I once emailed a FA story to everyone in my family (we’re pretty much all aerospace, military, or nerds) and concluded at the bottom, “...and if you’re not reading Foxtrot Alpha everyday, what are you doing with your life??”

360ad said, “It’s hard to be reasonable with your retail therapy when you have guaranteed and expendable income (from tax revenue).”

They’ve watched too many movies, youtube videos and shows on the military channel designed for teenage boys.

Old joke that made its way around CAG 8 (and elsewhere) when we transitioned from the Corsair II to the Hornet:

Whaaa? Much higher stall speed, less reliable and non-redundant engines, a smaller cannon, no titanium cockpit shell, no redundant tail fins, and smaller wingspan that won’t keep it flying should a chunk of wing go missing? Also, good luck taking off from the runways the A-10 uses.

It’s not like the A-10 has never been shot down before. We lost like six of them in Desert Storm, and a lot more have been shot to hell since.

Marines are on the shiny tech bandwagon.

LATE BREAKING: The US Air Force has selected the A-9 as its replacement for the under performing and second rate A-10:

I think the real problem with the A-10 is that the fleet is paid for, and therefore is no longer a large-bandwidth conduit for money to flow to defense contractors. No more A-10s means more F-35s which means more more MORE money for...Lockheed!

Just build more A-10s. Did they lose the engineering drawings or something? It’s not like there is anything better for its role anywhere. Just update what needs updating and leave the rest alone. retool as required. It would be cheap as far military plane development projects go. Oh wait, that’s why they aren’t doing…

Nonsense. All you really need is Sean Connery and an umbrella.

Oops, did we turn that on?

The Few, The Proud, The Untinii!

The F-35 fiasco clearly shows that this is a myth - The Marines have huge influence, despite their current irrelevance.

And pipe dreams are the beginning of massive cost overruns in ship construction....

1) Carbon composite - hmmm. Maybe for a minesweeper type boat (i.e. small craft). For a large combatant, no. Looks cool, doesn’t rust, light. Now put 5-inch rounds in it. Or even 30mm from a deck or aircraft cannon. Swiss chesse. Let’s not even talk about missiles like the Russian Sunburn, or some of the nastier ones…

Knock it off Hudson

Somebody wake up Hicks.

We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic BALL breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks...

Are Jawas now accepted in the USMC?