The Need For Speed

[water_bug_62208]

A-10 Close Call

This is CAS called in by some British troops; now, the gun passes are EXACTLY on target; they just er , misjudged the destructive capabilty of that gun...

Oh, man! It's interesting, as well as scary, how the 30mm rounds are impacting the ground then a few seconds later you finally hear the roar of the A-10's cannon. That second strafing attack was very scary as the rounds seem to come out of nowhere and impact TOO close to their position. Then as they're pulling back you eventually hear the roar of the aircraft's Gatling gun.

Thanks for sharing!

[kham]

The reason for that is the rounds are supersonic, and they arrive somewhat ahead of the gun noise .

And yeah, that noise alone is very frightening, the enemy call her "the dragon of the mountain" , and this dragon really does breathe fire

Note to the corp in charge of that section: add a hundred metres or so to your 'danger close' strike numbers

Consider too, thats where the rounds NOT landing; imagine being under them....

Hogs Rule

[water_bug_62208]

The reason for that is the rounds are supersonic, and they arrive somewhat ahead of the gun noise .

And yeah, that noise alone is very frightening, the enemy call her "the dragon of the mountain" , and this dragon really does breathe fire

Note to the corp in charge of that section: add a hundred metres or so to your 'danger close' strike numbers

Consider too, thats where the rounds NOT landing; imagine being under them....

Hogs Rule

Oh, yes, the rounds are arriving before the sound of the gun since they're supersonic. A lot like watching Quigley Down Under where Tom Selleck fires off those rounds with his rifle and the projectile hits the person before the report of the rifle is heard.

Yeah, Hogs do rule!

[Billie Bonce]

With the FA-22, the US once again takes a big lead in an air battle, and the one thing we don't want to do is fight a "fair fight"... we need to dominate and kick ass!

It's very pity that you think this way. The more you want to kick ass, the more you'll get your ass (or, most likely, other vulnerable parts) kicked. Don't forget that the Russians also want to dominate. And the Chinese, too.

I am very disappointed that the admiration of a wonderful piece of engineering art results in desire to kick someone's ass

[bart1997]

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[Duncan Edwards]

All this ultra-high-tech machinery costs Billions of (YOUR!) hard currency and has in my opinion almost no effect in those modern so-called low-intensity-conflicts. (That's also the same over here, they have recently introduced the Eurofighter and the Tiger Attack-chopper, they were designed to fight the Russians and are barely usable in Afghanistan; in fact a great waste of MY hard earned taxes).

Agreed that it has relatively little use in a situation like Afghanistan. It exists to deter and prevent global wars that dominated the first half of the twentieth century. Since blowing up the world, or at least Europe and Asia, proved to be equally hard on the budget, and since neither conflict was of our making, and since we had to foot the bill in one way or another to help with the cleanup, the USA prefers there be no question about who would prevail in any future conflict. Western Europe remained free and all of Europe is now free because of that. Whether this thinking remains applicable could be debated but it is not something that will change quickly. Twenty years ago the idea of building 500 F-22's regardless of cost wouldn't have been a problem. Now we are building only 189 because questions such as yours are being asked.

With the F-14 the United States spent tens of billions on creating a carrier based super-interceptor that at first couldn't even drop bombs. We spent many billions more on the nuclear powered floating airfields and their escorts that carried them around the world to do our bidding. For that investment the F-14 shot down five aircraft including one helicopter. That was all it was ever required to do and given the alternative I'd say it was an excellent investment.

[kham]

Si vis pacem, para bellum


There are people asking now should we spend 9 billion on 65 F-35s to replace the -18s; the usual arguments from the usual useful idiots. They all tend to skip over the fact that the Hornets have now served longer than the 104s did before they were starting to phase out. And airplanes, like anything, do not fly forever. And frankly I dont want to see pilots having to try out a nylon approach just because some moron thinks they can duct-tape a supersonic fighter like it's a POS Sea King.

No sir, this is the cost of doing business in the modern age

[bart1997]

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[Billie Bonce]

... all of Europe is now free because of that

At this point I would like to ask what territory you consider to be "all of Europe", and from whom (or from what) it's free now. Of course, this topic is not the place to discuss it, but the question remains, and maybe to be asked in the future

the USA prefers there be no question about who would prevail in any future conflict

There is no such question. China, of course. You still have some time to fool themselves, but not for too long.

to those who prefer warbirds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEF-Z-ACmUo beautiful, huge and scary thing. However, I like this one more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8NxGCeFYXQ Those who don't know may be not impressed. Just realize that this bird is 41.5 meters long and has normal take-off weight 112 tons.

And these birds aren't that big, but they're looking good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVpDFlURQT8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GdfnTLKcvM Flying good, too.

to those who are not going to kick someone's asses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOMiKpmBmtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwDhsgSeXc4

[water_bug_62208]

Well, having a bigger, better stick than someone else not only preserves a country's right to protect its population and precious infrastructure, it also allows protection of the population and precious infrastructure of its allies. Having that bigger, better stick also lessens the liklihood of conflicts from happening... it's called deterrence.

Politicians and voters can shift the budget for the betterment of precious infrastructure at the demise of national defense... problem with a demised national defense is that those precious new infrastructure you've built won't be yours for long if someone with a bigger, better stick wants it.

Anyway, y'all are FREE to have your own opinions and preferences on this topic as I am, and I certainly am not going to knock your ideas... thing is my ideas ensure your ideas can happen in a FREE world. And, please remember that over the decades a LOT of people gave their lives, and a considerable investment was made, for that freedom that you enjoy so you can have your personal opinions and preferences... no matter where you call "home."