I agree with you here in principle and was largely being sarcastic. The SauSaudi export version seems to be about the most sensible version. In volume, it can be reasonable to purchase. It would be nice to acquire a few hundred of them and retire some of our oldest frames.

I suspect that its also entirely self powered, which means, batteries, lots of them. I’m not sure that the F-15C/D has a very healthy power conduit to the ventral centerline station. It was designed when that sort of thing was just not possible in something small enough to fit into a space small enough to be mounted…

Exactly this. While it’s “relatively” simple to cram a bunch of rough duty computers, power supplies, antennas, and ancillary systems into a standard sized box, its much harder to “space optimize” such a system, especially when cooling, power distribution, g-tolerance, and serviceability are taken into account. The…

While they are at it, why don’t they fit them with Conformal pods that contain a little fuel and internal weapons bays? And grates over the engine intakes... and cant the vertical stabilizers... and coat them with some radar absorbing paint... and update the internal electronics to smaller, lower power units that will…

As someone that’s purchased, driven, and traded back in several rental cars, and that also has family and friends that have been doing the same, I offer the following insight into the world:

Hm was in the same boat as well. They had a reverse flow 4.5l diesel with the turbos in the valley ready to go to compete with it. They also backed out.

Multiple road testing prototypes and a display at a dealers preview event with epa compliant power and economy figures for the expedition says otherwise. Oh, and I misstated the displacement, it was 4.4l. The 4.5l was the 3/4 navistar sourced 6.0l v8 with a pair of cylinders lopped off. It was used in the LCF trucks.

Below average fuel efficiency and subpar power numbers.

Ford had a 4.5l diesel ready to go in the mid 2000s. It was ready to go for the F150 and expedition, then the gov’t changed emissions regs and they bailed.

Or, it could be that Ford still makes certain engines for JLR, like the spe ific engine in question... but I digress...

My father was a mechanic for a major US carrier. He had the displeasure of working on both the 4360 and the 3350 turbo-compound. The number of man-hours that these engines would absorb on a day to day basis was staggering. Airliners of the day mostly had four of these beasts, which is 144 cylinders and 288 plugs to…

Just in time for the big three to go to 9-10 speed transmissions...

China and Russia currently use slow rate prosuction because they are being somewhat fiscally responsible. China has tons of factories because of their local partner rules. Russia has plenty of factories, though nany are currently shuttered and it would take some time to restart them. The US doesn’t have anywhere near…

Stuff like this scares the bejesus out of me. I lost a cousin to a very similar situation on I-10 in Florida. Truck hadn’t secured its load properly, hit a bump, and tossed a binch of rebar that biunced and slid till catching an expansion joint, springing back into the air and impaling his car like a bunch of…

You vastly overestimate how quickly f-16s can be made. At best, start to finish, we could get a first unit out in maybe 4 months, and have it tested and ready to go a few months later. We could maybe sustain that rate for maybe a dozen units. Parts for those things come from all over the world, the supply line is long…

Which is the Russian strategy in a nutshell. While I agree with the viability of that strategy in a limited conflict, and can see aspects of that with the combo of the F-22 and F-35, it has a very significant flaw. It essentially gibes you attrition fighters, which is very much against US philosophy. We believe that…

I actually agree with you, its silly to think that the F-16XL would be better than each and every eurocanard in every way. Each has its strengths and weaknesses as has been discovered over time. The F-16XL would be a bit larger than the Gripen, and would probably suffer against it with respect to maneuverability. It…

Did you follow the wing improvements for the XL to the end of the development cycle in the 90s? The final version of the cranked delta wing platform sacrificed none of the platform’s maneuverability, allowed supercruise with the old engine, still had all the extra hardpoints, and increased range due to more tankage…

I just passed one of these in the interstate today! Dude even had a boler hat, monacle, and scarf streaming behind him...

One true answer, outdoes the H1...