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F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

thedrive.com

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Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#281

Post by dctoedt »

robarr wrote: post #204
AustinDev wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in a stealth fighter squadron. It really depends on the mission profile as to determine if the reflectors will be on the plane during CONUS training. If we're doing BVR 'tag' drills, they won't have them installed. If we're just putting butts in seats to keep certs current or maybe some air to ground training, then the reflectors will be installed. Caveat, I was in the Air Force and I'm not too familiar with NA…

“The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin. The nationality of the person whose life was saved by parachute and ownership of the aircraft are not factors in determining qualification for membership; anybody whose…

Brought back memories of my dad's "induction" into the Caterpillar Club in 1962. When we cleaned out and sold my folks' house, I took a picture of his framed membership certificate; he often wore the lapel pin on civilian sport-coat lapels.

https://www.commondraft.org/Caterpillar-Club-certificate.png

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#282

Post by mrguyorama »

belter wrote: post #160
kunwon1 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert on aircraft procurement or government contracts (I'm an engineer who used to work on fighter jets) - that being said, it's my understanding that the F-35 is actually a very successful project, and a very affordable one at that. I haven't got any citations or evidence to present, I could be wrong about all of this, it's a topic I've got only casual knowledge about. A broad overview of my understanding of…

Well at least in close combat we know who turns first: "F 16 vs. F 35 - Turn Comparison" - https://youtu.be/SPqUvCnWcrk

If you actually talk to pilots who have been in dogfights with F35s, they will tell you the radar-assisted guns basically could not properly target the F35 even at dogfighting range. It doesn't do a lot of good that, in order to fight the F35 you have to remember how aviation gunnery worked in 1944, before you had a computer doing most of the ballistics for you.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#283

Post by morkalork »

hollerith wrote: post #266
kunwon1 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert on aircraft procurement or government contracts (I'm an engineer who used to work on fighter jets) - that being said, it's my understanding that the F-35 is actually a very successful project, and a very affordable one at that. I haven't got any citations or evidence to present, I could be wrong about all of this, it's a topic I've got only casual knowledge about. A broad overview of my understanding of…

If F-35 is such a failure, how come many countries have chosen to buy it? Consulting this next page, I count 8 countries besides the US that have taken delivery of F-35s, plus many that have ordered it, but not yet taken delivery: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning... The UK for example currently has a fleet of 32, and Australia has 50.

It's both until its not. If only 1 or 2 countries signed up, it'd be an expensive failure. If everyone signs up, cost go down and economies of scale make it a wild success.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#284

Post by Spooky23 »

brobdingnagians wrote: post #174
kunwon1 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no expert on aircraft procurement or government contracts (I'm an engineer who used to work on fighter jets) - that being said, it's my understanding that the F-35 is actually a very successful project, and a very affordable one at that. I haven't got any citations or evidence to present, I could be wrong about all of this, it's a topic I've got only casual knowledge about. A broad overview of my understanding of…

I've read some analyses of the F35 vs A10 which don't favour the F35 for CAS operations much. The main thing I saw was that F35 requires more maintenance and longer runways than the A10 and is more fragile. It depends on what kind of a war that is being fought, but in a major great power war, you couldn't always guarantee having nice high quality air bases, runways, and support teams near the front. Sometimes it is p…

IMO it's more a multirole/strike aircraft.

The A-10 is great, but you can replace 1 A-10 with 100 loitering drones and get 90% of the capability.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#285

Post by EMCymatics »

AustinDev wrote: post #137
SkyPuncher wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be. I believe for “routine” training they’ll keep a radar reflector in them. Very little need to have stealth when bouncing around the US.

I was in a stealth fighter squadron. It really depends on the mission profile as to determine if the reflectors will be on the plane during CONUS training. If we're doing BVR 'tag' drills, they won't have them installed. If we're just putting butts in seats to keep certs current or maybe some air to ground training, then the reflectors will be installed. Caveat, I was in the Air Force and I'm not too familiar with NA…

Dunno but if they dont find the aircraft it will be difficult to determine how it happened. My guess would be weird software. There might be something with the F35b's because there are a few crashes in the headlines.

Worst case scenario someone slaved it to a netowrk and stole it since the f35bs have VTOL.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#286

Post by Angostura »

mrtksn wrote: post #245
nradov wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. AI can work well enough for striking certain known targets. But it is simply not capable of following complex rules of engagement or adapting to highly dynamic situations in real time. We are at least decades away from that capability in a general sense. What you see in movies is not reality. Sixth-generation tactical aircraft (the successors to the F-35) are likely to be optionally manned. They will be abl…

If you haven't notice, lately AI is pretty good at woking with information that never seen before.

It's also pretty good at hallucinating convincingly.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#287

Post by kristjansson »

tra3 wrote: post #173
tivert wrote: post #87

Maybe it's another Cornfield Bomber ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber ): > The "Cornfield Bomber" is the nickname given to a Convair F-106 Delta Dart, operated by the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force. In 1970, during a training exercise, it made an unpiloted landing in a farmer's field in Montana, suffering only minor damage, after the pilot had ejected from the aircraft…

The confluence of events that allowed an unpiloted jet to land with its engine idling.. its unbelievable.

Incredible:

> One of the other pilots on the mission was reported to have radioed Foust during his descent by parachute that "you'd better get back in it!"

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#288

Post by Modified3019 »

SonicScrub wrote: post #246
xjlin0 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

F-4 Phantom was a great fighter serving US Navy, Marine and Air Force. It equipped with missiles to kill enemies in the beyond visual range, didn't equip internal guns in the first generation because "it shouldn't get into close combat" .....

The issue with the F4 wasn't the lack of a gun alone, and focusing on that aspect 50 years after the Vietnam war clouds the current state of things. The issue was that missile technology was in it's infancy and unreliable, coupled with US fighter pilot training focusing on interception of long-range Soviet nuclear bombers. The US never really envisioned a conventional war being possible in a post-nuclear world. Note…

An additional problem F4 pilots had early in the war was the horrible Rules of Engagement they had to follow in hostile airspace. They were forced to get close to migs for ID and observe hostile behavior.

Naturally, by the time they accomplished that, they had thrown away all their advantages and handed the migs their disadvantages on a silver platter.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#289

Post by dehrmann »

tivert wrote: post #87

Maybe it's another Cornfield Bomber ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornfield_Bomber ): > The "Cornfield Bomber" is the nickname given to a Convair F-106 Delta Dart, operated by the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the United States Air Force. In 1970, during a training exercise, it made an unpiloted landing in a farmer's field in Montana, suffering only minor damage, after the pilot had ejected from the aircraft…

> aren't required to have transponders or have them activated

Seems like you'd want them activated in domestic airspace.

Re: F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

#290

Post by ceejayoz »

mschuster91 wrote: post #232
pjc50 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpaceX is not fully under operational control of the US government, if some of the reports from Twitter about geofencing are to be believed.

Assuming that the US ever enters any war directly, guess what their first action will be: take Musk out of the picture, deal with the legalities later on.

The legality isn't in question; Defense Production Act very much applies.
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