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E-6 going away
- Thread starter jmcquate
- Start date
I would characterize it in a slightly different way. Just because the Navy didn't decide to recapitalize with a new platform for a fairly niche capability doesn't mean they didn't have a plan. It means they chose, at this time, to prioritize the recap of other platforms, like our SSBN fleet, F-35, NGAD, and shipbuilding efforts.
Though I have no specific inside knowledges on this, I'll be very surprised if this capability doesn't transition to space-based vice air breathing platforms in the very near future... at which point, the Navy's decision to use a stop-gap platform in the interim looks pretty smart.
I don't necessarily expect an answer here, but would space-based signals still make it to the intended target? My (perhaps mis-) understanding is that part of why the system works the way it does is because it can transmit the signal a long distance. Even if you're hovering over the Pacific in space, that's still one hell of a line of sight with no ionoshpere to help out.
Things I don't need to know, no doubt, but would still be interesting to learn about.
hlg6016
A/C Wings Here
Learned my lesson at Osan AB one cold morning, I heard the bolt go home and just face planted myself, The Korean guard did not speak English so I just laid there until an American NCO showed up.
What’d you do with @Gatordev Ivan? We’ll miss him, won’t pay a ransom to free him.
A.) That's a pretty sweet gig. My wife spent a few years down under for medical school, and we are both set on ending up there some day.
B.) I've never understood why the E-7 has been actively flying for so long and we just got around to purchasing it. I also read that they are setting specific requirements for the platform beyond what the Aussies have which seems unnecessary, a recipe for delays, and unsurprising.
Nothing says Red Flag in summer more than heavy survival gear and third degree burns from the canopy rail! Gotta be prepared, especially if you punch out over Texas lake.
I will say on most cross-countries, folks go helmet-less.
The Wedgetail as it is simply isn't very good. I was cube-neighbors with a guy who spent a few years as an NGC radar SME on the program. The weapon system never really lived up to specs, but by the time that became apparent the Aussies were in too deep to cancel it, so they just pushed through to fielding it. It was one of the first big Australian domestically driven weapon procurement programs (as opposed to straight FMS purchase) and cancelling it would have been very embarrassing for the ADF. There aren't any other alternatives out there that can meet the big-scale battle manager platform the AF wants, though, so sounds like they're going with the E-7 and hoping to tweak it up to standards.
They should have just mounted an E2 on top of that thing, unmodified. Great radar, get the range/speed performance of the E7, have an extra head, and it'd look better.
Huh. My comments were based off of briefs and experience working with them during a U.S.-UK-Aus Red Flag. I was pretty impressed, especially compared to the other AEW platforms.
The RAAF AICs are very good and I imagine they’ve found ways to work around the weapon system’s limitations. Point is, the AF picked Wedgetail because it's what's available, not because it's particularly good. Thus the baseline requirements that go beyond what the airplane can do now.
I'd argue that the RAAF as a whole is very good. Always come away impressed by them. e
Your second point makes sense. But I also see specific US requirements inevitably delaying the program and causing further hiccups and capabilities gaps. Perfect being the enemy of good enough and all that.
Haha... OK, FLGUY!
Please understand my post was a humorous way of bantering with Wink and jmcquate... so don't read too much in to it... and don't take it so seriously!
Short of someone who's done an exchange tour with the Navy or Marines, I believe I've got a way better-than-average understanding of Navy/Marine aviation culture for an AF Driver. I've made plenty of posts about it in the past to include where the Navy does things better than we do.
The AF red lines on the flightline are something we were raised with. We find it funny that y'all get spun up about it.
Scarves: I recall a number of years ago in the Corpus bar when a bunch of Marines wanted to have a bar room brawl over the issue. We just wanted to drink beer!
Reflective belts: yes, the AF went way overboard on the issue. And we deserve all of the ridicule we get over our over-zealous E-9's that were self-appointed cops on the issue.
As a non-Navy/Marine guy who looks at y'all with AF spectacles, just realize that I see stuff that makes me chuckle too. And the U-2 "ready room" is a hilarious place to air these things. Tomorrow, for example, I expect there will be the following Navy/Marine backgrounds in there for end-of-the-week celebrations: S-3, EA-6B, Harrier, P-3, and T-45. We will poke each other in the eye and have a great time doing it.
My comments are only meant to be funny... and to maybe give you a perspective of the stuff the AF sees in your world that we don't live day-to-day. If I was sent back almost 40 years in time and told I couldn't be a U-2 guy, I'd likely ask God if He would send me to Naval Aviation.
But only if I could get rid of that awful ejection seat harness. Yes, that would be a deal-breaker.
Yeah man, it’s all in good fun. Sarcasm doesn’t translate well on the Internet. Sometimes we wish we had the goodness that the USAF gets in some ways. Like the U-2!
Cheers