The Aviation thread

[Road_Warrior]

ARDU F111 with the AGM142 Popeye during qualifications:

[Spudz27]

Just to shy away from the seemingly military theme in the topic. Check out this video taken from the cockpit of a 747. I have never seen anything like it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl6iR7w7a_Q&hd=1

Also in other new a plane crash last night.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225906176909

A BOEING 737 crash-landed overnight on a Colombian resort island during a lightning storm, scattering passengers across the runway as it split in three, but somehow only one passenger died.

It is a miracle no one died except the old lady and even that was a heart attack.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

ARDU F111 with the AGM142 Popeye during qualifications:

What are they going to bolt this bad boy to when the F111's bite the dust?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Peuty

What are they going to bolt this bad boy to when the F111's bite the dust?

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that are being procured to replace the F-111.

They are also compatible with the P3 Orion. I don't think the aircraft has received qualifications to use the ordnance in RAAF service however.

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by Peuty

And the one up a bit taken from the top of the yacht? What are we looking at there Simon?

I am also wondering about that one

[Burnout]

Some propeller driven stuff:

[Burnout]

[Mad Maxine]

The mast-top photo looks like a bird's eye view of one of the many sunken WW2 aircraft that are dotted around the globe... there are a few up Papua New Guinea way and some off the coast of Darwin, I understand.

Shazz

[Peuty]

Good call Maxine, I didn't think of that.

Cheers,

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that are being procured to replace the F-111.

They are also compatible with the P3 Orion. I don't think the aircraft has received qualifications to use the ordnance in RAAF service however.

As far as i know the Popeye wont be intergrated with the Super Hornet.
And it certainly wont go on the P3 Orion.

[Fled74]

Originally Posted by Burnout

I love the old prop-driven warbirds. I built a 1/48 scale model of this exact P-51D Mustang several years ago.
Awesome photos, thank you.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

As far as i know the Popeye wont be intergrated with the Super Hornet.
And it certainly wont go on the P3 Orion.

Yeah that was my thought...I wouldn;t see them doing all the work to get it integrated for a stop gap aircraft.

Will a few of these even fit in the weapons bay of an F35?

[Burnout]

Originally Posted by Mad Maxine

The mast-top photo looks like a bird's eye view of one of the many sunken WW2 aircraft that are dotted around the globe... there are a few up Papua New Guinea way and some off the coast of Darwin, I understand.

Shazz

Originally Posted by Peuty

Good call Maxine, I didn't think of that.

Cheers,

Maybe from around Truk.

The one with the top portion exposed is in the Florida Keys, a drug dealers plane.

[ELGT4me]

Is it possible to get a photo of that A380 as it comes into view? There was a photo around of a military aircraft breaking the sound barrier (or something similar) a few years ago. That looked trick as well. That is one amazing video, well done to the guy that shot the video!!! If you guys could reveal what sort of camera you use for your shots, it would be helpful as well. I may have to update the Box Brownie.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

As far as i know the Popeye wont be intergrated with the Super Hornet.
And it certainly wont go on the P3 Orion.

Originally Posted by Peuty

Yeah that was my thought...I wouldn;t see them doing all the work to get it integrated for a stop gap aircraft.

Will a few of these even fit in the weapons bay of an F35?

In the absence of any information to the contrary, it must be assumed that the Super Hornet will receive the software updates to accommodate the AGM-142, otherwise the ordnance purchase would be a complete waste of money and leave the RAAF without the stand-off strike capacity it has always wanted. The Super Hornets are going to be here for up to 10 years before the full JSF complement is here AND operational so leaving such a large capability gap for such a long period is simply out of the question. The only caveat to all this is that the Popeye may be replaced with the AGM-154 JSOW, which the Super Hornet has been optimised to use (and vice versa). Australia has committed to purchase the JSOW. We've also committed to an EW variant of the Super Hornet, which is interesting.

As I recall, I didn't say the Popeye was going to be fitted to the P3 fleet, quite the opposite, and I doubt very much the F-35 will be able to accommodate the Popeye in its internal weapons bay due to the physical size of it. Perhaps on underwing pylons but it's still a rather large missile for that aircraft.

If I had my way, I'd be splashing the cash on a true 3-tier force for the RAAF and it wouldn't involve aircraft like the Super Hornet or the F-35...

Oh and:



Seems like those dirty commies have made their own F22. This Sukhoi made its maiden flight this year.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

In the absence of any information to the contrary, it must be assumed that the Super Hornet will receive the software updates to accommodate the AGM-142, otherwise the ordnance purchase would be a complete waste of money and leave the RAAF without the stand-off strike capacity it has always wanted. The Super Hornets are going to be here for up to 10 years before the full JSF complement is here AND operational so leaving such a large capability gap for such a long period is simply out of the question. The only caveat to all this is that the Popeye may be replaced with the AGM-154 JSOW, which the Super Hornet has been optimised to use (and vice versa). Australia has committed to purchase the JSOW. We've also committed to an EW variant of the Super Hornet, which is interesting.

As I recall, I didn't say the Popeye was going to be fitted to the P3 fleet, quite the opposite, and I doubt very much the F-35 will be able to accommodate the Popeye in its internal weapons bay due to the physical size of it. Perhaps on underwing pylons but it's still a rather large missile for that aircraft.

If I had my way, I'd be splashing the cash on a true 3-tier force for the RAAF and it wouldn't involve aircraft like the Super Hornet or the F-35...

Hmmm there you go. What will they do with their Have Nap's when/if they go for the JSOW's?

What would your choice of aircraft be? As we can't have the F22's, mine involves Strike Eagles....

[Burnout]

[Road_Warrior]

Here's another picture of that rather concerning Sukhoi, designated PAK-FA:

Originally Posted by Peuty

Hmmm there you go. What will they do with their Have Nap's when/if they go for the JSOW's?

What would your choice of aircraft be? As we can't have the F22's, mine involves Strike Eagles....

Dunno how many they bought in the first place mate. They may send them back or retain them for use. However as I understand it the JSOW has a longer range and is a smaller weapon - can't seem to find details on its warhead capacity though.

Have you seen details on the F-15 Silent Eagle? If it were up to me, we would have 2 squadrons of remanufactured A-10's for CAS, maritime patrol and generally just doing what A-10's are good for, we would have the existing Hornet squadrons replaced with Eurofighters on a 1-for-1 basis, and if there was some way shape or form we could get our hands on 2 squadrons of F-22 Raptors as the 'silver bullet' of the RAAF, that would be just super.

[Burnout]

Do you think a couple of these would be of value as well:

[Road_Warrior]

Hell yeah.

[Burnout]

A few of these with some Blue 82's would be nice as well:

[xbrules]

Hehe, no atmospheres were harmed during the taking off of this aircraft




Gotta love the JATO packs.

[xbrules]

I was Watching MAX on foxtel the other day and got the best of the 80's and in their countdown was this Gem of a video clip. It's Called Dreams by Van Halen and is a tribute to the 40th anniversary of the blue angels. In this clip they are flying A4 Skyhawks. it would have been a real culture shock to go from an F-4 phantom to a tiny little skyhawk

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/200325/760975

Also found this gem. this was shot at RAAF Williamtown in 1979, it was a race between a then Brand new Lamborghini Contach and a Mirage. I have the magazine article, just gotta fire up the scanner some time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71b5d72cp7w

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by xbrules

Also found this gem. this was shot at RAAF Williamtown in 1979, it was a race between a then Brand new Lamborghini Contach and a Mirage. I have the magazine article, just gotta fire up the scanner some time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71b5d72cp7w

I dunno what's cooler about that vid, the fact that it was a race conducted between a jet fighter and a supercar on an Aussie airbase, or the fact that there are loads of old Fords driving around the base!

[Burnout]

Mack Loop:

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by NC1183

Whats the tiger painted plane?

Jaguar GR 1

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by xbrules

Hehe, no atmospheres were harmed during the taking off of this aircraft


Gotta love the JATO packs.

RATO's m8

[Burnout]

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

In the absence of any information to the contrary, it must be assumed that the Super Hornet will receive the software updates to accommodate the AGM-142, otherwise the ordnance purchase would be a complete waste of money and leave the RAAF without the stand-off strike capacity it has always wanted. The Super Hornets are going to be here for up to 10 years before the full JSF complement is here AND operational so leaving such a large capability gap for such a long period is simply out of the question. The only caveat to all this is that the Popeye may be replaced with the AGM-154 JSOW, which the Super Hornet has been optimised to use (and vice versa). Australia has committed to purchase the JSOW. We've also committed to an EW variant of the Super Hornet, which is interesting.

As I recall, I didn't say the Popeye was going to be fitted to the P3 fleet, quite the opposite, and I doubt very much the F-35 will be able to accommodate the Popeye in its internal weapons bay due to the physical size of it. Perhaps on underwing pylons but it's still a rather large missile for that aircraft.

If I had my way, I'd be splashing the cash on a true 3-tier force for the RAAF and it wouldn't involve aircraft like the Super Hornet or the F-35...

Nope there is no plans or money to intergrate the Popeye with the SuperBug,
JSOW perhaps as its on the current classic series of Hornets.

The F-35 weapons bays are very small, however I believe that JSOW will fit.
2 internal bombs and 2 internal AMRAAMs is the "standard" fit.

Fitting any weapons under the wings will increase its RCS and therefor a waste of its so-called "stealthiness". In any case the aircraft is over budget, well behind schedule (some 2yrs), twice as noisy an F-15 on take-off and not suited to Australian conditions. (not to mention the way it was decided we would buy them shouldve sent many people to jail, but thats another story)

Have you seen details on the F-15 Silent Eagle? If it were up to me, we would have 2 squadrons of remanufactured A-10's for CAS, maritime patrol and generally just doing what A-10's are good for, we would have the existing Hornet squadrons replaced with Eurofighters on a 1-for-1 basis, and if there was some way shape or form we could get our hands on 2 squadrons of F-22 Raptors as the 'silver bullet' of the RAAF, that would be just super.
Yesterday 08:56 PM

The A-10 is not suited to maritime patrol, no radar for starters and has no weapons intergrated to suit maritime targets. Its a tank buster and something we dont need. Who is gonna invade us with heavy armour?

The Super Hornet is not as bad is everyone makes out and is in fact quite well suited for us (even if we dont have a carrier). I wouldnt say no to Typhoons either. F-22? Hmmm no way the yanks would sell them to us and no way we could afford it!

As for the PAK-FA from Sukhoi... Its an impressive (prototype ) fighter. Would be interesting to see how it matures.

Note the use of LEVCONs (the big leading edge flaps on top of the engine ducts)



Two very large internal weapons bays can be seen here between the engines.

[yanknbank]

....the most successful fighter aircraft in history.