>> ^EmptyFriend:

I'm not disagreeing. I'm actually currently in the middle of a research project on the decision to scrap Constellation and the implications. All I was saying is that taking the anger out on such a small program isn't fair. For $10M you'd have a hard time doing something as simple as upgrading all the PCs in a ship class to WindowsXP (and yes, that is something that is only now happening).
The total cost to launch a space shuttle into orbit is incredibly high though, also. Like in the $1B territory.
>> ^mentality:
>> ^EmptyFriend:
>> ^mentality:
So this is what $553,800,000,000 a year gets you.

_{Iraq and Afghanistan not included.}

good thing you took out the iraq and afghanistan money (or tried to at least), wouldn't want that number to seem ridiculously untrue.
a little search says this contract wasn't even $10 million (which is actually pretty small).
http://www.ga.com/news.php?read=1&id=72&page=7
EDIT: and just to be clear, i do think military and defense spending is way too high, but i at least support the development of new technologies as opposed to the continual support/retrofit of old stuff.


Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize that new technologies to kill people were more important than other kinds of research. Good thing we're slashing NASA's budget so we can better conduct an asymmetrical war on terror using the power of electromagnetism.
Sorry for the snark, but the ridiculous defense spending, record deficit, budget cuts in all the wrong places, and development of weapons systems grossly out of touch with what's needed, is seriously pissing me off. And that goes for the F22/F35 too no matter how f awesome they are.




It's $10 million invested from the US office of Naval Research from June 2006 to Jan 2009. It doesn't say how much was invested in the last two years, and how much the project costs in total, including other sources of funding. And that's just for a proof of concept. How much is it going to cost taxpayers to make a version fit for service, and they start arming ships with it? Yeah, billions sound like the right territory.

I'm not disagreeing. I'm actually currently in the middle of a research project on the decision to scrap Constellation and the implications. All I was saying is that taking the anger out on such a small program isn't fair. For $10M you'd have a hard time doing something as simple as upgrading all the PCs in a ship class to WindowsXP (and yes, that is something that is only now happening).

The total cost to launch a space shuttle into orbit is incredibly high though, also. Like in the $1B territory.
>> ^mentality:

>> ^EmptyFriend:
>> ^mentality:
So this is what $553,800,000,000 a year gets you.

_{Iraq and Afghanistan not included.}

good thing you took out the iraq and afghanistan money (or tried to at least), wouldn't want that number to seem ridiculously untrue.
a little search says this contract wasn't even $10 million (which is actually pretty small).
http://www.ga.com/news.php?read=1&id=72&page=7
EDIT: and just to be clear, i do think military and defense spending is way too high, but i at least support the development of new technologies as opposed to the continual support/retrofit of old stuff.


Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize that new technologies to kill people were more important than other kinds of research. Good thing we're slashing NASA's budget so we can better conduct an asymmetrical war on terror using the power of electromagnetism.
Sorry for the snark, but the ridiculous defense spending, record deficit, budget cuts in all the wrong places, and development of weapons systems grossly out of touch with what's needed, is seriously pissing me off. And that goes for the F22/F35 too no matter how f awesome they are.

[redacted]

>> ^EmptyFriend:

>> ^mentality:
So this is what $553,800,000,000 a year gets you.

_{Iraq and Afghanistan not included.}

good thing you took out the iraq and afghanistan money (or tried to at least), wouldn't want that number to seem ridiculously untrue.
a little search says this contract wasn't even $10 million (which is actually pretty small).
http://www.ga.com/news.php?read=1&id=72&page=7
EDIT: and just to be clear, i do think military and defense spending is way too high, but i at least support the development of new technologies as opposed to the continual support/retrofit of old stuff.



Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize that new technologies to kill people were more important than other kinds of research. Good thing we're slashing NASA's budget so we can better conduct an asymmetrical war on terror using the power of electromagnetism.

*Sorry for the snark, but the ridiculous defense spending, record deficit, budget cuts in all the wrong places, and development of weapons systems grossly out of touch with what's needed, is seriously pissing me off. And that goes for the F22/F35 too no matter how f***** awesome they are.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by geo321.

I know that one of those failures was caused by a pen that fell out of a crew chief's pocket and was sucked into the intake, completely fouling the engine. Foreign Object Debris(FOD) is a problem for all aircraft but I've seen lots of crap scraped out of an F-18 and some of it was probably a pen at one point. Most aircraft just chew that stuff up and you don't notice it until it's time for maintenance. This actually grounded the plane.

Also, I should point out that the F22 isn't really a "nimble dogfighter" in the traditional sense. If you're flying circles around other planes in one of these then you have failed as an F22 pilot. While it is in theory a decent dogfighter it's intended that it never be in a dogfight, having shot down the enemy aircraft long before establishing visual contact and ideally without them ever knowing where the missile came from.

Yeah, that failure rate seems... Well, unbelievable. In fact I don't believe it until they elaborate. And I thought one of the points of the F35 was that it was an "F22 Lite" the USA could afford to sell to other countries without revealing all their super secret technology? Though now it seems they were just too embarrassed to let anyone see it.

Air supremacy fighters are pretty much a moot point in todays warfare anyway. The face of warfare has changed so much in the last 20 or so years it's difficult to imagine a conflict where a nimble dogfighter would be necessary for success. Still, I liked the idea of the F22. Though I would have preferred the RAH-66 Comanche to see the light of day, maybe they could've afforded that one if the F22 had been given up early. That thing was stunning and the old Kiowa (I understand that the Comanche was supposed to be a recon chopper, a replacement for the Kiowa, at least partially. If you know better feel free to correct me.) really is getting old.

I wonder if a single F22 could beat 15 UAV Predators

Thing looks like a huge target for an F22 or F35.

No upvote from me because there was a lack of VTOL clips - the one thing that the Harrier can do that few other jet fighters in production can do (one of the F-35 Lightning II JSF variants was supposed to be a VTOL-capable fighter to replace the F-16, F/A-18, A-10, and the Harrier... the F22 Raptor still outclasses it in many respcts). Granted, the Harrier can only hover for about a minute before the engine overheats...

Hard to believe that the Harrier's design is almost 50 years old...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrier_Jump_Jet
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Strike_Fighter

>> ^notarobot:
A pretty video, and some impressive engineering, but I still think there are better ways to spend 65 BILLION Dollars.


Apparently the Secretary of Defense agrees with you and cancelled the F22. It is a ton of money, but what a bad ass jet. I've been looking forward to it for years.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'raptor, fa22, thrust, testing, f22, raptor' to 'raptor, fa22, thrust, vectoring, testing, f22, jet engine' - edited by kulpims

Tags for this video have been changed from 'raptor, fa22, thrust, testing' to 'raptor, fa22, thrust, testing, f22, raptor' - edited by kulpims

Tags for this video have been changed from 'f15, eagle, fighter, jet, stealth' to 'f15, eagle, fighter, jet, stealth, f22, raptor' - edited by kulpims

Tags for this video have been changed from 'rc, f22, raptor, jet, remote control, model' to 'rc, f22, raptor, jet, remote control, model, korean' - edited by legacy0100