Clark Griswold

That is entirely possible... Probably won't affect the overall acquisition plan but it does provide a Plan B of sorts for other unforeseen problems, delays, financial difficulties, etc... Just my two cents but that is a Plan B- (delaying F-35A acquisition for SLEP'ed F-16s) - we've bet the farm on the F-35A, go all in and get this as right as it can be, we're over 110+ aircraft purchased with more on the way and paid for, barring some huge new flaw(s) discovered we are well past V1.

Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft (RPA) http://warisboring.com/the-u-s-air-forces-next-killer-drone-is-disposable/

Because it is much easier to accomplish in the near term and success begets success. About half the distance with a much more favorable intercept geometry, about 90% the same G, way less radiation from pseudo magnetic field, 4 times as much solar power available, etc... Crawl, Walk, Run. Crawl was the Moon Walk could be Venus Run is definitely Mars You could retrieve surface samples with an unmanned solution and retrieve from the HAVOC vehicle in atmosphere also, landing on any place Mars or the Moon adds so much cost, requirements and risk that it stifles just getting into deep space. First manned Mars missions, IMO, would be only Mars orbit and maybe Martian moon landings, like Apollo 8 (lunar only orbit) to keep practicing before we play.

Chinese moon landing strategy: How China's Planned Moon Landing Will Differ From America's Moon Landing Not planned till 2036 but this should kick us in the pants for the next big thing... which IMO should not be getting our asses to Mars but to Venus... HAVOC is the better option than shooting for Mars right now, we probably could pull this off in 10 years or so with focus, a shit load of money and a functioning political system to keep the government working towards this...

Precursor to modern AR... FICON Project and "Tom Tom" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FICON_project Pre-contact and contact are at about 4:30.

Concept Spaceplane http://bristolspaceplanes.com/projects/ascender/

Yup Article on the 'bat: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/too-hot-to-handle-mcdonnell-xp-67-moonbat-67265978/

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/06/09/subway-employee-loses-it-during-a-store-robbery-it-doesnt-end-well-for-the-robber/

Yup - definitely inspired by the Moonbat Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Advanced turboprop

That level of clueless is stunning but it really matters as he has a soap box from which to make mischief Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The illegitimate love child of a Hornet and Freedom Fighter Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Lease with an option to purchase. 30 years of easy installment loans / favors... Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery or Form follows function... ultimately the physics / properties of the RAM will drive similar designs... They had another set of designs just a tad inspired by the F-35 but as they are buying that, I guess they wanted one more geared towards A2A than multi role strike...

Turkish stealth fighter concept... http://www.janes.com/article/67322/turkey-and-uk-agree-to-develop-new-fighter-aircraft

Oh c'mon... TOLD and the Form F would be simple... not...

The view from the other side, uniformed arguments against a LAAR: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2017/03/06/air-force-light-fighter-concept-seems-a-bit-light-on-logic/2/#2ccc4a4d478b Posted only to show the if the AF is serious about this, making persuasive arguments that inform and dispel ideas like a LAAR is completely helpless against MANPADs / AAA and that it makes a whole lotta sense for fights in semi-governed shitholes, is going to be necessary.

F-16ski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan_MiG-33

Ditto on both points. When I saw it, I had to do super thorough research and Google it one more time to see if it was for reals. What struck me was the width of the contraption, 111' center of fuselage to center of fuselage, probably 140' from one outer truck to the other. Doubt it could even turn on the ground when loaded with the STS, whole kit or just the orbiter, but they probably imagined it being loaded on whatever runway the shuttle landed then flying either direct as it probably would hold shit load of gas, probably could be AR'd to keep heading back direct to Florida with no fuel stops. Lots of possibilities but lots of stuff to go wrong, KISS is usually the best COA.

Twin C=5 fuselage Space Shuttle carrier https://hushkit.net/2016/05/06/the-twin-fuselage-c-5-shuttle-transport/

Yup - there was an EasyJet (LCC in Europe) who proposed an advanced design a few years ago and wanted to shave a lot of weight off the design and coupled with open rotor engines https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/jun/14/theairlineindustry.business BWB is cool but I think the Hybrid wing-body design from NASA for their Cruise Efficient STOL airliner is more feasible, IMO. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-06/future-flight-new-designs-will-end-congestion

They're working on some new planes: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/analysis-airline-support-gathers-around-boeing-mom-434961/ and there's the Frigate EcoJet is a pretty big change in the paradigm. http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/09/aviation/frigate-ecojet-russia-aviation/

F-35 - YF-23 mash up:

Just seems like extending your jaw for a left hook of a contract award protest if Textron is awarded a contract. It's ready made for a company to protest and launch a media campaign against. With our infotainment oriented journalism these days how long before Textron is under the microscope / segment on name your cable commentary show with "Grinds my Gears" diatribe? An opportunistic Congressman who just happens to be from FL could royally f up a legitimate but outwardly suspicious acquisition decision and we end up with no toys and rotten egg (again) on our face.

Possibly (screwed themselves) but the sins of the mother don't follow the son. Scorpion is still the best of the lot. We're buying the jet not the company - even if Skeletor worked there, it would still be the right aircraft. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk