The Combat 75 Military Surplus Thread. Past, present and future.
- Thread starter spitfire
- Start date
T & P
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It has solar panels, so probably not an overreaction.Apparently they thought about shooting it out of the sky whilst it was over Montana but didn't because of the excessive risk that "falling debris" would pose to those on the ground.
2hats
Dust.
Shot down off NC.
notabird.site
notabird.site
Simone Geti (@SimoneGeti)
⚠️🔴BREAKING NEWS: Video of the #Chinese surveillance balloon shoot-down. Looks like a F-22 was the aircraft that was utilized. 🇺🇸⚡️🇨🇳 #ChineseSpyBalloon By: @Global_Mil_Info
notabird.site
Andrew Dockery (@AndrewWMBF)
Our good friend @RealPhotoholic got the awesome 4K video of the #ChineseSpyBalloon going down and even added some music to it. 🤣@jamiearnoldWMBF @wmbfnews
notabird.site
(Though maybe sound off for that second one).
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kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
I think it's also both the highest kill by a manned aircraft, and the first kill of an 'enemy' aircraft over the US...
The balloon was, apparently, at 65,000ft, which is well within the flight envelope of the F-15 and F-22.
DownwardDog might know more about quite how stable an aircraft might be at 60+k, getting it there doesn't mean it handling like a dream there...
The balloon was, apparently, at 65,000ft, which is well within the flight envelope of the F-15 and F-22.
DownwardDog might know more about quite how stable an aircraft might be at 60+k, getting it there doesn't mean it handling like a dream there...
DownwardDog
Riding a Brompton with a power meter.
It depends on your mount. I'm sure the F-22 with its tennis court sized wing and 70,000lbs of installed thrust is better than most in that regime.
Anyway, old mate still had to make the Fox Two shot with the entire world watching so bravo zulu... Massachusetts ANG F-15Cs were holding in reserve; obviously hoping and praying that Team Raptor would fuck it up.
E2A: shot was taken at 58,000
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2hats
Dust.
For weapon release, maybe, but not for target altitude.
Meet the first and only Air Force pilot to shoot down a satellite
"Things in orbit around the Earth have to move at very high velocities, and hitting something at very high velocity is very difficult."
taskandpurpose.com
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
For weapon release, maybe, but not for target altitude.
Meet the first and only Air Force pilot to shoot down a satellite
"Things in orbit around the Earth have to move at very high velocities, and hitting something at very high velocity is very difficult."
Yeah, the ASAT was my first thought when the balloon went up (ha! See what I did there!!??!!??) - I was surprised to read that it was only released at 40k, I had assumed it would be launched a lot higher than that...
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
That is fucking comedy gold right there. Have you thought about pursuing a career on the stage?
2hats
Dust.
Interesting to note that U2 surveillance overflew the balloon on several occasions during CONUS transit. I would imagine that, if they uplink data collection via satellite, certain MEO/GEO ELINT assets could also track these aerostats.
www.thedrive.com
U-2 Spy Planes Snooped On Chinese Surveillance Balloon
U-2 Dragon Ladies had the ability to actually fly above the balloon and gather multiple types of intelligence about it from its perch.
www.thedrive.com
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
I think the Rivet Joints, and a Combat Sent were mooching about the thing as well - for those not blessed with a life dominated by acronyms, and stupid words, that's airliners covered in signals intelligence gathering stuff. RJ's (broadly) find communication emissions, CS find radars...
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
What is 70,000lbs of thrust in bhp?
2hats
Dust.
A function of velocity.
High Voltage
In the top 97% of Urban's most interesting posters
Adequate
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
So neither of you buggers know then? 
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
Wow! I realised it would be a lot, but Wow!
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
Tornadoes are all razor blades, and they were increasingly maintainance hungry when they were in service. I think we flogged our spares pool to the other users when we took them out of service...
Typhoon Tranche 1 is a real possibility (20 jets?), but as DownwardDog has noted on the Ukraine thread, they had previously been earmarked to be turned into a spares pool for the rest of the Typhoon fleet. Without them we'd need to either buy huge quantities of spares (£300 million for the engines alone...), or effectively put a third of the later Typhoon fleet on bricks for lack of spares.
Money solves that problem, but....
The other option is that the UK buys F-16's from existing NATO users, and donates them to Ukraine. We're then back to permissions - as with the Leopards...
This cluster fuck is what you get when you continually demand more for less. All you get is less...
Typhoon Tranche 1 is a real possibility (20 jets?), but as DownwardDog has noted on the Ukraine thread, they had previously been earmarked to be turned into a spares pool for the rest of the Typhoon fleet. Without them we'd need to either buy huge quantities of spares (£300 million for the engines alone...), or effectively put a third of the later Typhoon fleet on bricks for lack of spares.
Money solves that problem, but....
The other option is that the UK buys F-16's from existing NATO users, and donates them to Ukraine. We're then back to permissions - as with the Leopards...
This cluster fuck is what you get when you continually demand more for less. All you get is less...
kebabking
Not a Girly Swot, but I like them....
No one knows....
Defence got an ex-gratia budget increase to cope with inflation and the fall of the pound Vs dollar, bit that was it. There's talk of an increase because of the new reality, but whether it happens is for the Gods, or indeed higher powers than that, the PM. Signals have been contradictory, even in the last week.
Army faces a huge problem in that the three pillars of an Armoured Force - Tanks, Self propelled guns, and Infantry fighting vehicles - are all old, haven't been upgraded, have been starved of spares and refurb funding for 20 years, and need replacing, all at the same time.
There's a job on called Op Mobilise, which is a CGS directed task based on simply throwing everything we've got, or can buy cheaply, at regenerating a per-on-peer armoured force - so mass cannibalisation, buying up spares to get existing stuff on the road, and ditching anything that isn't required for the NATO land task.
A good example of what's been achieved is the M270 GMLRS program - it had dropped to about 25-30 wagons, down from 60+. By buying other people's spares to get our hanger queen's working, buying other states older unwanted wagons, and refurbing a gate guardian at Larkhill, that number is hitting 50, and will hopefully get to 65-75.
Army is in a parlous state - constantly changing 'next big thing' priorities, poor project and procurement management, and feast and famine funding (we don't get multi-year budgets from HMT so no one knows what will ge available next year - so suppliers charge through the nose knowing that a project might come to nothing and they'll be left holding the bill).
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
It all sounds a bit like the early 1930s...
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
How unlike the rest of the public sector... Good job there isn't a war in Europe and we don't live on an island with half our food and most of our energy coming in by sea.
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
It all sounds a bit like the early 1930s...
German politicians and military chiefs suggest return of conscription
Berlin government attempts to pour cold water over prominent voices seeking to reverse Merkel-era phase out
U75 Dad's Army penal battalion here we come.
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