The sky-high aircraft and aviation thread

It is the most beautiful plane in the world and you will say so!

Er, the KAI T-50 is cuter than the Yak, because unlike the Yak which you can't really say is a "junior version" of anything, the KAI T-50 looks like F-16 Jr.

I love the A-10 but I cant agree with it being the cutest airplane.

Maybe the cutest gun accessory.

@ Tom: OV-1 or OV-10?

BA2276 Fire may have been caused by engine damage.

Blackjacks pay a visit to the British Isles. Typhoons pay THEM a visit. Sky News website warning.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/raf-intercepts-russian-jets-near-uk-airspace/ar-AAebUv3?ocid=spartanntp

Odd, the Russians don't usually send Tu-160s out to do the whole airspace violation thing.

Those are their proper doomsday planes.

Eh it is just the Russians upping the dick waving game by flying their expensive craft.

Or maybe their regular dick waving planes were down for maintenance and/or holiday.

They pulled a similar stunt back in 2010 and the RAF met them then as well.

This sort of thing been happening for the last few few years. Of course, before that interceptions like this happened for years during the Cold War — this QRA was what the Tornado F.3 was designed for.

Just finished watching the 80's spook/flying classic, "Firefox" and I was wondering something. Is it possible to build something like it or is it still beyond real-world capabilities today?

A mach 6 stealth plane with thought controlled weapons?

Well stealth is almost dead now. But the Russians do have a missile that does mach 7.

And supposedly are making a Mi G-31 successor capable of hitting mach 4.3.

Eh, it's just a silly movie.

In other words, the USAF should get more new F-15s and F-16s, and maybe the Textron Scorpion as well, while cancelling all current and future stealth programs?

Meanwhile, Kuwait Is To Purchase 28 Typhoons

edited 12th Sep '15 2:41:57 PM by Greenmantle

Which parts of the tech you referring to? The fancy voice command probably, off bore missile shots or rearward firing missiles are definitely possible. High grade stealth already exists but we have discussed that into the ground at this point. Manned hypersonic air breathing craft? Not really. The Space Shuttle and the X-15 both can hit hypersonic speeds but both of those come with a catch.

The mind control interface not really. We are still tinkering with brain machine interface with just artificial limbs and some other examples.

Stealth isn't quite dead yet folks. We discussed this. It isn't the bleeding edge of victory but it also is almost a standard requirement in some craft.

edited 12th Sep '15 2:42:42 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Well not just yet. For stealth you gotta trade off some stuff. One of the F-35's biggest problems is that it can't use more than a few weapons systems because of it's weapons bays.

With radars getting better and better at seeing stealthed planes there's eventually going to be a point when the trade off isn't worth the benefits stealthed layouts gives.

edited 12th Sep '15 2:45:23 PM by LeGarcon

That might not be for a few more decades in general.

I think the actual line will be crossed much sooner than that but it'll be a few decades before that Russian technology bleeds into the rest of world and we have to truly worry about it.

True but it's not quite as simple as not wearing camouflage.

This isn't a perfect metaphor but think about it this way, would you trade half your ammo and your SAPI plates for a ghillie suit or some other really advanced camouflage?

Now what if the baddies had thermal goggles? Still worth it?

edited 12th Sep '15 2:49:51 PM by LeGarcon

Garcon: Your view is overly pessimistic. While value of stealth is already showing some signs of erosion it is still rather very effective and it still requires a large and dedicated set up to achieve that erosion in the first place. That erosion is really only telling on the small craft. For example the B-2 is still very low profile because of its overall design and shape. One thing that helps is the complete lack of tail surfaces of any sort which is one of the key functional tricks for those UHF/VHF stealth tracking radars. Which is why the F-22 and F-35 are honestly at risk of detection from them where the B-2 will likely still be a ? on the screen. Most of the fighter planes problems arise from certain design limitations with them being fighters.

Even Air Power Australia which takes a pretty critical view on wunder waffen claims of pretty much everyone points out stealth is going to be around for a while to come and even if it can't make craft invisible it still makes them notably harder to track and target. They also point everyone in the stealth game is going to wind up using more then just one trick against each other which puts reliability more towards circumstance and who fights smarter.

......

Is it even posible to combine Super sonic and stealth.

I have always been told stealth only works when your subsonic.

You can have both on the same plane, but going super sonic makes you much much more noticable.

Yes. The F-22 does just that. It is a supersonic capable stealth fighter. The part about stealth and supersonic speeds has mostly to do with possible IR detection. Things like air friction heating up certain surfaces can cause IR glint along the leading edges of certain parts. A common feature of stealth tech is usually some limited IR absorption but it can only go so far. The obvious is the exhaust trail and heat from the engines. This is why directional nozzles and fancy nozzle design is used to help the air cool more quickly or the use of cool air or even special liquid injected into the exhaust stream.

edited 12th Sep '15 4:46:24 PM by TuefelHundenIV

It's probably theoretically possible to design an air-to-air missile seeker that homes in on bodies in motion that are suspiciously too cold.

IIRC it has gotten to the point where that is how you find submarines, you listen for where noise isn't.

So its not any sound barrier related thing and radar? Just IR?