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I'm really uncertain if malice or incompetence is responsible our current energy policies. The goal is to transition away from fossil fuels and switch to renewables plus a yet to be invented energy storage solution. And for some reason, we aren't really considering the most efficient solution, nuclear. This feels like every military exercise where we fairy dust away the hard problems. Despite the media's tendency to piss on your leg and tell you it's raining, people won't accept lowing their standards of living for some nebulous climate change goal.

Caveat, not at either, however another FDX pro is the travel bank; UPS guys I talk to freely admit the FDX system is better for that.

FWIW, I’ve had multiple people tell me they know somebody with the inside scoop that each competitor is the one that was picked and also that the whole program was starting over. All I know is that they picked something and aren’t starting over.

This thread is in response to all the healthy discussion on an unrelated thread not about the RQ-4, so now there is a thread just for the GH. Hopefully this will help my community fight two battles, the battle to be embraced by big Air Force so we can showcase our capability and the battle to address concerns that we have no capability at all, aka U2 vs RQ-4. So, we would love to integrate in a more meaningful way at Red Flag and tap into our Intel Patch's talent...As it was explained to me, the billet for an organic intel officer was established within the last year. I assume there is an Patch wearer on base but there isn't one in our squadron after former SQ/CC left. I'm relatively new to the squadron so I don't have all the info, and hopefully some other guys will jump in and provide it. What I do recognize is we have NOT demonstrated a commanding capability that cannot be ignored by Nellis...and hence we have been ignored. Maybe we need to work on ourselves before we fight at the big kids table, or maybe we get some more support and we all get better together. #thedream As far as the U2 goes, how do you have an ISR capability fight that is unclass... As a start though, sensor parity seems an inevitable certainty from the simple fact that there is no physical/electrical/aero reason it can't be. Northrup Grumman is going to do the leg work to make it happen, they have a vested interest to do so. There isn't parity now, which is why we keep the U2. Good, our Intel is better because of it, but someday we will have parity and arguing about when that day will be here is boring. My guess is 3 years cause that is what I read on CNN. As far as old fashioned pilotage exploiting U2 capability...you are right, I am not aware of what you are talking about. But I will clarify that every 11X in the Air Force is part pilot part mission manager, your Qual check proves you can pilot, your MSN check proves you can manage. In the RQ-4 you can pass your qual check if on your engine out EP you don't touch anything and just make the appropriate radio calls (phone calls if MCE only ;) Hence a Global Hawk pilot is really a mission manager and not a pilot in my framework...it is semantics. Someday an 18X or even perhaps a Enlisted pilot will use good ol'fashioned mission management skills to exploit superior HAISR capability to that of U2, if only because they can do it at a desk and not in a space suit worrying about stall speeds and that SA-2. List of current shortfalls...cough...quibbling Sensor Parity, Dynamic Inflight routing w/ weather radar (significant software update and minor hardware), reliance on GPS/Satellites I'm tired so if someone else wants to join in we can talk about enlisted pilots too. And I haven't even mentioned all the things that make the GH superior to the U2 so hopefully this thread gets some discussion going.

One of the great ironies of pictures like this: protestor screams in face of representative of the institution, while simultaneously relying on the restraint of the institutional representative. It wasn't that long ago that protestors relied on the lack of restraint to make their point.

Interesting video—thanks. Here’s the problem—at the end of the video, the narrator basically says that the high prices are because renewables are in and oil is on its way out (hence why oil suppliers don’t have an incentive to up production and can just enjoy temporary high profits)…but…ask yourself why renewables are the future, and define the future? The government has literally made it more difficult to get oil out of the ground and gas to the pumps, but yet the government is using tax dollars/regulation incentives to push non-fossil fuel energy sources/vehicles. So of course the government is largely at fault here since they’re literally trying to pick the winners and losers of the future. I’m all about better (and cleaner) newer forms of energy and transportation, but this is anything but the free market at work. So I agree, high (and higher) gas prices are here to stay and it will affect just about everything in the economy—food prices, airline travel, you name it. The question is how will the economy react?…I don’t think it’s looking too good.

So is this a protest or harassment? I’ve got plenty more other examples btw.

Has an 11R (recon/tanker follow-on) the other faips were 11M(mobility) and 11F(fighter)

Adding another Wendover video (cause they're really well done and they become a wormhole I've fallen down more than a few times) about fuel prices likely not going anywhere. If this video is correct we, the airlines and pax (or drivers in general), will have to factor in high fuel costs for the foreseeable. Not sure how that all dances with a (likely) economic slowdown/reduced travel, inability to lower ticket prices without being red for fuel costs, etc., but it could be something big in the calculus for potential hiring. It also makes sense when looking at the fact oil was, inflation-adjusted, north of $180/bbl in June 2008, yet prices were not this high at the pump.

textron needs jobs

Well, that’s never stopped them before…why start now?

Makes sense since both banks and airlines are some of the first industries to ask for bailouts once the economy starts getting shitty.

Had a discussion with a guy who’s supposedly in the know on this yesterday; he’s pretty sure it’s gonna be the AT-6.

I Thought a prerequisite for that job was to be a terminal O-5 on a fini tour. They must’ve needed a snacko or something.

Sign me up. Just because we’ve gainfully employed folks in the right seat on large aircraft, doesn’t mean they are necessary for safe and effective operation. God forbid the PF actually manipulates an FMS, or makes his own radio call. Bring on the downvotes.

I don't buy that this is some sort of "in case of war break glass" test. Please describe to me a scenario where you are short a bunch of copilots (due to attrition or some kind of attack) where you're not also short on ACs, IPs, and airframes. I'll wait. This is how you socialize a garbage idea you know no one will sign off on for its own merits. You pitch it as some newfangled combat contingency test, get the waiver passed, and then implement it by precedent years after the original detractors are long gone. Call me a conspiracy theorist but what do you think is the air force's more pressing problem: a) pilot shortage or b) near peer shooting war where we somehow have a bunch of perfectly functional -46s laying around with no one to fly them

I’ve seen a bunch of folks talking that if anyone does this single pilot KC-46 thing, they need to be black balled from all the airlines. These are the same people that bitch about toxic leadership and all the other talkings points 24/7. I find it highly ironic that black balling a guy for something he’s ordered to do about the most toxic thing I’ve ever heard.

I think there are multiple ways to look at the message of the film, which is one of the things I really like about it. We all generally see obsession as unhealthy, but what about when it produces greatness? Are we ok with it then? Same with Fletcher’s methods, which are unquestionably heinous yet produce results. Another one: Is it better to lead a long but mediocre life or burn brightly for a short time as Miles alludes to at the dinner table scene? What about when it’s someone you care about acting in such a way? The film makes you think about these questions. And it’s brilliantly shot, directed, and acted. Loved it. Wish more films like this got produced.

Galaxy brain level genius here if he thinks this makes him look good and Kinzinger look bad... These people have worms in their brains.

Ok, I’ll engage. I have a couple questions. I assume the “Hunter Biden videos” you speak of are the alleged footage that was retrieved from the recent reported hack of his phone. Question one: has any outlet actually gone on the record confirming that the videos are genuine? Question two: Let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that these videos did in fact come off Hunter Biden’s personal device. What illegal and/or compromising activities do they show President Biden engaged in? I get the point you’re trying to make about Eric Trump & agree the liberal media would’ve had a field day with it, just as conservative outlets never seem to tire of Hunter hit pieces. At the end of the day, unless Hunter works on his father’s staff (last I checked Joe wasn’t nearly as into the whole nepotism scene as Donald was) or there is real, direct evidence tying his behavior to some wrongdoing on the president’s part, all this story is ever going to be is a partisan fluff piece to rile up the opposition.

Why are Vipers considered bottom tier selection?

Oh good god, man. I was going to let this die rather than participate in a classic baseops dick-measuring contest, but the irony here is just too rich. You lecture your homie about not spouting off about that which he knows nothing of, but then you reply to Moose's very valid points with a naive combination of ignorance and NG propagandist talking points. Once again, you have no clue as to the capes of the U-2. On 4 U2 deployments, I personally have never wx cancelled a U2 mission and can count on one hand the missions that I saw wx cancel. I've climbed and descended through ice, lots of it. I've dodged TS by looking out of the window. I've landed in 1/4 mile vis, mobiled sorties that landed with lightening and TS very close to the field, and mobiled and flown missions which landed in excess of our crosswind limit. The U2 is extremely flexible WRT weather. On station and enroute, we are ALWAYS above it. Can you claim the same things? Not queep unless you are ignorant or just touting the party line. WRT threats, yes, we have capes to operate in those denied environments, jamming and kinetic. Your lack of knowledge here is glaring, but this forum is not the place to rectify that. Grab iowa and go to the vault. Sure, all gobble drivers are now stoked to be there. Wait, let me find my BS flag... I can't even believe that you are persisting with this pack of 12 bullshit. As Moose already pointed out, it's not your POS jet that anybody cares about, its the freaking billion dollar sensor. We don't have 12 packs of those. And yes, distance matters. Especially vertical distance. How high can you guys carry the payload again? Clueless again. You need to open up your aperture beyond mx/wx limitations. Perhaps the U2 wasn't tasked to cover GH shortages because we're already maxed and operating at near 100% rates. Truth. Also, perhaps there have been instances where the CCDR needed an asset in the air RIGHT FUCKING NOW and the GH never entered the conversation because it's not even remotely possible. But guess who can surge, waive shit, plop a driver in the jet and get on station FAST. Ask your intel folks where/when this situation might be applicable. Or ask any U2 driver. Finally, we agree on something. If indeed the GH were merely complimentary to the U2 or its ultimate replacement, that would be fantastic. But for some reason the boneheads making the rules have decided it should be either/or. And therein lies the problem with the GH. And of it were so simple to modify the GH to carry U2 sensors, carry them higher, and generate the power (electricity) required for the next gen, then trust me, NG would have done it long ago. The problem is that it is not a simple remedy, and may in fact prove impossible. Which could leave us with a subpar platform replacing a more capable (and cheaper) platform for the sake of politics. I don't care what you fly, that is a fucking fail.

It's probably not good for political discourse, but Alex's video where he tells AOC she's his favorite big booty Latina is pretty funny.