a700 and a beercan at the airshow

[ruthless]

A few shots of the raptor from the Langley AFB airshow today. Man this beercan keeps on getting better and better!

[KevinBarrett]

That is some awesome engineering--and the air plane is nice, too! Great pictures! The first shot is alright, but I like the second for its composition, and the third really shows off the athleticism of that amazing aircraft.

[Greg Beetham]

Good one Cory, this is the Eagle replacement I think, or is it? It'll have to be good to beat the Eagle I reckon.
Greg

[KevinBarrett]

Yep, it replaces the Eagle. Wikipedia has a good write-up on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22_Raptor

Classically, sports car designs have loosely followed fighter plane designs...hard to believe an airplane borne in 1991 would still be influencing cars today.

Check out the Lamborghini Reventon

[Winston]

Thanks for sharing these. I've got to get to one of these shows before they get shut down.

[Dr. Harout]

Nice shots, Cory. I like the second (specially the sun reflecting on that front glass) and the 3rd.

[Javelin]

I love Airshows and seeing the pictures of planes. Wish the USAF would bring a raptor for us to see

Thanks for sharing these. I've got to get to one of these shows before they get shut down.

I hope that doens't happen Winston, what makes you think they will stop doing airshows? just military shows or shows in general?

[Mike]

Nice effect with the sun on the display panel! Won't be long till we're saying; "I remember when pictures were two dimensional and airplanes had pilots!"

Mike

[Greg Beetham]

I think I heard somewhere that the pilot even in this new one is a bit of an optional extra...compared too earlier fighters where the workload is very high if things get involved. I bought the Jane's F15 flight sim years ago, it apparently replicates the cockpit layout quite accurately, and it does get heavy duing a mission dealing with threats in the right order from the ground and air....before they "get" you. I used too like watching the hud after target identification/aquisition/weapon selection/seeker dot/lock/fox one...but sometimes the "target" would disappear off the hud before lock, the enemy has weapon radar sensing...ecm..you are in trouble....something advanced is now targeting you and has given your weapon system the slip......edge of the seat type fun.
Greg

ps. I heard that we might be getting an air display from the USAF Thunderbirds later this year, wowie zowie! they have never been here before, I'll be there with bells on.

[Javelin]

I have some trouble with this plane. it's not a huge step in technology.. well it is except it was a step in the wrong direction. they put too much stock into long out of visual range kill ability and steath. for the most part the enemy plane would be dead before they even see the threat from this fighter. the problem is now that those weapons can be effectively jammed so as they can't find their targets. The planes aren't as stealthy against new radars as they need to be. and even one or two 4th generation fighters outpreform it in dog fight ability. Of course China India and Iran are the only places that would be a threat vs this anyway.

[Greg Beetham]

A big problem with air superiority is figuring out what the likely opposition will be I guess, then build something too combat that, I thought they were going to build an SU37 killer, but now I'm not so sure what they had in mind, but at least it has the thrust vectoring that the eagle didn't.
Greg

[Javelin]

there making another fighter now I don't know much about it but it should be really something. and they are calling it an Eagle too. It's afunny this thread came up I just saw this morning a bunch.. mabe 6 C130's from USAF fly by... must be here for wing repairs I guess.

[Dusty]

One problem with this plane is that they want to replace 500+ older planes with 187 more expensive, more advanced planes. In a real war - something we haven't had in a while - things break. Planes get shot down, crash, develop problems, etc. You have to have numerical superiority to have air superiority. 187 of anything won't do. The enemy could flood you with 350 inferior planes, and after you've wasted all your ammo destroying them, they can send 100 good planes up to shoot your behind down.

The idiocy of those who have never been in the military nor studied it setting policy never ceases to amaze me. [/rant]

Dusty

[Greg Beetham]

You have a point Dusty, thing is, I have my doubts about how many countries there are now who can mount competitive/serious hi-tech air warfare anymore...on a scale that would demand the services of a fleet of Raptors at least...seems the nature of conflicts is shifting more towards low tech lately, like roadside IED's for example.
The other new fighter I think is destined for the NAVY, now that the Tomcat is retired, that leaves the NAVY with only an attack plane (F/A 18) to fly CAP over the fleet, not something it was really designed too do...well, a proper air superiority fighter would be better/safer I reckon.
Greg