Warbirds Thread

Sailor.X

Cold War Veteran
Founder
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The Hellcat and the Corsair. Victory at Sea!!!
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
In any case, comparing tank kills from the A-10 and the F-111 in the Gulf War is very much an apples and oranges comparison.

The F-111 was hunting down and killing stationary tanks that were bunked down for the night, using laser guided bombs.

The A-10 was operating in close support of ground forces, killing active enemy tanks using both its gun and unguided bombs.

On a side note, the F-15E was just as successful as the F-111 at the night tank plinking mission. They simply did not carry out as many as the F-111s did, because they were tasked with a wide variety of missions, whereas the F-111s were pretty much completely dedicated to the tank plinking mission once this unorthodox tactic became established.
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I will note that the F-15x as ordered by the USAF last year will finally give the non Strike Eagle F-15 units the ability to actually be useful against ground targets after it replaces their C/D variants. And yes the F-111 probably should have a stealth successor developed and a couple hundred of them produced but in the post cold war budgetary era the closest we would have ever been to that was a proposed Fighter bomber variant of the F-22
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I will note that the F-15x as ordered by the USAF last year will finally give the non Strike Eagle F-15 units the ability to actually be useful against ground targets after it replaces their C/D variants. And yes the F-111 probably should have a stealth successor developed and a couple hundred of them produced but in the post cold war budgetary era the closest we would have ever been to that was a proposed Fighter bomber variant of the F-22

I believe the USAF ended up ordering F-15EXs rather than single-seat F-15Xs, to replace the C/D birds. The first combat squadron scheduled to go operational with the new birds is actually the Oregon Air National Guard squadron based out of Portland, due to their role as the assigned air control alert squadron for the Pacific Northwest.
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
I believe the USAF ended up ordering F-15EXs rather than single-seat F-15Xs, to replace the C/D birds. The first combat squadron scheduled to go operational with the new birds is actually the Oregon Air National Guard squadron based out of Portland, due to their role as the assigned air control alert squadron for the Pacific Northwest.
Yep they went with the two seat option since they really wanted the ability to be able to do terrible things to ground targets, plus it's a way to be easily set up being able to buy additional birds to replace most of the Strike Eagles as they start to retire without much bother other than the politicans signing some checks.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
As I recall, Boeing was initially pitching the F-15X as a straight replacement for the F-15C/D with the higher up front cost of new airframes being balanced by a huge reduction in operating costs from the new birds being ruthlessly optimized for efficiency and maintainability, with the improvements in payload and avionics being much more understated. They very purposely did not talk about the fact that the new version having all-wired hardpoints and comprehensive weapons integration would inherently upgrade it into a multirole fighter almost on par with the two-seat Strike Eagle, because a multirole Eagle that could be seen as competing with the procurement of F-35s, and for the same reason never talked about an equivalent upgrade package for the F-15E fleet.

At some point, the Air Force decided to throw this "ixnay on the multirolesay" to the wind and straight up ordered F-15EXs, which previously had been studiously not mentioned as even being an option.
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
As I recall a lot of the savings in cost as related to each flight hour for eX/X are related to the engines being both more fuel efficient and far more importantly easier to maintain plus it would have the benefit of being in production thus making spares engines and parts way way easier to procure. Plus the C/Ds either needed a replacement or have a major overhaul and upgradesand that probably would have ended up costing roughly a third the cost of a new bird that would last far longer and probably be a better combat aircraft to boot. Seriously the eX/X is designed for 20,000 flight hours which is roughly twice the next highest fighter aircraft in the world and on average 2.5 times current production models including the F-35. Overall I'd say it's a pretty good buy especially when you consider that most of the R@D work was paid for by foreign F-15 orders
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
Founder
Good thing that we need more dedicated fighters. The Army just needs the A-10
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Good thing that we need more dedicated fighters. The Army just needs the A-10
I will note that having more birds capable of dropping ordnance on a fairly low per flight hour cost means more air support for the troops on the ground and honestly when it involves munitions and not canon fire probably a fair bit more accurate support to boot what the benefits of more modern systems and a dedicated weapons officer
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
Founder
I will note that having more birds capable of dropping ordnance on a fairly low per flight hour cost means more air support for the troops on the ground and honestly when it involves munitions and not canon fire probably a fair bit more accurate support to boot what the benefits of more modern systems and a dedicated weapons officer
Eh yes and no.
Depends on the mission time and of loitering is allowed.
Which is not always is.
 

Knowledgeispower

Ah I love the smell of missile spam in the morning
Eh yes and no.
Depends on the mission time and of loitering is allowed.
Which is not always is.
I suspect given that the EX will last some 20,000 flight hours and have low operating costs per flight hour to boot more loitering will be allowed as needed.
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
Founder
I suspect given that the EX will last some 20,000 flight hours and have low operating costs per flight hour to boot more loitering will be allowed as needed.
Loitering is dangerous in the kind of war fare we are switching to prepare for.
 

Vargas Fan

Head over heels in love :)
This isn't a warbird, but it IS aviation related. An Austro-Hungarian Empire aircraft aircraft defence mount. Imagine trying to reload ten C96 Broomhandle Mausers, (by stripper clip no less) in the air.

145540823_2020614838079029_7499550768007566877_n.jpg
 

ATP

Well-known member
This isn't a warbird, but it IS aviation related. An Austro-Hungarian Empire aircraft aircraft defence mount. Imagine trying to reload ten C96 Broomhandle Mausers, (by stripper clip no less) in the air.

145540823_2020614838079029_7499550768007566877_n.jpg
Well,one A-H pilot schoot down italian plane with his pistol...
 

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