MigBuster

by Rebecca Amber Staff writer 8/27/2015 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A-4 Skyhawks have taken to the skies over Edwards in support of operational test of the F-35A for the Royal Netherlands Air Force. They are part of a tactics development and evaluation exercise initiated by the 323nd Test and Evaluation Squadron and supported by the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team from Aug. 17-28. "Each service and each country has their own specific test events that they want to test for themselves, for their own service and their own country requirements," said Rich Radvanyi, JOTT Planning Cell chief. The JOTT has five operational test squadrons composed of the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron, the Marines' VMX-22 squadron, the United Kingdom squadron 17®, the Dutch 323nd Test and Evaluation Squadron and Navy squadron VX-9. In support of the exercise, the Royal Netherlands Air Force also brought in six F-16s from the 162nd Fighter Wing, Arizona Air National Guard to serve as either allied or adversary aircraft, along with a KDC-10 Air Refueling tanker from the Royal Netherlands Air Force 334th Transport Squadron at Eindhoven Airport, Netherlands. The JOTT contracted Draken International to provide the small fleet of A-4s that were employed as adversary aircraft with a variety of types of mission sets. For instance, if the test plan required the F-35 pilot to fly against Russian tactics, the Draken pilots would present the same tactics that a Russian fighter pilot would present. "A lot of the Draken pilots are former military or some are even current guard or reserve pilots. A lot of them had been adversary air pilots before, so they replicate the tactics of different adversary countries," said Radvanyi. Draken International pilot Jeff Scott, who retired as a lieutenant colonel after 27 years in the Marine Corps, has been flying for 17 years and received his wings in an A-4. "I flew F-35s before I retired and now I'm on the other side flying against them," said Scott. The test event will enable an initial assessment of 4th and 5th generation fighter integration, including Link-16 interoperability aspects. The lessons learned will lay the ground work for future cooperation between 4th and 5th generation fighters and will help shape F-35A tactics for the RNLAF. "There's really nothing better than actually going out there and flying and putting the actual aircraft against an actual threat and seeing how it works," Radvanyi said. "This has been very, very beneficial." During the two-week test event, the JOTT organized one large force engagement each day with as many as 12 aircraft flying at a time. While only four Skyhawks flew at a time, there were up to six on the ramp at times. "It's been a unique opportunity to see a type of adversary aircraft that you wouldn't normally see," said Radvanyi. "The A-4 Skyhawk is not in service with the U.S. military anymore so it's something that would not normally be seen by the crews that are flying here now." According to Scott, Draken International purchased their A-4s from the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Their fleet differs from the A-4s that were once use by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps because they have been upgraded with F-16A avionics like APG-66 radars, radar warning receivers, heads-up displays and a digital data bus. They also have electronic attack pods that can be used to simulate special presentation requirements for test events. "It's a very reliable airplane," said Scott, adding that the team at Edwards has been "excellent, everyone has been very supportive." Skyhawks were mainly flown by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron flew the A-4 Skyhawk II from 1974 to 1986. Skyhawks were also used by the armed forces of Argentina, Australia, Israel, Kuwait, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand, and they remained active with several air services into the 2000s. http://www.edwards.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123456902

Over 100 F-35ABCs have been delivered and 2 squadrons of F-35B are actually past IOC with the USMC - they are early block software but they would still be expected to go to war at IOC.

Assume you mean shimmering? Terrain textures, buildings or all?

http://aviationweek.com/HWB#slide-7-field_images-1348431

It references a list of image files (tga in this case) Have you seen: http://combatace.com/topic/44441-making-a-custom-tga-for-tews-radar-warning-recievers/

https://vimeo.com/137379180

Those were the days - when you tried to install an app and it failed during install, you were sometimes looking at having to reinstall Windows!! (with a boot disk mind!)

Vintage jets will not be allowed to perform "high-energy aerobatics" over land at air shows after the Shoreham crash, regulators have said. The Civil Aviation Authority said such planes would be "limited to flypasts", and all Hawker Hunter jets have been temporarily grounded. At least 11 people died after a Hawker Hunter crashed into traffic on the A27 in West Sussex on Saturday. A crane has removed plane wreckage and police say more victims could be found. Assistant Chief Constable Steve Barry of Sussex Police said: "As a result of lifting the jet, we have not discovered any evidence of further victims and our estimate of 11 highly likely victims remains in place. "However, until we have fully completed the search of what is an extensive scene, I must caution that there is still the possibility that we may discover evidence of further victims, but I am not prepared to speculate on that figure." Meanwhile, a spokesman for CAA said the flying restrictions would remain in place until further notice, and it would be conducting "additional risk assessments on all forthcoming civil air displays". The regulator stressed that individual display pilots were only granted approval to fly "following a thorough test of their abilities". 'Deeply saddened' Andrew Hill, the pilot of the crashed jet, has been put in medically-induced coma after being pulled from the wreckage. The 51-year-old from Sandon, near Buntingford in Hertfordshire, suffered multiple injuries and is in a critical condition. In a statement, his family said they were "devastated and deeply saddened" by the loss of life and sent "prayers and heartfelt condolences to the families of all those affected". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34044383

Flying aircraft carriers sound like fantasy, something you’d only see in a crappy Marvel movie. But they’re real. Or rather, were real. In the 1930s, the United States made two plane-carrying airships. This video has the remains of one, the USS Macon, lying at the depths of the Pacific Ocean. The Macon and her sister ship, the USS Akron, were huge vessels, less than 20 feet shorter than the ill-fated, hydrogen-filled Hindenburg. But the Macon and the Akron were inherently safer, borne aloft by less-flammable helium, and propelled by eight 12-cylinder Maybach engines. The engines themselves could rotate downwards and backwards, enabling a modicum of thrust-vectoring control. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/gaze-upon-the-ghostly-remains-of-the-last-airborne-airc-1725717826

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=823&v=3VW4XfOqGY4

Something TK added to the FMs after 2008 IIRC.............thought it was to make it easier for less experienced to get off the ground even on hard FM. You need to change the FM basically to get rid of.

Tragic - 7 reported dead and headline news - you might not be far off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34027260 A Hawker Hunter plane has crashed into several vehicles after coming down at Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex. Sussex Police said there are several casualties, but could not give details on their condition. The plane crashed into vehicles on the nearby A27. The road is likely to remain closed for several hours. Eyewitness Stephen Jones said the plane was performing a loop but did not complete the manoeuvre and crashed. Police said it ended up in a bush. He said: "The aeroplane involved is a Hawker Hunter T mark 7. And he'd just begun his flying display. "He'd gone up into a loop and as he was coming out of the loop I just thought, you're too low, you're too low, pull up. "And he flew straight into the ground either on or very close to the A27, which runs past the airport." edit Looks bad RIP https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=52&v=pvHplYmh2f8

CH Manager 4.55 is the latest and one to use - quite old now. Run the SF2 games as admin and change compatibility modes (in shortcut properties) - they might not be getting access to write the control changes properly.

Issues with CH Manager; well it works okay for me and luckily I had put on BMS & DCS before SF2 because it worked fine in both. SF2 was not recognising any CH commands even though they were listed in default.ini. I had to manually remap them in game, but they have stuck since. Whether they need to be run as admin in win 7 compatibility mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=56&v=-y8PWzXlvYQ

Not aware of anything - will need to do some searching.

Gonna be interesting - I expect Chris Evans to do a good job with the BBC Top Gear - though these guys will still get a big draw.

SF2I for me

ooohhh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqRKzI59eRo

Aircraft including 18 Spitfires and six Hurricanes have flown over south-east England to mark 75 years since the Battle of Britain's "Hardest Day". The event recalled 18 August 1940, when Bromley's Biggin Hill and other South East military bases came under attack from the German Luftwaffe. It became known as the "hardest day" as both sides recorded their greatest loss of aircraft during the battle. with video http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-33966632

Careful Nesher - don't want journos getting ideas for their next F-35 blog

YGBSM http://www.janes.com/article/53660/syria-reportedly-receives-mig-31-interceptors-from-russia The Syrian government has received six MiG-31 'Foxhound' interceptor aircraft from Russia under a deal that was said to have been signed in 2007, a regional media source has reported. The aircraft recently arrived at Mezze Airbase on the outskirts of Damascus, the Turkish BGN News agency reported on 16 August. Syria was reported to have ordered eight MiG-31 combat aircraft as part of a wider defence deal with Russia in 2007. Although this deal was confirmed at the time by the head of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), Alexei Fyodorov, it was later denied by Anatoly Isaykin, director of state arms export bureau Rosoboronexport, who in 2010 described the sale as "a journalistic hoax". Neither the Russian nor the Syrian authorities have so far commented publicly on the reported deliveries. The MiG-31 first entered Soviet service in the early 1980s as a long-range, high-altitude, and high-speed interceptor. Although relatively old, it is still a highly capable platform that features some of the latest sensor and weapons fits. In particular, the MiG-31's NIIP N007 S-800 SBI-16 (RP-31) Zaslon or Zaslon-A electronically scanned phased-array fire-control radar (NATO codename 'Flash Dance') affords it an impressive beyond-visual range capability, enabling it to see airborne targets out to a range of 108 n miles (200 km; 124 miles) in a clutter-free forward sector, or 48 n miles (90 km; 56 miles) to the rear. It is capable of tracking 10 targets and attacking four simultaneously. Coupled with this radar, the MiG-31's R-33 (NATO codename AA-9 'Amos') or R-37 (AA-X-13/AA-13 'Arrow') long-range air-to-air missiles afford it a highly potent beyond-visual range (BVR) air-to-air capability. According to IHS Jane's World Air Forces , Russia has approximately 200 MiG-31s in service that it is currently in the process of upgrading to keep them operational through to the 2030s. With the exception of Russia and now possibly Syria, only Kazakhstan flies the type. COMMENTUntil the arrival of the MiG-31s in Damascus is confirmed, it should be treated with an element of scepticism. With the regime of Bashar al-Assad finding itself increasingly hard-pressed on the ground, it has to be noted that a state-of-the-art high-altitude interceptor is probably of limited use right now. The delivery has been linked to Western proposals for a no-fly buffer zone to be established over Syria, but while the MiG-31s would certainly give NATO planners pause for thought, their small number and single basing location would mean that they would likely be destroyed in the early hours of any alliance effort to establish air dominance over the country ahead of implementing such a no-fly zone.

Although they were not conceived to play this kind of role, F-22 Raptors have emerged as some of the U.S.-led Coalition’s most reliable combat assets in supporting coalition planes during air strikes in Syria and Iraq. At the beginning of July, U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor jets had flown only 204 sorties out of 44,000 launched by the U.S.-lead coalition against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Little more than a month ago, the multirole stealth combat planes deployed to Al Dhafra airbase in the UAE had dropped 270 bombs on targets located in 60 of the 7,900 locations hit by the other aircraft supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. Even though the largest number of air strikes is carried out by other assets, it looks like the role played by the (once troubled) F-22 is pivotal to ensure the safety of the other aircraft involved in the air campaign: the Raptors act as“electronic warfare enabled sensor-rich multi-role aircraft” escorting strike packages into and out of the target area while gathering details about the enemy systems and spreading intelligence to other “networked” assets supporting the mission to improve the overall situational awareness. “We are operating regularly in Iraq and Syria. The F-22’s advanced sensors and low-observable characteristics enable us to operate much closer to non-coalition surface-to-air missiles and fighter aircraft with little risk of detection,” said Lt. Col. J. (name withheld for security reasons) in a recent 380th Air Expeditionary Wing release. “We provide increased situational awareness for other coalition aircraft while simultaneously delivering precision air-to-ground weapons. This allows us to reduce the risk to our forces while mitigating the risk to civilian casualties, one of our highest priorities in this conflict. It is a true multirole aircraft.” In simple words, the F-22 pilot leverage advanced onboard sensors, as the AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array)radar, to collect valuable details about the enemy Order of Battle, then they share the “picture” with attack planes, command and control assets, as well as Airborne Early Warning aircraft, while escorting other manned or unmanned aircraft towards the targets. As happened when they facilitated the retaliatory air strikes conducted by the Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16s after the burning alive of the pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh captured on Dec. 24, 2014. Needless to say, every now and then they can also attack their own targets using Precision Guided Munitions: two 1,000-lb GBU-32 JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) or 8 GBU-39 small diameter bombs, “which have been successfully employed against key ISIL targets. [The SDB] is extremely accurate from very long distances and has the lowest collateral damage potential of any weapon in our inventory.” Therefore, although this may not be what the F-22 was conceived for, the U.S.’s premier air superiority fighter is excelling in a new role: making other aircraft more survivable in contested airspaces like Syria and Iraq. http://theaviationist.com/2015/08/15/f-22-kinetic-situational-awareness/