A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s • Hacker News Board

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

#311

Post by akiselev » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 9:12 AM UTC

musingsole wrote: post #255

TechBro8615 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would like to restrict only the second amendment. At least you admit it. There are ways to do this. You can get a supermajority in congress to agree with you, or you can get 34 state legislatures to agree to call a convention of states. Then, and only then, you can change the constitution. Barring that, no law or executive order can restrict the second amendment and be constitutional. Fortunately our current pres…

> Then, and only then, you can change the constitution You can also just suspend parts at will during a pandemic.

Or any time a state of emergency is declared. Which, according to the Supreme Court, is pretty much whenever the executive wants it to be.

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

#312

Post by stoolpigeon » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 9:14 AM UTC

swalsh wrote: post #114

naringas wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so then, it's not "a man owns a private airforce" but "a man who owns a company and this company owns a private airforce"

But what if that man who owns that company, decides he wants to change his business model? The private part is still important. It's a legitimate fleet of military aircraft that would rival the air forces of many small countries that is directed by a man who really isn't accountable to us outside our borders. This isn't new territory, it's just that you have to go back a few hundred years to see small groups of priva…

If they went rogue or something like that and the US government shut down their supply chain they'd be unable to fly in almost no time. Fighter aircraft take an enormous amount of maintenance to keep in an up status.

This was one of the big concerns if the US/NATO ever went toe to toe with the Soviet Union. With the way modern weapons systems work if they both went all at it, it would not be long before one side or the other had enough of an edge up - just through attrition - that there would only be two options left to the losing side - surrender or go nuclear. You can't have two fully capable super powers fighting one another all out for years any more. You'll run out of stuff that works too fast.

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

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Post by for_i_in_range » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 9:20 AM UTC

cyberferret wrote: post #254

for_i_in_range wrote: post #147

> He also mentioned that a jet-black Hornet would be fun to have, just for the heck of it. What a boss.

A businessman and aircraft collector in South Africa has one of the last flying examples of a Blackburn Buccaneer [0] and English Electric Lightning... Paint scheme on both: Jet Black! [0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXLBhBz_2tE

Gotta love South Africa. A land where they let civilians own and fly a nuclear bomber

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

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Post by atdrummond » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 9:25 AM UTC

wcfields wrote: post #192

atdrummond wrote: post #54

I grew up in the town where Mr Kirlin and his businesses are based, have lived there on-and-off, and know him through various personal and professional circles. I also am formerly of the aerospace industry myself. I’m happy to answer questions people may have.

Ditto, (hi fellow Gem City-er?) The Kirlin’s occupy a very particular role in the city. once operating the largest franchise of Hallmark stores for nearly 60 years before quickly going out of business a few years ago. Other Kirlin defunct businesses include “The Fly”, a Blue jeans only store in the 80’s, KSNI (Kirlin Super Net Inc) a dial-up ISP in the 90’s. The mentioned Kirlin of the story used to run “The World Fr…

It is the longest runway I’ve ever landed on that did not have a tower system. After doing a few general aviation flights into that airport at rare times of congestion, I can see why the United crash happened.

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

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Post by minikites » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:14 AM UTC

StillBored wrote: post #284

DuskStar wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that there's a ton of precedent for privately-owned heavy weaponry in the US, right? As the 2nd Amendment folks would point out, there used to be US citizens who owned warships . F/A-18s without guided weaponry aren't really that much of a change. (they've got cannons, but afact no JDAMs, JSOWs, AMRAAMs or even dumb bombs) > Or, maybe more likely, some QAnon nutjob getting his hands on an armored vehic…

Well there was the killdozer guy, who did just that with what was basically a homemade tank. Which in a way proves that a sufficiently motivated individual isn't going to be stopped by silly laws against owning this stuff.

Why have laws at all then?

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

#316

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:24 AM UTC

salmo wrote: post #82

I think a lot of folks are skimming the top of this and missing the really interesting parts. Their focus doesn’t seem to be providing adversaries against pilots, but adversaries against weapons systems. He’s essentially selling organic data to train JTACs against. The goal here isn’t as much great avionics, but great combinations of sensors and sensor jamming. The military focuses on having a combat ready fleet, whi…

You mean these jets aren't demilitarized? I've read about civilians buying surplus military aircraft but they lacked radar and weapons at the very least.

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

#317

Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:32 AM UTC

DuskStar wrote: post #104

tootie wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it all and while it's great that he has a legitimate reason to own these, it doesn't change the fact that he owns a private air force, heavy weapons and state-of-the-art countermeasures. It's a terrifying legal precedent and he's opened the door for a new market niche that less savory people can sneak into. The US already has ludicrously expansive personal rights to weapons ownership for any reason. We have a…

You do realize that there's a ton of precedent for privately-owned heavy weaponry in the US, right? As the 2nd Amendment folks would point out, there used to be US citizens who owned warships . F/A-18s without guided weaponry aren't really that much of a change. (they've got cannons, but afact no JDAMs, JSOWs, AMRAAMs or even dumb bombs) > Or, maybe more likely, some QAnon nutjob getting his hands on an armored vehic…

So the jets still have their M61 Vulcans? Then it is a private air force!

I wonder if civilians will ever get to fly an F-15C...

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

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Post by MaxBarraclough » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:46 AM UTC

TomMckenny wrote: post #185

quaquaqua1 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like it's just a way for the Navy to blow taxpayer money. Look at how our government managed a virus. Now imagine WW3.

The story is that tax payers gave his company money to buy our F18s from us so that he can accumulate a force of enemy aircraft. His company will also train pilots specifically as the enemy would. And while he will do this at a considerable profit, it will theoretically be better executed per dollar that the military doing it in a separate division. Another post claims he will generate sorties more than twice as effi…

> That US destroyers have a catastrophically bad helm UI

Hadn't heard of this. Apparently the US Navy are reverting an 'upgrade' to its destroyers which gave them a dangerously poor touchscreen-based helm control UI. The decision was made in the wake of a fatal collision with a civilian vessel in 2017.

https://www.engadget.com/2019-08-11-us-navy-drops-touchscree...

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/11/20800111/us-navy-uss-john...

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

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Post by matheusmoreira » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 10:55 AM UTC

angry_octet wrote: post #309

_2d30 wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting. Anywhere I can learn more about this or if you have the chance, would you expand?

https://warontherocks.com/2018/03/air-force-in-crisis-part-i... https://federalnewsnetwork.com/dod-personnel-notebook/2019/0... https://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-considering-sto... https://www.stripes.com/news/air-force/air-force-is-still-sh... https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/rgs_dissertations... And that doesn't even touch the shitshow which is drone crew morale.

> What if you could fly the F-22, the preeminent fifth-generation air superiority fighter in the world? According to internal data from the Aircrew Crisis Task Force, last year even that community retained just 30 percent of pilots eligible to leave.

... Wow.

Years ago I read a discussion between two people interested in USAF careers. One of them wanted to fly the F-22. The other told him to get the credentials and apply for the position. I remember wondering: you can just apply to pilot the world's most advanced supermaneuverable stealth fighter? Why would any F-22 pilot want to give up their position? I assumed it was because of the problems with the life support system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor#Op...

I never thought the USAF could have morale problems...

Re: A man owns the most advanced private air force after buying 46 F/A-18s

#320

Post by noad » Sat, Apr 11, 2020, 11:23 AM UTC

blakesterz wrote: post #8

His company buys these things and then has a contract with the Navy for when they do training. So IF I'm reading this correctly, it's not just some random dude buying all this stuff for fun, it's his company and they have a very clear business purpose for doing this. "He was also one of the early pioneers of the then-fledgling, if not wholly experimental, adversary air support market. In the early 2000s, he joined fo…

This is such weird phrasing. I imagine the corporate prison industry uses the same words: "She was also one of the pioneers of the fledgling private incarceration market. By creating this dynamic new industry, unlimited synergies can by unleashed within public-private partnerships".