tag:www.thedonovan.com,2012://1/tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417- 2012-03-24T15:22:10Z We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 Movable Type 4.12 tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417 2009-02-19T06:11:03Z 2009-02-19T06:47:23Z

First, H/T to Stephen Green and his co-blogger Will Collier for turning me on to what is one of the best articles written to date on fighter pilots--who they are, and how they do what they do. It's a long read but worth it.

Attila of Argghhh!)]]> http://www.thedonovan.com Stephen Green and his co-blogger Will Collier for turning me on to what is one of the best articles written to date on fighter pilots--who they are, and how they do what they do. It's a long read but worth it.

Anyway.

Rico and I flew in Korea together. The article doesn't mention his beginnings as an A-10 driver before going off to make a name for himself in the Eagle. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy though.

Of course, when he was a new flight lead in the Hog, he sort of solidified his place in squadron lore by getting a little too close to the DMZ and causing ground guys--on both sides--to waste a lot of small arms trying to get his attention. But at least he got a good exposure to what the prohibited flying areas looked like.

Rico is one of those guys who started out with a huge amount of energy but not a lot of vector. That came later...but he sure got his stuff in one sock eventually and the rest is history. To know Caesar Rodriguez is to love him, so to speak, and I'm proud to have been able to call him "squadron mate." Alas, now he's a Auld Phart. Which makes me a REALLY Auld Phart. *Sigh*

But what takes the cake in the article is what you think is a painting of an AIM-7 in flight. It isn't a painting. It's the Best. Picture. Ever.]]> tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417-comment:84459 BillT http://www.thedonovan.com ...the photo is a reminder that the game of single combat played by Rico and Mole, and by fighter pilots ever since the First World War, is the ultimate one.

Heh.

Indulging in a bit of hyperexaggerated hyperbole, there...

]]> 2009-02-20T13:58:00Z 2009-02-20T13:58:00Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417-comment:84426 J.T. Wenting I fear that when faced with an opponent away from the home front who's equipped with modern Soviet or European equipment, in a decade or less, the US will be clobbered.
The F-15s are already falling out of the sky because of fatigue problems, in a decade they'll be incapable of doing anything but fly straight and level and hopefully getting a missile off before being blown out of the sky. The F-22 will be limited to continental defense (the 200 number having been drawn up because it's just barely enough to fit out enough units to defend CONUS from airspace penetration and they'll be (mostly) limited to that role rather than being deployed abroad even for active war or maybe especially active war).
That leaves the F-16 and maybe (if it doesn't get cancelled when NATO members cancel or delay their orders) to face Su-30s, Su-33s, and Su-35s as well as uprated MiG-29, all equipped with thrust vectoring, some capable of supercruise, and most fitted with off-boresight targetting systems (some F-16s have the latter, but most don't).
]]> 2009-02-19T20:08:38Z 2009-02-19T20:08:38Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417-comment:84425 J.T. Wenting Most of NATO (all in fact except the French and Germans, traditional agressors in intra-European wars...) are cutting down severely.
The Dutch air farce is down to some 80 F-16s from an original 300+ (which was itself a 50% cut from the previous generation of F-5s and F-104s), and plans to replace those with 70 or so F-35s are being challenged (the current claim being that those 30 year old F-16s which are being stressed heavily over Afghanistan and the Balkans can serve another 20 years with only a minor SLEP and grounding of about half of them for spares).
The British are facing similar cuts, some other countries are contemplating completely disbanding their air farces rather than upgrading their equipment.

Compared to such neglect of national defense, replacing a thousand F-15s with 200 F-22s seems not too bad...]]> 2009-02-19T19:58:12Z 2009-02-19T19:58:12Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417-comment:84417 AFSister 2009-02-19T14:44:32Z 2009-02-19T14:44:32Z tag:www.thedonovan.com,2009://1.10417-comment:84416 AFSister
SWEET!]]> 2009-02-19T14:09:38Z 2009-02-19T14:09:38Z