DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

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Friday
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Friday » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:09 pm

So we've passed the point where the Military Industrial Complex is just making weapons we don't need and won't ever use to the point where they're making weapons we don't need and won't ever use and don't work.
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Friday
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Friday » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:09 pm

Haha, just kidding. We passed that point a long time ago.
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mongrel » Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:17 pm

Up here we're still waffling about buying the F-35. I think at this point even the government wants to drop it, but they're being government about it. For the love of god guys, just get something else.
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Mothra
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mothra » Wed Feb 18, 2015 3:36 pm

A research team from Stamford just finished developing an amphibious drone for the Marines:



As far I can tell, it doesn't really do anything but roll around and point cameras at things.

Muhlrad designed the system primarily for surveillance and object inspection. It’s capable of 360 degree turns so its somewhat more maneuverable than other ground robots. In tests with Smith Detection’s raman laser spectroscope in the payload (the two small transparent half-spheres on the side of the bot) it was able to detect explosive chemicals from about 2 inches away.

Pretty weird!

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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mothra » Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:33 am

More on how god-awful the F-35 is from War is Boring. Basically, since it's practically a bomber, it can't dogfight:

The [F-35 and an F-16] would be playing the roles of opposing fighters in a pretend air battle, which the Air Force organized specifically to test out the F-35’s prowess as a close-range dogfighter in an air-to-air tangle involving high “angles of attack,” or AoA, and “aggressive stick/pedal inputs.”

The F-35 was flying “clean,” with no weapons in its bomb bay or under its wings and fuselage. The F-16, by contrast, was hauling two bulky underwing drop tanks, putting the older jet at an aerodynamic disadvantage.

But the JSF’s advantage didn’t actually help in the end. The stealth fighter proved too sluggish to reliably defeat the F-16, even with the F-16 lugging extra fuel tanks. “Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement,” the pilot reported.

“Insufficient pitch rate.” “Energy deficit to the bandit would increase over time.” “The flying qualities in the blended region (20–26 degrees AoA) were not intuitive or favorable.”

The F-35 jockey tried to target the F-16 with the stealth jet’s 25-millimeter cannon, but the smaller F-16 easily dodged. “Instead of catching the bandit off-guard by rapidly pull aft to achieve lead, the nose rate was slow, allowing him to easily time his jink prior to a gun solution,” the JSF pilot complained.

And when the pilot of the F-16 turned the tables on the F-35, maneuvering to put the stealth plane in his own gunsight, the JSF jockey found he couldn’t maneuver out of the way, owing to a “lack of nose rate.”

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Mongrel
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mongrel » Fri Sep 28, 2018 9:16 pm

I didn't realize they were single-use only. [/deadpan]



<fmm> Is the F35 the one that’s literally invisible, including to the pilot?
<ewie> nobody's seen them work

<ToadBrews>I'm glad we invested in the f35 instead of frivolous expenses like body armor
<grant> or literally anything that works when it's raining out
<Cannonball Fun> The air force can buy like 40,000 waffle house locations with the same money.
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mongrel » Sat Nov 03, 2018 1:28 am

Bloomberg: U.S. Navy’s Costliest Carrier Was Delivered Without Elevators to Lift Bombs

The $13 billion Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy’s costliest warship, was delivered last year without elevators needed to lift bombs from below deck magazines for loading on fighter jets.

Previously undisclosed problems with the 11 elevators for the ship built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. add to long-standing reliability and technical problems with two other core systems -- the electromagnetic system to launch planes and the arresting gear to catch them when they land.

The Advanced Weapons Elevators, which are moved by magnets rather than cables, were supposed to be installed by the vessel’s original delivery date in May 2017. Instead, final installation was delayed by problems including four instances of unsafe “uncommanded movements” since 2015, according to the Navy.


<wcb> And if it’s the Gerald Ford, they probably shouldn’t take the stairs
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Re: DE-FENSE! (CHA CHA CHA)

Postby Mongrel » Thu Nov 15, 2018 6:19 pm

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has failed what is being called its first-ever comprehensive audit, a senior official said on Thursday, finding U.S. Defense Department accounting discrepancies that could take years to resolve.

Results of the inspection - conducted by some 1,200 auditors and examining financial accounting on a wide range of spending including on weapons systems, military personnel and property - were expected to be completed later in the day.

“We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN1NK2MC
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