Monday, November 10, 2008

Red Flag Briefing Videos Disappear

Red Flag Briefing Videos Disappear: "

Two video clips that showed an off-the-record briefing by a senior F-15 pilot to retired generals on the latest Red Flag exercise seem to have disappeared from their original place on YouTube.

The discussions included some interesting, possibly classified, and certainly embarrassing details about fighting against the F-22, as well as the performance of the Indian air force’s Su-30MKI and the French air force’s Rafale in September’s Red Flag exercise (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 6).

But don’t despair, the videos can still be seen on an Indian posting that’s also on YouTube -- http://www.youtube.com/user/IIindianII.

The video segments of most interest concerned a weakness that U.S. F-15 pilots found in mock combat with both the F-22 and the Su-30MKI. When either of the latter aircraft go into a post-stall, thrust-vectoring maneuver too aggressively, it provides a fleeting opportunity for a conventional aircraft to make a quick,' downward, vertical maneuver and close head-on for a single-pass, cannon-range engagement.

A long-time F-15 pilot tried to put the maneuver and its implications into perspective.

‘Air-to-air combat is all about maintaining more energy than your opponent,’ he says. ‘If a young pilot is overly aggressive, he can fly [a thrust-vectoring aircraft] into a place where’s he’s energy deficient,’ he says.

That means a rapid change of direction has turned into a post-stall maneuver. With the F-22’s two-dimensional thrust vectoring, the aircraft can still climb, but slowly. An F-16 or F-15 ascends vertically then flips into a dive directly at the Raptor before it can get its nose (and cannon) pointed at the attacker.

The Su-30MKI has three-dimensional thrust vectoring that is less efficient because the much larger aircraft creates so much drag that the aircraft starts sinking rapidly. The attacker doesn’t have to climb,' it simply rolls into the vertical attack.

Opponents with an altitude advantage, even if they’re flying a conventional aircraft, can attack while the thrust-vectoring aircraft has slowed to turn its nose toward the attacker. ‘If you’ve maintained [your high energy], for a moment there is an opportunity,’ the F-15 pilot says.

The USAF pilot says that as soon as the younger pilots learn to avoid getting excited and stay out of the low-speed turn, they’ll start beating the U.S. F-15s and F-16s with regularity because the Su-30MKI is a more capable aircraft than an F-15 or F-16 with a conventional radar.

The clips also had the U.S. pilot expressing his opinion that French pilots flying Rafale with sophisticated avionics used the event to gather electronic intelligence about the Su-30MKI’s Russian-built radar.

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(Via Ares.)

Exclusive: Inside a U.S. hostage rescue mission

Exclusive: Inside a U.S. hostage rescue mission: "The American businessman lay shackled in a mud hut 8,000 feet up a remote mountain in Afghanistan, armed captors posted inside and outside to prevent any escape attempt."



(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Report: U.S. conducted ops in Pakistan, Syria

Report: U.S. conducted ops in Pakistan, Syria: "WASHINGTON— The U.S. military has conducted nearly a dozen secret operations against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Syria, Pakistan and other countries since 2004, The New York Times reported Sunday night."



(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Student pilots graduate straight to Raptor

Student pilots graduate straight to Raptor: "The first student pilots to go straight from training jets into the service’s most advanced fighter graduated from F-22A Raptor training Nov. 1 at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla."



(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Slice of History?

Slice of History?: "

Fancy supporting history by buying a piece of it? The Flight Test Historical Foundation is selling parts of the original main runway at Edwards AFB to raise funds to support the development of the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) Museum and the museum's Blackbird Airpark Annex at USAF Plant 42 in nearby Palmdale.

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McDonnell Douglas Advanced Medium STOL Transport demonstrator (and C-17 forerunner), the latest exhibit on display at Edwards AFB. (US Air Force photo)

Thin aggregate coasters made from core samples taken from the original 1954-built main runway (04/22), are on sale for $21.75. The 15,000ft long runway has just been re-opened after a $114 million re-build but a slice of the famous original could be yours.

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Coaster and certificate of authenticity displayed by Foundation helper Beth Hagenauer (photo: Guy Norris)'

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(Photo: Guy Norris)

By the way, the small print cautions the coasters can be fragile - but can be easily repaired using superglue - presumably never an option for the actual runway!

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(Via Ares.)

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