Sweetman who is convinced Aurora is a Mach5 + spyplane when it's long been known to be a line item for the B-2?
US F/A-XX and F-X 6th Gen Aircraft News Thread
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Sweetman who is convinced Aurora is a Mach5 + spyplane when it's long been known to be a line item for the B-2?
Strange conclusion, sounds like a horrible confirmation bias.There was an interesting post from Bill Sweetman, formerly of Aviation Week, a while back documenting some developments he believed were related to NGAD. One of them was that Martin-Baker has shown a reclined ejection seat which he speculated is for increased pilot comfort due to longer mission time expected of NGAD.
Reclined seats since f-16 are done for higher G tolerances, not for longer missions.
I don't think there's really any sitting position that's going to be comfortable for long missions. The only real answer is having space to move around like a Su-34. That doesn't seem likely.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
SU34 hardly has room. The tandem cockpit has a ladder behind the ejection seats.
True, but at least it's theoretically possible to leave your seat. From experience, there's no seating position that's going to be comfortable for (let's say) 8 hours if you can't actually move off it occasionally. Especially for how tightly packed in fighter pilots tend to be. So reclined seats for comfort doesn't sound like an actual thing.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Well not absolute comfort. The reclining position does help. Mounting a bomber sized cockpit in a fighter would drive up weight reducing fuel economy and G load. Besides the pilot is wearing a G suit. Those things make your average BDSM enthusiast shudder.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
The navy has a generally newer fleet and different mission types than the USAF which is why they can do this. The USAF NGAD is meant to replace F22 which are now 20 years old and getting very obsolete (systems wise). It has a modernization program in place but because of the small numbers it’s aging fast.
They want to fill an air superiority role that isn’t part of NAVAIR.
The NAVAIR is more interception based, they are just getting F35C into line and finishing up F/A18E/F block 3 programming. The later being the jet the F/A-xx would replace.
They want to fill an air superiority role that isn’t part of NAVAIR.
The NAVAIR is more interception based, they are just getting F35C into line and finishing up F/A18E/F block 3 programming. The later being the jet the F/A-xx would replace.
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I agree. The Navy sticking with the F-18 and in particular continuing production and having a steady set of upgrades for them really paid off. Total F-18 E/F/G production is around ~700 airframes so they have plenty of modern (especially in the sense of airframe age) aircraft in their inventory.
Just imaging if the Air Force had bought 10 F-15 and F-16 each year since 2000. Their force would be in much better shape today.
TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Well the USAF was at the cusp of the F22 and F35 in the 00s. Which are still world beating.
The F/A18E-F (which is not the same as the F18A-D) has more stress put on the aircraft per flight due to CATBAR operations. Which burns out the aircraft life a lot faster. Hence why the USN kept buying them.
The F/A18E-F (which is not the same as the F18A-D) has more stress put on the aircraft per flight due to CATBAR operations. Which burns out the aircraft life a lot faster. Hence why the USN kept buying them.