re: What Is Your Favorite Military Jet?

I was working in Savannah, Georgia this week and I was over there near the air force base and the prison. I think two fighter jets were doing some type of training exercise cause they would fly horizontal and then all of a sudden they would shoot straight up and be gone within seconds. They didn't come by us like I wanted them too though and break the sonic boom though, that would've been cool. But the fighter jets was trying to evade each other in the sky and that was pretty cool to watch.

F22 - Raptor

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Nice, I was on the Doom jet. My buddy is the one that took that picture.

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Is it a boondoggle? I'm asking those in the know or is it worth what we spent on it? (F35) You hear strong opinions both ways on it.

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Not sure if I'm "in the know," but I have worked for several defense contractors. My strong hunch is that the F-35 is indeed a boondoggle.

I say this for a couple of reasons. First, the project has a strong odor of the "design-by-checklist" philosophy that I've seen derail many government projects. This starts with a bunch of bureaucrats and flag officers in a room listing off "must haves." In the end, you get a product that checks off all those requirements but sucks in every other possible way imaginable.

Second, the notion of a single product (or "platform," as they probably excuse it) replacing the A-10, replacing the Harrier, flying off carriers, etc. just sets off my bullshite detector.

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AC-130 Gunship

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Yeah, but that doesn't look like a picture of an AC-130. Tough to tell due to the glare on the radome, but I'd say HC-130, due to the refueling pods on the outboard wing, but could also be a T1 or 2?

Amen sir. Well ahead of its time

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TaderSalad

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Excellent choice.
Doing the Lord's work.

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The F106A Delta Dart beat the F4 in dogfighting trials back in 1961, but because the F4 had a better radar USAF Tactical Command bought F4's and Air Defense Command bought no new 106's.

The Delta Dart was a fine aircraft with a great safety record, very underrated.

F106 pilots would tell you they would fly rings around F4's and some claimed you give them F15 avionics and they'd beat them.

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Today I learned something new. There were a lot of planes that could out-dogfight the F4. The F4 was an example of beurocracy mixing with war. The guys in the Pentagon tried to design a plane that could do everything, for the sake of mass production. What they ended up with was a plane that could do everything, but couldnt do anything well. The idea was that with better avionics and radar guided munitions, it wouldn't matter. Well, the radar guided missiles only hit about 9% of their targets leaving the plane very vulnerable in true dogfight scenarios.

Let me help you.