The sky-high aircraft and aviation thread

Eh that era ended a while ago. Tail guns became notably less effective when the preferred method for swatting bombers became missiles from either ground stations or various interceptor craft.

Maybe if they iron out the stuff with lasers there may be a return to a defensive weapon but time will tell if that actually pans out.

And really, the Chief hadn't been a tail gunner for years at this point. The fact that he has retired only makes that role slightly more a part of history than it was before, and certainly not only the history books (the man retired, he didn't die)

A robotic pilot flew and landed an aircraft in a simulator.

DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS), flew a Cessna in real life not too long ago.

I've heard of pilots having unquestionable authority aboard an aircraft before, but this is just plain ridiculous.

Yeah, I read about that at the weekend. Props to the guy.

Those wacky royals.

Now if only he was a flight attendant, then some recent events might've turned out differently.

Also I assume you meant to say 'this is plane ridiculous.'

If not, I fixed it for you.

^ UGH!

The US Will Attempt To Intercept An ICBM For The First Time.

Live fire test against a realsies ICBM.

Hopefully it works because Best Korea.

And speaking of Best Korea...

They Has A New SAM. Not the most bleeding edge stuff but it means any Second Korean War will NOT be a repeat of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Assuming that it doesn't fall into the ground one tenth of its way to the target.

Or lock its seeker head directly onto the sun

I'm just saying, how cool would it be if they could rig a Sidewinder into a missile interceptor for swatting SA Ms?

I am pretty sure I've read something about doing that with the newer iterations of the AIM-9X somewhere.

Looks like the Army is playing with it, along with Hellfires.

I imagine the biggest limfac for giving aircraft missile interceptor capability would be the sensors and avionics needed to detect the launch and plot the firing solution in the time available.

Would that count as an air-to-air kill for the pilot?

Do you seriously think any jet-jockey worth his Mach numbers WOULDN'T claim it as a kill?

FYI: Army pilots + missiles = attack helicopters, not jet fighters.

edited 29th May '17 12:46:29 PM by pwiegle

Army aviation would so totally count them as air-to-air kills. Much like how Army Aviation credited destroying planes on the ground as air-to-air kills in WW 2 when all others didn't.

If for nothing else to shove their dicks in the face of the Air Force by having the first "ace" helicopter pilots.

edited 29th May '17 12:39:22 PM by MajorTom

I was thinking along the lines of Air Force jets knocking down incoming enemy missiles. I'm sure it would also be a valuable capability for an Army (or Air Force) helicopter, but I'm not sure how much time a helicopter would have to react to someone launching a missile at them given how low helicopters typically fly in combat zones.

The problem with trying to put a missile interceptor on an aircraft is that it detracts from the warload: the warheads that need to go on foreheads.

Now the Multi-Mission Launcher is used by Big Army because they left SHORAD to rot until someone figured out that China, Iran and Russia have airforces.

Well yes, it detracts from the payload, but so does an S-300 up your ass.

Also, it would be a combat multiplier for Wild Weasels, who would be going after the SAM sites head-on, Flight of the Intruder style.

edited 29th May '17 4:31:23 PM by AFP

The Osprey retractable belly Gatling Gun is apparently still alive and kicking as seen briefly in this B-Roll training vid for the tail gun mount.

View from the cockpit of a Polish Fulcrum.

It wasn't actually cancelled, just not fitted to any aircraft in OEF theater.

Deadbeat: Actually they had a short halt as they were seriously considering axing the armament program altogether but they never put it up on the chopping block and it mostly went quiet until they started testing other weapons off of the Osprey. I should say the weapons got put on hold because they were also considering chopping the Osprey a few times. Two of the weapons options got axed early on before they got the retractable belly gun.

edited 1st Jun '17 3:57:59 PM by TuefelHundenIV