot safely ejected and was transported to an area hospital with non life-threatening injuries.