kalvasflam

The season is starting to come together though, I like the turn they did with Mr. Sark and putting him in the present. Heck, he could be the progenitor of all the other heroes. But that said, HRG is what is needed in this season. If you think about it, he is one more or less helpless guy that can affect things in lots of ways. Hell, look at what he did for fat boy Parkman.

Interesting information on the speed restrictions. I had no idea these existed,, I wonder if the current generation of F-22s will have strain sensors embedded in the superstructure that'll show the integrity of the planes over time. The fiber strain sensors are cheap these days. I am also curious to find out about speed restrictions placed on non-US fighters, it could be very interesting.

Alternatively, we could go through the argument of Rumsfeld transformation of the military and look at how effective that has been. Specifically in Iraq and to a lesser extent in Afghanistan. You can argue that his policies were exactly right, to use local proxies and shock tactics to win war, but simultaneously, you can make the argument that it's a miserable failure because the US armed forces is doing a horrible job (if you believe CNN et al) at garrisoning duties. I do understand your particular point. But on the balance, when talking about economics, I don't think it's at all clear that the civilian arm of the government has a better understanding what would be best going forward. The more logical thing to have done perhaps is to fix a budget, and then let the service arms negotiate a solution based on their requirements. Instead of having every local congressman push for their piece of the military spending pie, that I think is where more of the waste comes from.

That's a good argument Nied... based not on politics (which can be just as important) but purely on economics. Unfortunately, I bet it's the political argument that carries the day. Pure economics like you just proposed is far beyond what most of the dolts in office would ever understand.

Hmmm, you know, we could end up with a predestination paradox of some kind. As for Sylar, I like him still, his is also a journey that needs to happen, I want him to have his powers back. Cause Petrelli is too powerful.

Millionaires vs Billionaires..... FIGHT

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...force-f-15.html Hmmm, interesting, wonder if there is precedent for other fighters in the US inventory in terms of structural problems. Regarding the ridiculous abolish the air force article above. The writer makes a fundamental assumption: that the current situation in the world will remain the status quo for all time. That alone makes this article kind of a joke to anyone who is seriously considering the implications of air power.

as far as Jack is concerned, he missed Tony's funeral... was on slow boat to China.

I think we would differ slightly on that front. My view is that the military has done a decent job because they haven't had to face a decent opponent on military terms. If they had, the results may not be so clear cut. Given the rearmament that Russia is going through and China's emerging capabilities, it won't be too long before parity is reached. This goes back to a point about how the military is best used, typically military cannot be used for garrison duty. They are great at smashing things. But the current employment of the US military is sad. That is not to say that if tomorrow CENTCOM was ordered to conquer Tehran and kill the Iranian military, they couldn't do it. The problem is, after that job is done, the US military becomes rather less useful as an instrument of state. Sorry, we're diverging away from airplanes just now. So I'll leave things at just this.

Finally saw the season 7 trailer. If Tony stays the main bad guy throughout, with may be one or two plot twists, this could be a good one. Although I have to say, I'm already not too thrilled with the "let's hijack the computers running the country" plot.

The two arguments has to coexist side by side. Nied is pointing out that there is a practical rationale for maintaining a larger force, that argument does work especially in the short term (talking 5 to 10 years time frame). A-leader is also right, but he is looking at it from a longer time frame: which simply states that the world politics is dynamic. In 1991, I doubt anyone would believe that in less than a decade, China would've become quite the economic power house, or that some little known terrorist organization would've been capable of killing several thousand Americans in the span of one morning. But that's short sighted thinking, and amply illustrated throughout history. Both arguments are valid in their context, although Nied's does have some advantage in that it focuses the attention of the politicians (they have the attention span of five year olds, and tend not to look beyond the current election cycle).

So, to throw gas on the fire, this is what happens when you have a republican congress and a democrat president, and they all declare a peace dividend. The sad thing is, all of this was preventable. Well, this is just another sure sign that the US is going to go the way of the Brits (like the turn of two centuries ago). I can't wait until the first time a B-2 gets shot down or crashes, that would effectively reduce the stealth bomber capability by about 5%.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...7-problems.html hmmm, no wonder 787 is getting delayed.... reads like big design issues to me sometime ago. If it's getting aired now, they might be past it. If not, things are gonna be going downhill fast for the 787. Additional interesting tidbit, this one on A380: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1193904154.html Guess there won't be any more lovefests on the SIA A380

No matter how you slice it, Germany was going to be the loser in WWII, and the US (but may be not Russia or England) would've been the winner. Why would I say this? Let's say Hitler manages to keep status quo and Kursk didn't come out to be such a disaster, Hitler is still economically constrained. It'll prolong the war on the Eastern front, he can't get at Russia manufacturing base, and the Russians had more manpower. So at best, we have a stalemate on the eastern front. Then Overlord happens, and the Germans are hosed, a two front land war, that's not counting the trump card that the Americans held in the form of the A-bomb. And it's doubtful if the western allies would've negotiated a settlement.

I think the biggest lesson you can get out of Heroes is that there seem to be a lot of interconnectivity between the characters, so they all ought to be aware of who they're sleeping with. After all, it might just be their second cousins, or nephews, or nieces or such. The degree of relationship is very interesting. I am curious to see if Hiro bones Kensei's girlfriend at the end, and hell, he might be his own great great granddad... if things keep progressing this way, how would that be for a kick in the head. This would be some real uncharted waters then, and it wouldn't surprise me if it turns out that Kensei is also the progenitor for some of the other heroes in the show. Especially if the one thing Hiro can do is to put Kensei on the opposite side of the planet, say in jolly old England to keep him away from the girl.

This season is still interesting enough, I really don't like Maya and Bro, and it's only Sylar that's keeping things interesting with them. I'm sure that the episode Four Months Ago will tie up a lot of loose ends, like how the hell did Sylar get to Mexico. I like HRG's crusade, although the Hiro portion is start to bore me. Somehow, Hiro's arc throughout the series hasn't tied in all that well with the other heroes, at least from what I've seen. But hopefully, they'll start getting Hiro more involved with the other characters when he gets back and find out Sulu got whacked.

There are always other factors, but we're talking about pure air superiority, which the ME262 didn't achieve. The assumption is that the future US military leaders aren't going to be as stupid as Hitler was in some cases, but that isn't right, and if they screw it up, they would need a larger number to compensate for their mistake. Quality isn't always everything and can't be always counted on, mass has it's own special meaning too. And what happens when the Russians fields the F-22 equivalent and flood those onto the market. Besides, most of the cases in WWII argued not for better quality but sheer mass. Think the Japanese vs US Navy for example, the Japanese started off with a qualitatively better fleet in just about most aspects, I don't see the JSDF defending US from Canada today though.

A point of contention, I wouldn't call procurement part of the military exactly. I know about the original purpose for the B-2. But 21 is a ridiculously low number. And any fool could've seen the evolution into a conventional role and may be not shut down the B-2. Case in point, the B-52. Still the most useful bomb truck thus far. As for the F-15 fleet, originally, the run was for 729 F-15s, but that ran went well over a thousand for just the USAF. As for the Congress, part of me wonders why they even get to make decisions on military appropriations. You have a bunch of drunks and prima donnas in that place, and they're making multi-billion dollar decisions. And where do they come down on? Entitlement for a bunch of bums sitting home doing nothing. But I think we can all agree that better to have more Raptors than less, just because the economics probably favors it anyway. The argument of why next gen fighters shouldn't be needed in such large numbers is rather silly. Think WWII, German Jet fighters (next gen) vs prop driven fighters (current gen)... who won that war. Hey, the Germans had a qualitative edge there that was unmatched. Next gen didn't fare very well there, did it?

True enough, but the implication is there. Remember, it can't be Dems vs dems because season 3 had Palmer squaring off against his opponent, so unless the Republicans went away and there are two Democrat parties, Logan is a Republican. What's unknown is whether Palmer Jr is a Republican or a Democrat, you'd think he is the same party as David, but you can't be sure. And besides, we can't have evil Democrats, that just doesn't sound right.... somehow.

I like that idea, a missionized UCAV control system... but it would be best if the B model would be more of a AWACS fighter than a true air superiority fighter... imagine one off those puppies controlling half a squad of Reapers for group strikes. On the other hand, I'm not too crazy about the Air to Ground role for F-22, the advantage is the leverage on the common platform, but the -22 would have to be like the FB design. My rationale for the number though isn't just for the sake of manufacturing efficiency, numbers carry a weight all on their own. The US may have air dominance now, but that will definitely not be the case at the present rate of development in another two decades. I do wish they managed to install more payload than two lousy LGBs on the Reapers though. But you gotta start somewhere. I think the sad part is that the procurement for the US military must be made up of a bunch of idiots. They don't bother to scale the manufacturing correctly at all, I think I said this in the previous aircraft thread, they should've made something like 100+ B-2s, not just 21. That would've scaled down the cost dramatically, I am not sure, but I'm guessing all the tooling for the B-2 are long wrecked, and there is no way to ever restart up that line. Sad....

Only if they bring back Itzn, and of course, no more Palmer boys... that line is pretty well spent. We need evil Republican Logan. ha ha... he outshone just about everyone with that Season 5. May be we'll get son of Logan

I would say that number should realistically be in the 500 range, with continued emphasis on upgrading existing units, and adding a two seater variant. Closing down the production line would be a huge mistake.

Bioware bought by EA... that alone was a disturbing thought. The real problem of course is EA's track record with MMORPG so far. Ultima online anyone? It was the first MMORPG that made money (I think), and instead of capitalizing on its dominance, EA went on to cede the title to Evercrack and Sony. Bioware might make EA better, but based on what I hear, EA is definitely going to make Bioware worse as a company. I think they might ruin KOTOR if they try to do an MMORPG out of it.

It is just a swept wing I know, but this is reminding me a little of the YF-21.... just a little http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/...-in-flight.html But, these kinds of tech has to start somewhere.

I new AFO to me is a waste of money. I would think that if anything, the USAF need to replace fighters rather than AFO. If they have to, smaller AFO might be worthwhile, possibly 787 variant if they ever do a -10 version. There is a whole slew of replacements that would take priority, I think AFO needs to be on the bottom of the list. Boeing has enough trouble right now with the 787, so, AFO while it might be a symbolic win, I think would be totally pointless for Boeing. And even if AFO gets to be an Airbus product, well, it's not a precedent right? Right now, I think the next Marine One is a eurocopter of some type.