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What does FAST mean?


Coedes

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oh dear... cos everyone is like "FAST"-pack here.."FAST-pack" there...until we forget it's actually an acronym??

i was hoping someone would quickly fire off the answer cos it seems all e gurus are gathered here...no?

i'm thinking/guessing

F- Flying in, Fully, Flight, Fighter?

A -Armor or Atmospheric ?

S - Strike, Space or System?

T - Twin? Two? Travel?

or For Atmospheric Space Travel???? :lol:

Edited by Coedes
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The first FAST pack (that I know of) was a conformal fuel tank with hardpoints for ordinance designed for the F-15 (primarily the dual-role E variant, the Strike Eagle).

The acronym stands for Fuel And Sensor Tactical.

[Edit: What EXO said]

Fuel and Sensor Tactical packs were the brainchild of an experienced engineer working in the ‘Advanced F-15 Design engineering’ team, called Frank Laacke. They consisted of aerodynamically shaped fuel tanks, which slotted in flush between the lower surface of the wing and the side of the engine intakes. Laacke explained, “We started out with the F-15 being a supersonic interceptor. With external fuel tanks on you lose a lot of acceleration capability, we therefore needed to come up with another way of carrying fuel. We played around with a number of ideas, but finally settled on the concept of FAST packs. They provided reduced supersonic drag and a very small amount of subsonic drag, they also had very little effect on stability. As they evolved the Air Force lost interest in extending the range of the jet as an interceptor and we started to look at FAST packs for increasing ferry range and carrying bombs.

F-15E (with FAST packs)

F-15 (without FAST packs)

Edited by Draykov
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trust me... a lot of us lazy fans are on that thread... :lol::lol::lol:

including myself... :D

it's just a better way to compile all the FAQs. Most of the posts start with "Well I'm not really a newbie, but...."

just trying to help... ;)

Edited by >EXO<
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Draykov-

1) Thanks for the info.

2) In the future, could you resize your pics to 600-700 pixels wide?

This is a little unofficial rule to keep the size down, and also show the whole picture on screen without having to scroll side to side.

My bad.

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For them what is interested, the Block 60 F-16's will be getting conformal fuel tanks, developed by the Israelis.

F-16 with CFTs in Israeli livery

The Greeks are also purchasing an F-16 with an avionics box that runs along the dorsal centerline, from behind the cockpit to the vertical tail fairing. I had the privilege of seeing one at the LMCO assembly plant in Ft. Worth. That was a neat tour. : )

Now, if they'd just hire me....

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For them what is interested, the Block 60 F-16's will be getting conformal fuel tanks, developed by the Israelis.

F-16 with CFTs in Israeli livery

The Greeks are also purchasing an F-16 with an avionics box that runs along the dorsal centerline, from behind the cockpit to the vertical tail fairing. I had the privilege of seeing one at the LMCO assembly plant in Ft. Worth. That was a neat tour. : )

Now, if they'd just hire me....

did the israelis actually make that? pretty sweet. a different take on the -16.

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I still believe the term 'FAST Pack' as we use it on the Super and Strike Valks is simply a modern term of convenience. Back in 82~83, the drawings of the Super Valk simply referred to these parts as 'outer-atmosphere boosters' in Kanji. You can look in the Macross Design Works or any other vintage volume - I doubt you'll find a single reference to them as 'FAST Packs'. :-)

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Good point. After all, the gorgeous 1/48 Yamato "FAST packs" say "Super/Strike Parts for VF-1 Valkyrie." Seems kind of inelegant... is the FAST acronym trademarked or copyrighted or anything?

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Yes, that's true! It happens in Goodbye Girl, just before Max's escort squadron takes off. I wonder why it was in the script but still isn't used in the books... Maybe because it IS a copyrighted term by Hughes/McDonnell? Even in the more recent VF-X2 Official Visual Guide, it's still referred to as "Super Pack".

What's more interesting is that the F-15E was introduced in 1987... Perhaps Kawamori, being the plane buff that he is, had already been following developments in the early 80's?

Edited by drifand
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Draykov-

1) Thanks for the info.

2) In the future, could you resize your pics to 600-700 pixels wide?

This is a little unofficial rule to keep the size down, and also show the whole picture on screen without having to scroll side to side.

My bad.

My understanding was this was the rule if you were going to actually post the pics in the thread. because they are provided as links, they do not prohibit the download sped of the actual message board and it leaves it to the reader to decide whether or not he wnats to go with it.

I think Draykov did fine...

My two cents...

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My understanding was this was the rule if you were going to actually post the pics in the thread. because they are provided as links, they do not prohibit the download sped of the actual message board and it leaves it to the reader to decide whether or not he wnats to go with it.

I think Draykov did fine...

My two cents...

Thanks for the support, Dat, but I originally posted the huge ass pictures in the thread. I was having trouble saving them and resizing them, so I edited and just provided the links. All the same, thanks for stickin' up for me. ;)

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What's more interesting is that the F-15E was introduced in 1987... Perhaps Kawamori, being the plane buff that he is, had already been following developments in the early 80's?

FAST packs came with the F-15C, not the E. They were in service long before Macross came about. It's just that the E has them 99.9% of the time, and has almost no bombing capabilities without them, and is HEAVILY associated with them. The C rarely uses them, usually only North Atlantic intercept missions.

::quick check:: First FAST packs were flying by 1974--plenty of time for Kawamori to learn about them before Macross. :)

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What's more interesting is that the F-15E was introduced in 1987... Perhaps Kawamori, being the plane buff that he is, had already been following developments in the early 80's?

FAST packs came with the F-15C, not the E. They were in service long before Macross came about. It's just that the E has them 99.9% of the time, and has almost no bombing capabilities without them, and is HEAVILY associated with them. The C rarely uses them, usually only North Atlantic intercept missions.

::quick check:: First FAST packs were flying by 1974--plenty of time for Kawamori to learn about them before Macross. :)

Excellent! Tip of the hat to you, Dave. :-)

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For a moment, the F-15 FAST pack seems like its drop tank to me???

and

The Greeks are also purchasing an F-16 with an avionics box that runs along the dorsal centerline, from behind the cockpit to the vertical tail fairing. I had the privilege of seeing one at the LMCO assembly plant in Ft. Worth. That was a neat tour. : .............

this avionics is only on the F-16 C and D model, the older A and B model dont have it.

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For them what is interested, the Block 60 F-16's will be getting conformal fuel tanks, developed by the Israelis.

F-16 with CFTs in Israeli livery

The Greeks are also purchasing an F-16 with an avionics box that runs along the dorsal centerline, from behind the cockpit to the vertical tail fairing.  I had the privilege of seeing one at the LMCO assembly plant in Ft. Worth.  That was a neat tour.  : )

Now, if they'd just hire me....

T

he Israelis were the first to use a dorsal spine box for the avionics. It's since been incorperated into F-16s purchased by several other countries. The Confromal Fuel Tanks were developed entirely by Lockheed Martin in the US for the Block 60 F-16 proposal for the United Arab Emirates (that's the F-16 in your picture). They've since sold some to the Hellenic Air Force as well.

Edited by Nied
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The Israelis were the first to use a dorsal spine box for the avionics. It's since been incorperated into F-16s purchased by several other countries. The Confromal Fuel Tanks were developed entirely by Lockheed Martin in the US for the Block 60 F-16 proposal for the United Arab Emirates (that's the F-16 in your picture). They've since sold some to the Hellenic Air Force as well.

Yeah, Singapore uses them too.

This is one must've been photographed just prior to delivery (hence the USAF markings on the tail and the Singapore national insignia on the fuselage).

hvh_f16_af96_031.jpg

Edited by Draykov
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