Clark Griswold

Bullseye. A long tome but worth the effort on this subject, we've been here before and how people disconnected, indifferent, conniving and self-centered can ensure at best mediocrity and at worst defeat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Bright_Shining_Lie

Doubtful - the solution to this is actually either opportunities for Guard/Reserve members for long term orders (3-5 years) or as referenced above, resurrect the WO program and apply it in a targeted fashion to the career fields that need augmenting with skilled, selective, and with a focused career path / expectation. Quick math: Hire 300 pilots in blocks of 100 pilots from the Guard/Reserve over 3 years, at Full Burden Cost of $185K per year average (WAG). That comes to $55 million per block, stager them to have a natural off-ramp if you want to draw down from this surge and for $166 million just factoring aircrew, apply another WAG of 25% for additional costs (training, support, etc...) and it comes to $208 million. Minimize other cost (PCS, per diem, etc...) by surging at the Guard & Reserve in addition to AD bases and assuming an 8:1 pilot to CAP ratio, from this public reference here and you have robust growth, easily scalable up/down force size with the flexibility of offering extensions or letting orders expire, and minimized infrastructure cost by expanding only where you have operations and God forbid actually utilizing your Guard/Reserve for what it was meant for: surging for periods of time, short or medium term, to meet an operational need and routinely using your Guard/Reserve forces to keep them viably manned by giving them work, operationally relevant by participation in current ops and optimally utilizing the hardware they have that Big Blue paid for. If you make these orders 3-5 years in length the Guard/Reserve bubbas will be interested as that is inside the scope of USERA (make them Contingency Orders and you can go beyond 5 years) and enough time to be compensatory for interrupting lives, other careers, etc... and if you allow AD dudes who want to leave to PC and steer them to this program (regardless of AFSC - if not an aviator or 18X, then AD could train them before PC to Guard/Reserve) this fixes RPA manning, but it requires out of the typical stovepipe thinking and Big Blue to be bold, not two traits it has demonstrated of late...

Just the right size (that's what she said) Sexy beast...

Yep, it was in "Battle of the X-Planes" by NOVA, good PBS documentary, not sure where in the documentary but I believe it was in the VTOL demonstration phase they had to take off part of the lower intake to achieve weight for vertical takeoff...

What could have been.... Just grist for the mill but some articles on what if the X-32 had been chosen or a split buy had been pursued rather the one for all.... https://gizmodo.com/the-fighter-jet-we-could-have-built-instead-of-the-f-35-1603031982 https://www.dodbuzz.com/2011/04/18/boeings-joint-strike-fighter-blues/ Found a couple of concepts of what an F-32 vice an X-32 might have looked like, the X-32 had such a high fugly factor on it that I wonder if on just looking at it, it was not going to win...

Not to defend the F-35 but I will just defend the F-35... Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery... https://breakingdefense.com/2014/05/chinese-air-chief-tells-lockheed-i-love-the-f-35/ and there is the Norwegian exchange pilot's defense of the 35 in the WVR fight where a lot of arrows have been cast... https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/update-norwegian-pilot-counters-leaked-f-35-dogfi-422552/ I've been critical here on BO . net (FWIW) against the F-35 but I get the overall sense that we are muddling our way with a shit load of money out of the total clusterf*ck that was the early stages of the program and will end up with a good airplane, albeit one that has sucked the oxygen away from a lot of other programs that we needed to fill the wide range of missions we need to do (LAAR, JCA, more 22's, etc...) but it will come to a realistically acceptable solution: a great airplane (hopefully) but a f'ing awful acquisition program...

Yup The A400 advertises 0.68-0.72 cruise and still operate on a 3500' runway, if a Next Gen Herc gets funded, a little sweep in the wing and advanced props / propfans might be the best mix.

Yep, some old proposals that unfortunately never came to life, as a taxpayer, I'm all about funding science experiments to make cool new toys. On the proposed turbofan Herc, the numbers above the rendering I posted were interesting, it looks like a 380 kts. TAS cruise speed with a 70 kt in the notional mid-mission weight, that is crazy low ref speed, not sure if you would ever need to land it on a postage stamp that would require that but it is impressive they could get a much better TAS for cruise coupled with that kind of STOL performance.

Yep - could be a contender as it could also serve as a tanker if they decide to retire or just augment their tanker the CC-150... Quite a livery... Boeing and Embraer continue to talk about going into business on the KC-390, article a couple of years old but maybe... https://aviationweek.com/blog/boeing-embraers-kc-390-flirting-gets-serious Returning to the venerable Herc, if we could a few more bucks (times a few hundred million) from our rich uncle, a turbofan Herc would be an answer to these new types. Found this proposed variant here, seems like a grab bag of all thing Herc, real and imagined... https://www.combatreform.org/c130.htm

Maybe but I would not count them out on getting a few other sales here and there for various militaries, they seem to be seeing what the USMC are doing with their Hercs and following suit Looks like a Harvest Hawk An-178, I could not find any example or more information on it but it would not surprise me if they offer to make those hardpoints plummed for AR pods and in one aircraft you can have air mobility, tanker, patrol & strike with what looks like an FMV sensor under the nose, SAR, etc.... jack of all trade, master of none but good enough if you're an air force on a budget. The high end of the price range the oracle of Google says is 70 million a copy, not sure if that includes all the options you would need for the missions I just thought up for one airplane but maybe...

Possibly but it was mainly the 5th Gen aerial target that got my attention. I hadn't considered that, how to train IRL not just in simulation against a system that could mimic an LO threat, particularly one that could be designed to emulate a J-20 or 31, etc...

5GAT - 5th Gen Aerial Target - designed by USAFA Cadets. https://warisboring.com/articles/u-s-air-force-cadets-just-invented-a-stealth-fighter/

Getting ready for the worst, maybe... https://warisboring.com/articles/the-pentagon-readies-backup-island-base-in-case-of-chinese-missile-onslaught/ Reminded me of this from a few years ago where the Marines were renovating and doing exercises from old WWII airfields, this again on Tinian... https://www.defensetech.org/2012/06/04/air-sea-battle-and-our-buildup-in-the-pacific/#more-17417 I haven't seen the USAF (or any other branch) participating lately in dispersal or road base exercises; might be worth our while to reacquaint ourselves with that if we think they might send a couple of thousand DF-26 missiles to Anderson, Kadena, Osan, etc... Autobahn Landing Exercise Nordholz from back in 82 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7Meo7w-pY

Agreed. But I would prefer a new CSAF who can do this to an SES who says we have to do more SAPR or other pointless degrading activity at some point... If during their confirmation hearing they demonstrate this, boom, done, got the job.

Not a requirement for the CSAF and would be good for the long term, new perspective and probably not myopically focused on one aspect of air, space & cyberspace power. Not every CNO is a pilot even as much of the Navy is carrier based naval aviation, like the Navy we are not just airplanes and not just pointy nose airplanes. This should be a turn away from only a fighter general being in charge (usually), McNabb being interim and Schwartz being an uneventful exception to that trend of the past 30+ years or so, not a swipe at fighter guys, but we need leadership with a broader based career experience to draw on when in that top position(s).

https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/man-skips-6-years-set-144402572.html

Good - give the Revolutionary Guard someone new to play with Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just to join the chorus trying to keep you from jumping off the cliff or going into the dark room to check out a strange noise... Don't do it.

Remember what you learned in 7th grade English, take the road less traveled... Sounds like a great opportunity, congrats on the choice.

Iranian commander mocks Saudi offer to intervene in Syria I'm sure the KSA will brush this off.

Ghost in the machine. short version https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/02/f-35s-terrifying-bug-list/125638/?oref=d-channelriver long version https://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2015/pdf/dod/2015f35jsf.pdf LM made a pitch to the Indian Navy (article didn't specify B or C model) for the Indian Indigenous Aircraft Carrier project (old article but grist for the mill) https://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories462.htm

Yup, Antonov has gotten a few sales but after that slight and on-going falling out with Russia, they need some more customers to keep the doors open. On the trend to go to two engines, as with everything follow the money, cheaper to buy, operate & maintain two rather than four. Had An-178 been available when the JCA selection was being made, I think it would have been a serious contender, assuming Antonov could get an American partner.

Retired Aussie Wing Commander making a case for F-22s https://warisboring.com/articles/chris-mills-wants-america-to-export-raptors/

We can't even get out propaganda right Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk