For Hadrian:

[Mitch Cronin]

Howdy Hadrian...

After reading a few of your posts, a puzzle in my mind has developed... (nothing I'll lose sleep over, but I thought it worth asking)

First, I should probably at least attempt to be polite and introduce myself...

Name's Mitch. I'm a 45 yr old aircraft mechanic and have been around airplanes since about 1979 or so... working where I am now for about 19 years.

Pleased to meet ya.

Now for the puzzle.... I seem to recall you lamenting the choice you'd made about which unit to get into in the USAF (? I think?)... If I remember right, you'll be flying (or are?) flying F18's, which you called ancient, or out dated or words to that effect?... while you wished you'd have a chance to fly the F22... is that right so far?

Yet I just read a post from you in which you called a truly ancient machine (the Corsair) "Amazing" and "sweet".... here's my question: Obviously you have an appreciation for fine fighter aircraft... so HOW THE HELL CAN YOU PUT DOWN AN F18??? Good god man you'll get to do things in that little darlin' that most of us would cream in our pants just to be thinkin' about!

....anyway, that's my question to you...

... and oh ya... Sorry to hear our folks let you down in Seattle...(I work for AC) Hopefully someone will be able to make up for it in the future... We do have some slugs, like any large company... and right now isn't the best of times, so some people don't wear their stresses very well... there's no excuse for lousy treatment of course, but perhaps you can see it a wee bit differently?

Cheers,

Mitch

[Guest Hadrian]

It was the US Marine Corps. I was saying I would hopefully if I preformed well enough in flight training I'd get the F/A-18 or AV-8B. I was saying I wished I had joined the USAF to get a shot at the F/A-22.

Now I did refer to the F/A-18 as an antique, but that was hyperbole. This is because the USMC beleives in riding the horse till it's dead until buying a new one. This paricular horse will die in the 2020s timeframe, by which time it'll be a antique.

Let's face it, the legacy Hornet is nearing the end of it's useful life even with upgrades. We're planning on using it till the 2020s till the F-35 takes over. It can no longer compete with the really high end fighter jets, ie F/A-22, Eurofighter, F-35, Rafale and probably late variants of the Su-27/35/37 type jets. These jets (not including the Russian jets) have advanced avionics and flight performance far greater that anything the F/A-18 has. The Raptor for example will cruise at Mach 1.8 with no afterburner and just plain has spectacular performance, plus stealth and avionics that are out of this world. It is the best money can buy, comparatively the F/A-18 is obsolete.

The US Navy is already replacing their F/A-18C/Ds and F-14s with E/F Super Hornets, which are much better. The USMC doesn't have the dollars to afford an interm solution such the Rhino, but will have to wait until the F-35 to replace ou AV-8Bs and F/A-18s.

Now I'm happy I'll get a shot at a fighter, and from what I've seen and heard so far, there are atleast as many people who want to fly helo or heavies as jets so I'm fairly confident. However, the USAF gets the best of everything, ie they get the Raptor. Now in the 2012 timeframe we'll start to get irid of the Harriers and replace them with JSFs. Now I could be struck with them, and those jets are ancient or the even more ancient EA-6B Prowler. To antique wasn't necessarily refering to the Hornet.

Now the Corsair was the best naval fighter of World War 2, it is an antique in every sense of the word. However, it is still one of the greatest warplane to ever leave the deck of a carrier. So to see one of the finest examples of American naval history in flight is sweet.

Hope that explains it.

[Mitch Cronin]

Thanks Hadrian... Now I'm seeing it.

Still, as one who's stuck down here on terra firma, I find it hard to grasp the concept of considering an F18 not good enough. But OK, up against a Raptor or some other hot, new fangled, vectored thrust, ultra fighter.... I guess she comes up short.

Cheers,

[Guest Hadrian]

From what the USAF guys are saying there really is nothing that can match the Raptor in ait to air combat. She took out 8 F-15 before they even knew they were under attack.

Really, the flight performance of the C/D model Hornet isn't that big a deal along as the USAF has the Raptor to provide air dominance. The problem really is that the F/A-18C/D has no room to grow its avionics or cool any new avionics. In the new age of network centric warfare it won't be able to interact with the systems that are going to be coming online. The F/A-18E/F solves this problem but isn't a perfect solution.

The F-35B STOVL however is transformational weapons system, in the it incorporates STOVL capability in a platfrom that has high degree of stealth, supersonic speed, and double the range and payload of current STOVL aircraft (AV-8B). In addition, it has the most advanced avionics ever mounted on a fighter aircraft, plus datalinks (including machine to machine) to other systems that are well beyond the Link 16 standard.