JediMaster

Which was exactly my point, the C-130s were bought because they needed a plane in that class. You don't buy a C-17 to do a C-130 job when you could buy the same number for less or more for the same price. Being a newer design I'm sure the C-17 would be nicer than the Il-76, but they don't need them.

That F-117 (one, not plural) shouldn't have been there, simple as that. It was a tactical mistake and they paid for it by losing the plane. They got overconfident. The difference is the F-22 has a comprehensive EW suite the F-117 does not. Other than its shape and material coating, the F-117 is a 1970's warplane. It's basically a radar-less Hornet as far the avionics goes. It has no jammer and whether it even has an RWR or not is classified! It has no visible antennas for them. The F-117 must totally rely on pre-flight intelligence to tell it where it should or shouldn't go. The F-22 will know everything that is known plus be able to learn far more than that on its own and even change its plans based on what is discovered on ingress. Just like the B-2 isn't the "stealth bomber", it's the "advanced technology bomber", there are things the F-22 is capable of we aren't allowed to know. The F-117 was first-generation and the shoot down only proved that simple shapes and materials were going to be enough in the 21st century. Don't think the loss of one plane means stealth is some sort of phantom that doesn't really matter. As for MANPADs, the F-22 should never be in range of them unless it's taking off or landing.

I must resign myself to the permanent loss I think. I have little to no time at home/on weekends to go online, so it looks like I'll be posting no more than a couple of posts a day there now. It's good this place was taken off the blocked list! That hacking way back when got it banned as a "phishing website".

I have intimate knowledge of 5a.

There were several of those console-shoot-em-up starfighter SW games made. Rebel Assault was first, followed by the Rogue Squadron and other series. They were ok, but I never really liked them. The best overall was Shadows of the Empire. Sometimes you did starfighter combat, but other times it was an FPS.

Yeah, that's the other thing I see in movies like this and Mission Impossible that irritates me. You know how hard it is for a foreign national to get a Secret clearance? It's nigh-on impossible. For a TS or TS-SCx clearance??? Completely impossible.

Nope, that's blocked too!

Maybe you didn't hear her normal voice in the English release, but her accent was annoyingly thick. She didn't say "life" but something more like "loife" for instance. Plus, I didn't buy the "super smart super hot girl with nose piercing" idea. It's trying so hard to be anti-stereotype that it IS a stereotype, albeit one you only see in the movies!

I buy all the hardcover books, so I never see what the paperbacks have.

Yup. Il-2:46 was the end of the line. There have been a couple of post-release patches and now 1.09, which is out in beta, is the final patch.

Never heard of Mirror's Edge.

I know ghostrecon.net had some, but I also know they don't have all of them.

Yeah, I read Allegiance, but not Fool's Bargain. I've not read any of the ebooks. I guess it's a prequel to Allegiance.

Yeah, the Director's Guild fined him and Kershner big time for ESB, so he resigned from it. That meant he couldn't ask Spielberg to direct ROTJ (his original plan), so he got that other Marquand guy to do it. However, Lucas pretty much directed half of that one anyway. However, all that trouble was post-ESB release, so by then those choices had been made.

They've had some changes in leadership and apparently none for the better. I admit they'd put out some crappy SW games, but there were also some good ones. Now the only ones other than EAW were the Lego ones and the SWB: Renegade Squadron that I just got for my PSP. I don't know WHY they didn't make that for PC...unless it's like I said before that they're getting around PC piracy this way.

"Ok, I'm going to place you under Imperial arrest..."

Not just console-only, EVERY console only! I mean, even the Wii and PSP are getting it, but not the PC. It sounds to me more like "we're worried about the game getting pirated, so we're not releasing it on PC." Maybe after a year and the sales have dropped off for the consoles they'll release a PC version...maybe...

Ah, you haven't finished Fury yet...well, know that you'll like the end. As for making Jacen a Sith, yeah, I'm not a fan of that plan either. To dig up Lumiya and then say Vergere was in on it seemed stretching it too far. Well, it is what it is now.

Well, the first SW films were all made in England, so other than a few key roles cast in the US, the rest were cast in the UK. However, not all Imperials had the accent. Recall the "TK421, why aren't you at your post?" guy among others.

I'm not betting on FC2. An internal Ubi team is doing it...maybe the same one that brought us Lockdown?

B-1A/B size differences are negligible, if any. They changed the inlets on the engine and that was about it as far as external differences. Internal is another story. KC-10: LENGTHS Fuselage 170ft. 6in. Overall (Boom Retracted) 181ft. 7in. HEIGHT To top of tail 57ft. 7in. To top of fuselage 27ft. 2in. WIDTH Wing Span 165ft. 4in. Horizontal Stabilizer Span 71ft. 2in. Fuselage 19ft. 9in. B-52: Length: 159 feet, 4 inches (48.5 meters) Height: 40 feet, 8 inches (12.4 meters) Wingspan: 185 feet (56.4 meters) So, the B-52 has a bigger wingspan but that's it. As for the Hustler, its max payload was 8823 kg, so you can figure it could've carried a lot of bombs if the trials had shown any promise. They didn't, so they skipped it and just went for the B-52.

I'm sure pretty much any country with a medium-sized or larger armed forces could use something the size of a C-17. The questions are 1) did they formulate a requirement that made it thru the beauracratic process and 2) can they afford a $200m+ plane, let alone at least 3 which is what most countries do when they decide to get one?

Depends on why it crashed. If it was something like fuel starvation or a bird strike, I'd think not. That would take out any jet. As for the ejection seat, those are often replaced. Especially a bird like the F-16 that's still being built, there are options for newer seats than what that Bravo bird left Ft Worth with back in the day.

To shoot a plane down, you need to do 3 things. First, to find it. If you can't see it or know it's there but not exactly WHERE you can't get it. Two, to track it. Having some massive EWR that uses LF radar to find the plane is no help for SAMs. All you can do in that case is vector in fighters (which the F-22 would eat alive) or use AAA to put a lot of lead in the sky. Three, to hit it. Faster a missile goes, the less maneuverable it is. Something flying at hypervelocity will break apart if it pulls too many g's (look at Columbia), so you're limited in your final course changes. Slower missiles have to worry about the plane not being there when it gets there unless they've got a good tracking lock. Remember the F-22 isn't going to be overflying any SAM sites. It will know where they are and stay outside their range. Sure, one could sit there turned off and try to turn on and catch the F-22 real close, but...how will it know when the F-22 is close enough to turn on their radar? Normally to know that sort of thing you use...radar.

Yup, been able to post there from work pretty much unhindered since 2000 at the various jobs I've held. This place I've been at 6 years this Friday, and it was never blocked...until now. :cray: