Has anyone ever flown a F-18, any model, off of a ski-jump carrier sans catapult launch?

Happy New Year!

just a bit of a divergent from the sparker discussion... the bottom part of an automotive jack stand makes a great mortar to launch stuff. Best explosive device is to put a cherry bomb in the bottom with the fuse sticking out of the lowest adjustment hole. Position the M-80 with its fuse coming out of one of the…

I cannot give you enough stars.

I also wonder if there’s a chance the F-15 radar can produce forward scatter across the F-22, making the F-22 visible from the reflection.

ahhh, Jerry, you F-35 fanboi you.

you have to wonder what the RoE are for ships transiting the Strait?

yeah, you have to wonder what the RoE are for ships transiting the Strait?

Exactly. My first thought when I saw the 1,500 yards range, “why didn’t the CIWS engage?”

we should agree to disagree. Same problem with the B-1 as the F-35 - its got to loiter at altitude to stay away from the SAMs so you’re launching ordinance from 25,000 feet and miles away at a precision aiming point (good luck with that). F-16s suffer the same problem as any other pointy-nose jet, limited time on…

Great article about the B-1. But the video of the A-10 hosing down the building was f’ing fantastic.

after watching the video, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we’ve just been hit with a boatload of flattery.

The Global Security article said that the foreign re-engine got Liaoning to about 2/3rds of the 200,000 shaft horse-power needed to get to 30 knts as planned in the original design. Looks like the Chinese need to copy the F-35B.

I would like to see a carrier and battle group stationed in Australia.

the US could rent the Prince of Wales from Great Britain. Unfortunately, the PoW is designed for VSTOL aircraft like the F-35B, so unless we get the negotiations underway quickly, PoW will not be able to host CATOBAR launched aircraft.

Yep, my bad, I should have acknowledged that it was a GI Joe. If you’ve ever seen the Ripsaw from Howe and Howe, it looks very similar to the Wolverine tracked vehicle.

you should see an M-60 AVLB trying to go through an old, small, German village, in January, with snow and ice on the cobblestone streets, downhill with a 40 degree turn 2/3 way down, at night, and its late to the next checkpoint where its needed. Oh, the humanity of it.

looks like a Ripsaw with a missile launcher.

There are US tankers from WWII that will disagree with you.

the US should just rent the two new UK aircraft carriers and use them to bridge the carrier shortage. Instant aircraft carrier and the US could spend the money that it would have spent to build two carriers on upgrading the Burkes and Ticos.