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F-35 can’t be found after pilot ejected

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

#601

Post by Bayart »

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.

> If F-35 is such a failure, how come many countries have chosen to buy it?

The F-35's "killer feature" is non other than the US nuclear umbrella.

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

#603

Post by imtringued »

XorNot wrote: post #445
mrtksn wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All that might turn out to be irrelevant as the drones prove detrimental in a warfare. With the advancements in AI in recent years, it will probably get harder and harder to justify carrying a biological being and all the support systems onboard. At some point, a warplane capabilities might become irrelevant and the only important aspect would the the implications of carrying a solder onboard and making the downing o…

Drones operating in the fighter plane envelope are going to be basically the same plane. Which the US is wholly aware of given the "Loyal Wingman" program, which the F-35 is designed to work with: commanding unmanned fighters/aircraft as support or missile trucks if what have you

This is one of the things I never understood. "Cheap drones" is a code word for Chinese made quadrocopter toys. Military drones will be fixed wing and have combustion engines. Suddenly things start getting expensive and you can no longer have a million plastic toys for the price of one F35, you'll get 3 reapers or maybe a dozen "Wingmen".

The closest analog would be converting cessnas. Half a million dollars plus drone kit = 1 million dollar bomber => 75 bombers or one F-35.

At that price point one might start thinking about sending the bombers first (to deplete air defenses), then the F-35s...

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

#604

Post by brabel »

1attice wrote: post #530
justsomehnguy wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"To the last I struggled to lift the plane, [but] copilot Yuriy Yegorov hit the catapult [triggering ejection] and we two ejected with our seats."

What I love about HN is that you can get from 'a plane went missing' to a thread that cites every plane loss since 1999 followed by a counterargument citing a downed MIG. Like, how the heck do you all know so much? The demographics of this site are unreal

You've never been in an internet argument yourself? You don't need to know shit, just google stuff to support your views which you had already formed without evidence and post it to prove whatever you need to support your case.

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

#605

Post by saiya-jin »

dfadsadsf wrote: post #528
ianburrell wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most capable CAS platform, and one of the most widely used, was the B-1 bomber. Flying in circles for hours and dropping scores of guided bombs. The best CAS in GWOT would have been the Super Tucano if the program hadn't taken so long. It would have done the same job as A-10 but much cheaper. The CAS mission is obsolete outside of counterinsurgency. MANPADs mean that going low and slow is a death trap. Getting lo…

In neer peer conflict air supremacy is probably pipe dream because of combination of ground based anti aircraft systems and inability to take out airports for more than 1-2 hours without using tactical nukes. Tor/S300/S400 and western/Chinese alternatives are highly effective, mobile and hard to detect - you can never take out all of them. AWACS are big, expensive and slow targets so they will have limited utility in…

Yeah good luck getting any long lasting air superiority if you have S400s less than 100-200 miles around. And there are newer models in the pipeline with better reach, although they may be as useful in this decade as Armata.

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

#606

Post by chakintosh »

Something tells me the pilot did something stupid (read Ejected by mistake) and his wingman is covering for him (who by the way could have followed the jet and reported where it crashed). There is no reason for him not be able to fly what is arguably the most sophisticated jet on the planet in limp mode at least.

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

#607

Post by weard_beard »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #562
weard_beard wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drone loitering seems to work really well. We call army units on boats marines. What do we call army units that provide their own air cover? Aerials? The combat footage out of Ukraine is very enlightening. Communication, drone surveillance, full stomachs and no booze is apparently how you win a land war in Asia.

Does this perspective assume that Ukraine is “winning” the war at the moment?

They are certainly reversing momentum and reclaiming taken territory. By this time next year I would bet they are “winning”

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

#608

Post by mensetmanusman »

bowsamic wrote: post #595
mensetmanusman wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An iPhone would be over a billion dollars if we only made 40.

No, it wouldn't.

Scaling up a new TSMC node (only the iPhone 15 has this tech) is at least $10B alone. They spend $30B on capital per year.

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

#609

Post by pwillia7 »

MarkMarine wrote: post #316
Scoundreller wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if some of the "autopilot" functionality for military aircraft is to swan-dive into water/forest if everyone has already ejected. If it's going to crash (and can't autoland, which it probably shouldn't attempt even if it could if something ejection-worthy happened), might as well obliterate the thing in a safe place.

The thing you’re thinking of is the pilot. If the plane is capable of control, the pilot will move it on a trajectory away from populated areas if possible. Protecting innocent people on the ground in the case of an emergency was always top of mind, you can see this in the crash reporting for multiple real world incidents (in airframes with, and without ejection seats, where the last actions of the aircrew were steer…

Will this always be true though? Not even thinking about advancements in AI, but from a human body g-force standpoint, surely those jets can already pull way more Gs than the pilots can handle.

I doubt the software is doing that today but why couldn't there be maneuvers the plane could do at 15 Gs that would help it survive?

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