Past and Present of Warfare
Tag: aircraft
Since the beginning of the invasion, Russians have kept repeating that they had destroyed the Ukrainian air force. In fact, they had claimed on the first day of invasion that UAF had been destroyed. In March 2022., Russian Ministry of Defense again claimed that all Ukrainian aircraft had been destroyed or disabled, and repeated the … Continue reading Lessons of Air War in Ukraine
Introduction Word "stealth" has lately become a catchword used to define the weapon - mostly aircraft - as "superior", with little or no thought as to what the term actually means. Stealth fighters, stealth bombers, stealth ships... even stealth tanks, the craze is in full swing. But how much do these weapons deserve the label? … Continue reading Defining stealth
"'Fast moving aircraft are not designed to support ground troops,' said Army Sgt. First Class Frank Antenori. 'As much as the Air Force and Navy would like to think that, fighter aircraft that travel at speeds can't slow down to identify the targets.' Antenori made this statement after witnessing a friendly fire incident, in which … Continue reading Fast jets as close air support (CAS) aircraft
Design goal Characteristics required Ideal planform Dogfight fast transients (roll onset, pitch onset) subsonic-transonic turn rates (instantaneous, sustained) energy management (acceleration, climb) cruise speed and endurance close-coupled moderate-sweep canard delta BVR combat energy management (acceleration, climb) supersonic turn rates (sustained, instantaneous) cruise speed and endurance top speed long arm moderate-sweep canard delta BVR interception top … Continue reading Military aircraft configurations overview
ROLE AIR SUPERIORITY BOMBER INTERCEPTION GROUND ATTACK CLOSE AIR SUPPORT SIZE small (surprise, agility) large (range, missile load) medium-large (surprise vs range, weapons load) small-medium (surprise, agility vs endurance, weapons load) NUMBER OF ENGINES single (agility, surprise, operating cost) twin (top speed) twin (damage tolerance) twin (damage tolerance) COCKPIT/CANOPY TYPE bubble (situational awareness) sunk (drag … Continue reading Characteristics of aircraft types
Aircraft costs FY2014 COMBAT: A-4 - 11,2 million USD A-6E - 38,3 million USD A-10 - 20 million USD AC-130H - 177,3 million USD AC-130J - 111 million USD AC-130U - 254,5 million USD AC-130W - 118,7 million USD AH-1Z - 29,9 million USD AH-64A - 26,8 million USD AH-64D - 18,6 million USD … Continue reading Aircraft prices FY2014
Historical lessonsSince UAVs are very bad at actual observation (except maybe as an inexpensive help for individual infantry platoons, controlled by those same platoons), this aircraft will also be manned. Aside from this concern, UAVs are also not adaptable.First airborne FACs appeared during World War I. In that war, aircraft were employed for surveillance due … Continue reading Forward air controller aircraft proposal revised
http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_p1.pdf NOTE: Since spending does not include R&D or any associated equipment, it is a good indication of actual aircraft cost. Pg.40: FY2013 EA-18G: 967.725.000 USD for 12 aircraft - 80.643.750 USD F/A-18E/F: 2.609.504.000 USD for 37 aircraft - 70.527.135 USD F-35C: 917.052.000 USD for 4 aircraft - 229.263.000 USD F-35B: 1.211.635.000 … Continue reading Aircraft costs 2013-2015
Background While I have proposed a CAS fighter aircraft and ideal composition of NATO air forces, neither of these proposals is very realistic. Western air forces, especially US ones (USAF, US Navy and USMC), tend to hate any simple, effective designs - especially if said designs are meant to support the ground troops. To this … Continue reading Light CAS fighter proposal revised
History and War 