I was once at a small general aviation airport in western NC when a pair of C-17s were doing touch-and-gos. The place usually doesn’t handle anything bigger than a business jet. Sometimes the Coast Guard sends C-130s for practice and I’ve seen Navy P-3s doing the same thing. What made the C-17 touch-and-gos so…

This photo is just all kinds of awesome.

It is a little risky for Russia.

It IS a Gawker property. Would you expect any less? It’s sad that Foxtrot Alpha is part of the TMZ / Jerry Springer of the interwebs. Great posts marred by chair throwing loons.

I’m not concerned about it. It just looks unusual after so many years of multi-engine aircraft on US carriers. More of an aesthetic issue to my eye than anything else. It’ll take some time to get used to.

Seeing a single engine fighter land on the carrier looks bizarre nowadays. I realize there is nothing inherently wrong with it, but seeing the rear after it passes on the trap, I kind of expect to see two nozzles. I guess it’s been a while since a single has been on a carrier. I guess the A-7 and A-4 were the last…

Do I think F-35 will be the next TFX? I kinda doubt it. I think that more likely, it’s the next A-7D/E.

On[e] thing that was apparent during the ATF evaluation - both vendors had obtained remarkable leaps in aircraft performance, design, and stealth. There were no losers; there were two winners and one chosen to proceed into production.

...so the focus became preserving F-35 since that was the only tactical aircraft modernization program the DoD has.

I don’t think we are really in disagreement here. I should have qualified my statements a little more. Of course I realize that the Air Force wanted enough fighters to replace the F-15 force. And you’re absolutely right that the civilian military leadership was the main factor in killing off the F-22. However, up…

The USAF’s primary mission has always been Air Superiority first and foremost. They may have not always been guided by this mission, but it is the reason for the service. This is not something new. It goes all the way back the Air Corps field manual FM 100-20 in 1943:

There are very few mil-spec ships that could survive a hit by a Mach 3 Brahmos. However, focusing on beefing up certain structures, redundancy, and damage control may mean the difference between a crew getting off a mortally wounded ship and going straight to the bottom within seconds.

There’s a Peugeot joke buried somewhere in this article.

• Richard gathers the crew, gives a pep talk about how he’s going to have to sell his body to science if this build doesn’t get done on time and on budget. THEY CANNOT SCREW THIS UP.
  

The Navy doesn’t need the ancient S-3. There are plans in place for the F-35 to handle the missions of every aircraft on a carrier: Aerial Refueling, ELINT, Anti-Sub, Search-and-rescure, and Carrier onboard delivery. I’ve heard the Navy even plans to replace CVNs with hundreds of F-35s strapped together with a flight…

Who says they didn’t build it years ago when costs were rising? And performance is not what was initially promised. I don’t put all or even the majority of the blame on Lockheed, although they’ve done their fair share. If you’d look at some of my previous F-35 posts you’d see that. I believe my last talked about how…

This is the Navy’s hedge against the F-35 and Lockheed.

I think that would cost too much to be feasible, since changing out the nose would alter the aerodynamic properties of the airframe and probably require the software for the flight computers to be altered. Besides, there are other stealth characteristics in the airframe that would not be necessary for carrier landing…

For those without access to Aviation Week.

Well, traditionally being able to quickly point your nose at an opponent was a key ingredient in a dogfight, but that was back in the days before missiles had high off-boresight capabilities and pilots had access to helmet mounted displays. I mean there is always the possibility that a modern aircraft could end up in…