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General's Bold Account Of US F-22, Iranian F-4 Engagement
He slipped the fighter under the wings of one of the Iranian jets "to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there." And then, according to Welsh, Sutterfield "pulled up on their left wing" and "called them and said 'you really ought to go home.'" (www.avweb.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Sounds like a movie--to an absurd degree. Makes for a just great adversary to a 30+ year old plane without part support for almost as long. As Bill Sweetman points out nicely in recent Aviation Week analysis, Russians have already figured out how to remove most of the advantages of our stealth systems, having known for 25 years exactly what we were doing. I'm sure Gen Welsh was a hit at the Air Force Association, and that he's well on his way to a double or triple-dipping paycheck with--say--Boeing or Lockheed, but instead of focusing on a showboating example (assuming it's remotely true), perhaps he could have shown us just how effective this bankrupting airplane has been in an active war zone--only problem is, it's never been used in one. It has been a big hit, though in the war zone of airshows. Instead, perhaps the General should have just run some of the many hours of YouTube of guys, unlike the General, who are actually fighting on the actual ground being actually saved by A-10s. But Generals don't line their pockets with the brutally and wonderfully effective Warthog. Nope, most of them probably opposed it.
And to think the Air Force was about to dump the A-10's in the late 1980s because it wasn't as pretty F-16. Some of the AF big wigs thought(that's a novel notion) the F-16 could do the job of the A-10. Then the balloon went up in Iraq all of a sudden, the A-10 was everybody's favorite. And they still are if you want close air support!
Make us all feel good with the story; even if it ain't so, it feels good and brings on a laugh in these discouraging times. Sad part is, you really hit home on the A10's. After being there for years, and before that F 16's and even F100's down to 86's, they are leaving out of FSM at the rate of 1 per month from the 188th at FSM, going down in GA to Moody, and to be slowly replaced by drones. Ain't a prettier sight in the world to an Afghan grunt than a hog swooping down on a bad line. They can say what they want about the F35 but with the Hog, you see what you are shooting at.
I agree about the A-10. The std answer is the F-35 can direct from 35-50km away. Remote ordnance. Then there is the Osprey.
You are not serioues when mentioning that stupid looking, hard to fly cross breed thing between a helicopter and a dump truck (LOL). To be honest with you I think the Osprey is hopeless case, it has all the shortcomings of a helo i.e. slow speed and a very expensive proposition too.
It is the new Huey chalet. Wunnerful machine. Fully deployed now.