Military Plane discussion thread - Let’s talk Fighter/Attacker planes.

[Anonymous For This]

Light-attack experiment pits AT-6 against A-29 in high-stakes matchup

Textron and the Sierra Nevada Corp.-Embraer team can expect a fast-paced couple of months at Holloman Air Force Base.

www.defensenews.com

So do some other folks

With all of the programs looking at turboprop CAS planes the Air Force has been doing, the dipshit in me wishes they would just stuff a turboprop and modern avionics into a P-47 Thunderbolt or F4U Corsair. I know that isn't feasible, but seeing an F4U straf ISIS fuckheads in 2019 is one of the most American things I can think of.

 

[TiggerNits]

With all of the programs looking at turboprop CAS planes the Air Force has been doing, the dipshit in me wishes they would just stuff a turboprop and modern avionics into a P-47 Thunderbolt or F4U Corsair. I know that isn't feasible, but seeing an F4U straf ISIS fuckheads in 2019 is one of the most American things I can think of.

Someone awhile back did this with a P-51, it was bitchin

Piper PA-48 Enforcer - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The best and greatest]

Allow me to explain why chaff and flares will inevitably become obsolete. When missiles were first developed the software installed was 80s to 90s tier AI and they were made to attack the large hot exhaust of an aircraft since it was easy to program. As a result flares were made to fool the missile and they are currently quite effective. And currently defensive pilot tactics are 70% reliant on the fact the missiles launched will be defeated by flares. But right now AI imaging technology has improved to the point where you can use facial recognition on instagram. This technology can be easily transferred into the software of a missile. And from an intuitive perspective, if you see an aircraft dispensing flares and you have no problem with differentiating the magnesium fireball and the aircraft then neither will an advanced missile.

And as a matter of fact such a missile exists, it is called the AIM-9X

So whats the next logical step forward? Missile intercepting systems? EM weapons that screw with the targeting?

 

[TiggerNits]

So whats the next logical step forward? Missile intercepting systems? EM weapons that screw with the targeting?

Buddy drones that deploy to act as missile kill vehicles seem to be what most guys still flying are predicting

 

[The best and greatest]

Buddy drones that deploy to act as missile kill vehicles seem to be what most guys still flying are predicting

Makes sense.

 

[LyapunovCriterion]

Get on my level, plebs.

 

[Cedric_Eff]

Get on my level, plebs.
View attachment 874011

The Germans do have weird planes.

 

[LyapunovCriterion]

The Germans do have weird planes.

I tried landing it on a carrier using keyboard and mouse, didn't work out.

Heinkel Lerche landing on a carrier

Heinkel Lerche landing on a carrier

www.youtube.com

 

[Cedric_Eff]

I tried landing it on a carrier using keyboard and mouse, didn't work out.

Heinkel Lerche landing on a carrier

Heinkel Lerche landing on a carrier

www.youtube.com

B+ for effort man.

These things were supposed to compete with the F-16’s.

 

[LyapunovCriterion]

B+ for effort man.

These things were supposed to compete with the F-16’s.

It could land like an helicopter, if further developed it could prove rather versatile.
>tfw you'll never see dogfights between Heinkel Larche Mk IVs and F-20s in US airspace

 

[Cedric_Eff]

It could land like an helicopter, if further developed it could prove rather versatile.
>tfw you'll never see dogfights between Heinkel Larche Mk IVs and F-20s in US airspace

Pretty sure the F-20 can take on the MK IVs any day.

 

[TiggerNits]

B+ for effort man.

These things were supposed to compete with the F-16’s.

Only for export sales because the DoD was extremely against selling the F16 to anyone but NATO members and Israel but once Congress approved selling it with a downgraded radar and a few small changes to avionics the F20 was doomed because the F16 was now slightly cheaper to operate

 

[Nurse Ratchet]

(I have this really strange habit of calling all airplanes "Cessnas", & occasionally "a 747". And @flossman, a hardcore aircraft enthusi-autist, really wants to stab me in the face through the internet whenever I do this. It drives him batshit insane. Apologies in advance.)

@The_wandering_nibler, layman question about the red Nazi one, what's the purpose of the little cross outline symbol?

Anyway, nice Cessnas, guys.

 

[Anonymous For This]

So whats the next logical step forward? Missile intercepting systems? EM weapons that screw with the targeting?

I thought the old Tomcats had some sort of camera that could detect and track other aircraft. Was that a thing or am I just senile?

 

[Slap47]

The F-35 gets a lot of shit but it changes the strategic balance between the US and China.

What exactly is the balance between a country with 0 aircraft carriers and one with like 9 super carriers?

 

[TiggerNits]

I thought the old Tomcats had some sort of camera that could detect and track other aircraft. Was that a thing or am I just senile?

Yeah, it was mounted on the chin, the RIO could slave it to radar and make it easy to visually ID targets long before they were in visual range

 

[Gustav Schuchardt]

What exactly is the balance between a country with 0 aircraft carriers and one with like 9 super carriers?

China has two carriers, one active and one undergoing sea trials and expected to be fully active in 2019. They'll have one more launched in 2020 and fully active in 2023. So three carriers by 2023.

Chinese aircraft carrier programme - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The US has 11 CATOBAR carriers and one America class LHA with 11 planned.

Aircraft carrier - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So you could say without the F-35 the ration in 2023 would be 11:3. With the F-35 the ratio is 12:3. However with the full fleet of LHA ships the ratio would be 22:however many carriers China has by then.

Actually even without the US LHAs there are going to be Australian and Japanese STOVL carriers.

Ships aren't the only important thing though - the F-35B can take off from a lot more places than a non STOVL jet. Taiwan and Japan have both expressed interest in it for just this reason - in a war with China both worry about Chinese ballistic missile attacks on their airstrips grounding their airforce.

 

[Cedric_Eff]

F-111. Why?

 

[Uranus Pink]

I think we need to bring back the A-1 Skyraider.

And that would be a major downgrade and other turboprop proposals from the A-10. A-10 made built upon the experience learned from the Ilyushin Il-2, Henschel Hs 129 and Skyraider.

Plus politically they're a poison FU pill to the U.S. Army. Offer up a plane with little or no survivability in a CAS environment. So it will have to operate at higher and higher attitude where it can't actually do CAS and is redundant as any F-35, F-15 or drone can carry a bomb and drop it.

U.S. Army back in 2003/4 during the invasion tried to use AH-64s like the A-10 and all they got was a few dozen Apaches completely shot up and were lucky none of crews were killed or seriously injured. Attack helos are still too fragile, slow, and lightly armed compared to their non-rotor flying brethren.

 

[millais]

(I have this really strange habit of calling all airplanes "Cessnas", & occasionally "a 747". And @flossman, a hardcore aircraft enthusi-autist, really wants to stab me in the face through the internet whenever I do this. It drives him batshit insane. Apologies in advance.)

@The_wandering_nibler, layman question about the red Nazi one, what's the purpose of the little cross outline symbol?

Anyway, nice Cessnas, guys.

The Balkenkreuz cross was just an all-purpose German national insignia applied to aircraft and vehicles to avoid misidentification and friendly fire.