Nied

IIRC the Valkyrie doesn't have ailerons just full span flaps. Roll control is provided by differential spoilers and TVC, similar to the F-14 actually.

Is that a hint regarding our current discussion?

If he doesn't care he's a pretty awfully politician. Remember the presidency in Iran is an elected office. It really wouldn't matter anyway since the military is under control of the Ayatollah and the guardian's council and they are able to overrule Ahmadinejad anyway, especially on a decision like this.

Iran has now issued a denial. Given the ridiculously large size of the purported order (has Russia even made 250 Su-30s yet?) I'm inclined to believe them. Tom Cooper is adamant that the Iranians are intent on domestic production, so I could see the IRIAF going for licensed production similar to India, but I don't think their aerospace industry has ramped up to the point of making a couple hundred advanced fighters yet. Has the irAN-140 even started production?

The big news going around the internets is Iran's rumored buy of 250 (!) Su-30MKMs along with Midas tankers for support. So far the story has yet to be confirmed (and 250 fighters seems like an implausibly large buy) but if true it would indicate that the IRIAF is purchasing replacements for not just their F-14s but their F-4s as well. Personally I'd go for 40-80 Su-30s or Mig-31s as Ali-Cat replacements, and J-10s as a replacement for their F-4s. That actually raises an interesting hypothetical along the lines of that Republic of Sahalin scenario I posted last year, if you were put in charge of how would you (re)equip the IRIAF?

You'd also need to get Hasegawa's weapons set V for for the AMRAAMs.

It's worded a little in-exactly but right before the seciont you quoted there's this: So the engines are rated at 42700 kg in the atmosphere and 67500 kg in space. Note that's a semi colon after "maximum instantaneous thrust in atmosphere."

According to the compendium it's the other way around the engines can overheat in an atmosphere, they can only reach thier maximum thrust in space. I would imagine that this would have less to do with the temperature in space (which while it averages 2 degrees Kelivin in practice it varies widely depending on where you are), and more to do with the fact that they would be using liquids or solids (in powdered form) as reaction mass. Vaporizing material would draw away far more heat than just heating an already reletively warm gas.

Someone caught the mistake after they'd animated everything but before they released the specs?

I doubt Valkyries operate on an ion engine pricinpal since while they are know to be extremely efficient, they don't put out a lot of thrust and thus wouldn't be a good engine choice for a high performance fighter (and really wouldn't be of any use in an atmosphere). From their description I always thought that thurmonuclear turbines were rather like a traditional jet engine: air gets sucked in, is rapidly heated and expands, and goes out the back really fast. The only differenece is that a Thurmonuclear trubine uses the heat from a fusion reactor instead of burning kerosene (the whole "unlimited range in atmosphere" thing implies that the fusion reactors themselves are fueled with air as well). In space they'd need to replace air with some kind of reaction mass that they'd need to lug around with them and spray into the engines to convert into thrust. As sketchley says it's pretty inefficient but also puts out a lot more thrust than the alternatives. Having extra reaction mass gives you one of two advantages 1.You can go further or 2.You can go faster. So there's one reasont to have FAST packs on the YF-19 and -21. In addition to that the fusion reactors in the engines of both AVFs get so hot that they can't suck in enough air to keep it from overheating in an atmosphere (at least according to the Compendium), and thus the on board computer limits the thrust of the engines to keep them for overheating. It's possible that the extra fuel carried around in the FAST packs is enough to keep the engines cool and allow them to run at full power.

Or exceptionally good research on the wrong subject. From the loving detail they put into the interior shots of Shin's cockpit I'm willing to bet they actually sent someone out to take pictures of an actual F-14's cockpit. The only easily reachable examples in 2001/2002 would be the Tomcats of VF-154 at NAF Atsugi. The only problem was: VF-154 flew F-14As.

I'm sure David is writting a response to this right now but just in case he isn't. The F-14B Kai/A+ Kai is a bit of a mash up between a reletively accurate F-14D exterior and an F-14A cockpit. I think David found the exterior most closely resembles a Fujimi F-14D model.

Don't forgett to pick up AATCHB while you're at it and Beside You in Time. Live NiN is one hell of an experience and until they come back to the States those are probabvly the best ways to get an idea of what it's like. The BYIT version of Closer is definetly my all time favorite version of that song.

That's kind of my point. The Fragile has some excellent songs, don't get me wrong. Off the top of my head I'd add The Big Comedown, The Frail (can't have The Wretched without The Frail) and We're in This Together (we played that one at our wedding) to your list. It's just that like I said there's about an album's worth of those songs spread through two CDs. Songs like Please, Even Deeper, and The Mark Has Been Made (which is really just a re-tread of Just Like You Imagined) dilute what could have been a stellar album into just a good one. It's like Trent decided to mix the all the material that would normally go into a B-sides compilation into the the album. Like I said he was near hitting the bottom of his drug addiction at that point, and I'm told that one of the problems people have at that point are making decisions on what's important and what's not, and that definitely shows in the album. It's interesting to think how the album might have come out had TR not been drugged out of his mind.

I can remember about 7 years ago being at an airshow standing in line to get into the cockpit of a C-5 and having my "Perfect Drug" T-shirt spark a conversation about the whole Halo numbering system with the guy standing behind me. He had a good 10-15 years on me and a pair of kids in tow. The funny thing is in a few short years I'll probably be that guy.

The Fragile is expensive because it's a double album (although due to Trent Reznor being in the depths of a drug addiction there's really about a single album's worth of good material), Pretty Hate machine was recently caught in the middle of a pretty dragged out rights dispute, it's possible that the price went up because of that.

My god that is a pretty plane. I for one can not wait to fly in one, my wife hates to fly bt the Dreamliner corrects just about every problem she has with the experience.

Actually according to the California Penal code what you did qualifies as Assault and Battery: Fortunately for you Yune has graciously chosen not to press charges despite the fact that he would be well within his rights to.

Hey that's at the Pima Air and Space Museum. One of these days I'm going to have to make it out there as the have an imaculately restored F9F-8 painted in the colors of my Dad's old squadron when he was in the Navy. Although according to his logbook it's not one he actually flew.

Yeah I mean I'm posting pictures from the airshow I went to already (I'll have more on tonight BTW). There's some pictures available from the Andrews show online but I don't think I've seen anything from the Offutt show online anywhere yet.

So any way as I was saying before: Boo-Yah! [attachmentid=42647][attachmentid=42648] Also: [attachmentid=42649] Sorry I don't have many more aerial pics. My hands were full picking my jaw off the ground.

Neat! It's like if an A-10 and a VF-1 had a baby.

Boo-Yah! [attachmentid=42639][attachmentid=42640]

According to Hobby Link Japan it uses a pair of LR43 watch batteries. You should be able to pick those up pretty easily at your local RadioShack.

It's a pity that the Blues wont be able to make it out there. I wonder if they'll be able to rebound in time for Fleet week here this year (I honestly can not think of a better way to watch the Blue Angels perform than over the San Francisco bay).