electric indigo Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Plenty, which is why DARPA and the USAF has been funding such work for so long. Satellite technology is limited in two respects. First, adversaries are able to know when a satellite is coming into view, therefore can hide their activities. Relatedly, they cannot easily change their orbit making it difficult to obtain information on demand in a crisis. Finally they are limited by the payload they are carrying from the time of their launch, their altitude, and climactic conditions. The SR-72 would be able to avoid those problems. I still have the feeling that there's too much "old school" thinking going on in another supposedly multi-billion dollar project. I imagine a rocket distributing a swarm of small, disposable recon drones, doing the same job at lower systemic costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 distributing a swarm of small, disposable recon drones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Train Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I feel the need... the need for speed. Wait a minute... You know a movie is bad when you can watch the whole thing on youtube and no one bothers to take it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noyhauser Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I still have the feeling that there's too much "old school" thinking going on in another supposedly multi-billion dollar project. I imagine a rocket distributing a swarm of small, disposable recon drones, doing the same job at lower systemic costs. Except that raises political issues, like when the sentinel crashed in Iran last year. Moreover the speed of this aircraft would be phenomenal; depending on the drone's bases location, it may well be faster to send the hypersonic aircraft then fly the drone at subsonic speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight26 Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Changes in the battlespace created the need for an SR-72. The SR-71 was surpassed by sattelites finally having the data bandwidth and resolution to provide near real time imagery to the analysts that wasn't complete garbage. What we are seeing now is that hacking and jamming are coming into play much more, allowing our enemies to disrupt UAV operations. An SR-72 will be able to carry mission specific elint or strike packages at a speed that will allow it to strike almost anywhere in the world relatively quickly. Deployment of a probe droids via rocket is not a feasible plan. What happens to the rocket? It either crashs in enemy territory, creating an international incident, or self destructs, creating the same issue. The same goes for the mini-uav/probes and now you have handed our tech over to the enemy. Beyond that, the data transmission gear onboard the uav is not tiny people, especially if you want a satellite uplink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 "Imagines a 2000 lb JDAM dropped at Mach 4+." I wonder how this will affect Russian and Chinese air defense thinking if the SR-72 becomes a physical reality. Imagine the Russians will continue to evolve their long range S-300/400 missile family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutch Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Aurora and rumors of Aurora. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skullmilitia Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Rumors? The media named the would be "Aurora". But it's not actually called that, hell the nickname isn't even "Aurora". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renegadeleader1 Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Rumors? The media named the would be "Aurora". But it's not actually called that, hell the nickname isn't even "Aurora". Nope. Some idiot left it in the public documents for the 85 U.S. budget. The head of skunk works once claimed it was the code for the budget allocation for the B-2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skullmilitia Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 From what I remember, Aurora was just the project name for the engine testing phase for another Project that never got past test flights. (This is from a family friend who was a Test pilot for several projects including the aircraft surrounding the aurora namesake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddhafabio Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 (edited) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/19/us-pilot-scares-iranians-top-gun-worthy-stunt-you-/#ixzz2kpdZk1Ui The U.S. Air Force has a message for Iran: Don’t mess with our drones. In what only can be described as a scene out of Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun,” Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, Air Force chief of staff, describes how F-22 stealth jets scared off Iranian jets from a U.S. drone flying in international airspace.The Aviationist reports that in March a U.S. MQ-1 drone came close to being intercepted by an Iranian F-4 Phantom combat plane, but the Iranian aircraft stopped short after a warning by an American pilot. “He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said ‘you really ought to go home,’” Gen. Welsh said. According to The Aviationist, the Iranians came within 16 miles of the drone. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/19/us-pilot-scares-iranians-top-gun-worthy-stunt-you-/#ixzz2kr72Cd7oFollow us: @washtimes on Twitter Edited November 16, 2013 by buddhafabio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Global Hawks are big: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric indigo Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 The pic of the F-16 brings up a question that always puzzled me: Why are the AIM-120s preferably carried at the wingtips while the (presumably lighter) AIM-9s are on the underwing stations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles316 Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 (edited) Most likely for aerodynamic reasons the aim-120 is longer than the sidewinder and might interfere with handling . Just a guess. Edited November 18, 2013 by miles316 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 18, 2013 Author Share Posted November 18, 2013 Wingtip missiles act much like winglets---reducing tip vortices, and thus drag, thus increasing range a smidge. AMRAAMs seem to work better, mainly because they're bigger. However, it was found out that for an F-16, an AMRAAM is just a little too heavy, and they're causing cracks as the years go by. So there's been a trend to bringing the AMRAAMs back under the wings with the Sidewinders at the tips again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight26 Posted November 18, 2013 Share Posted November 18, 2013 That is one of the reasons why USN and USMC decided not mount AMRAAMs on the wingtips of their hornets. The stress of carrier landings and takeoffs were stressing the airframe enough, putting additional strain on the wings would shorter their useful lives even more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 Seen at WalMart a few days ago, thus probably a Veteran's Day display: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Oops. A few months ago, a newspaper in the UK ran an article decrying the state of childrens education and how they didn't know "basic facts" about things like World War II. They illustrated the article with a picture captioned something like "Battle of Britain history: a flight of Spitfires". See if you can guess which aircraft were actually in the picture...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vifam7 Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Oops. A few months ago, a newspaper in the UK ran an article decrying the state of childrens education and how they didn't know "basic facts" about things like World War II. They illustrated the article with a picture captioned something like "Battle of Britain history: a flight of Spitfires". See if you can guess which aircraft were actually in the picture...? Spanish Buchons (which posed as Me109s) from the Battle of Britain movie? Hopefully it was, at the very least, RAF aircraft... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noyhauser Posted November 20, 2013 Share Posted November 20, 2013 Can't be as bad as this one, which is problematic given the situation in Washington State. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 20, 2013 Author Share Posted November 20, 2013 The worst ever, which I cannot find any more, was one of those "print shops that'll print most anything on clothing" and someone had made a T-shirt that said "My Daddy Flies a Jet". The image was a B-29. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Train Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 in b 4 "it's China's fault that we have these print errors because they're supposed to know everything and fact check everything for Walmart too." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles316 Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 (edited) The flight crew of a Boeing Dream Lifter flying in to Wichita Kansas lands at the wrong airport. Edited November 21, 2013 by miles316 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles316 Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 The plane has arrived at it's final destination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-ZeroOne Posted November 21, 2013 Share Posted November 21, 2013 (edited) Spanish Buchons (which posed as Me109s) from the Battle of Britain movie? Hopefully it was, at the very least, RAF aircraft... Hah, no, it was at least RAF aircraft - the other one, the Hawker Hurricane. (to add insult to injury, the ones shown in the image had two-bladed propellers so the picture might even have pre-dated the Battle as well...!). Edited November 21, 2013 by F-ZeroOne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Model-Junkie Posted December 3, 2013 Share Posted December 3, 2013 New paint scheme for Blue 55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric indigo Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 The Carraidas private swing-wing jet designed for the Tintin comic "Flight 714" from 1966. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 That shows something that a lot of fictional swing-wing designs do----minimal change. What's the point of making swing-wings if that's all you're going to do with them? That's a waste----the amount of engineering, parts, weight, etc---not worth it for like 25 degrees of change. If you're going to do it---go big. Look at the F-14 and F-111------THOSE are swing-wings. However---- it's clear a good amount of thought/care/research went into the overall structure etc. I'm trying to figure out exactly what the pylon/intake/nacelle arrangement looks like though. I'd suggest larger tailplanes though, with how short the moment-arm is. ::edit:: Trijet, with the outer engines having split intakes? One going to the outboard engine, and the "inner" half of the nacelle's intake going to the center engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 Brazil has picked the Super Gripen: http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/saab-wins-brazils-f-x2-fighter-contest-with-gripen-ng-394289/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anime52k8 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 That shows something that a lot of fictional swing-wing designs do----minimal change. What's the point of making swing-wings if that's all you're going to do with them? That's a waste----the amount of engineering, parts, weight, etc---not worth it for like 25 degrees of change. If you're going to do it---go big. Look at the F-14 and F-111------THOSE are swing-wings. yep, super unrealistic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 Still pointless though, as it had to be----it was modified from an existing fixed-wing design. It was considered so pointless that for years it was believed it never went into production. It did of course, but everyone still asked "why?" Never said it wasn't realistic, said it was pointless. The time/effort/expense/weight put into making the tips move a bit, could have been much better spent in other areas with notable gains---or on a different aircraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anime52k8 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I still like the Su-17 though, I think it's an great looking aircraft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted December 19, 2013 Author Share Posted December 19, 2013 Pointless and awesome are often one and the same. Most "cool" features have little practical purpose. I mean, if I had a private jet----it would so look like Tintin's. We all know the Lambo Countach's spoiler was an expensive option that added weight and drag---but dang did it look cool with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electric indigo Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 First testshot pics of Tarangus' 1/48 Viggen: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i93fjc13pzdbapf/TJrVvHik7T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derex3592 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 The Viggen was always one of my favorite aircraft as a kid. It was just so different and cool. Might have to build one someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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