Sundowner.pl

It is hard do compare those fighters. The Viper have better radar, but 39 is smaller both in size and RCS. In BVR the Viper would probably win, but only because of the newer weaponry he can carry (AIM-120C-7 vs AIM-120B). In dogfight, well the Viper is more powerful and have higher sustained turn rate, and higher amount of fuel, so he can fight more aggressively for longer period of time. The 39 when come into dogfight he'll try to do few snap turns using his higher instantaneous turn rate, but if won't get his enemy in 2-3 turns, he will have to disengage, or he'll burn too much fuel, and loose too much airspeed - that's with simple missiles and cannons. When AIM-9X and IRIS-T comes to play the Viper have upper hand, because of his better self defense systems with towing decoys, and AN/ALQ-212 active countermeasures. Remember the 39 is too small to put some of those toys in them. The F-16C/D-52+ is different then Belgium or Norway MLUs, so for decisive mock up fights we'll have to wait somewhere 2012 when all our squadrons will be combat ready, and people get experience in the new toy (in States, they train in Block42s)

Well in Flight Simulator rotorhead world, there is only The Dodo, and Nemeth Brothers... and Jordan Moores Bell 412. Nothing else is worth a look. You can't get better flight behavior, then Dodo's B206, and better look then Nemeth Brothers helos, for example, here's couple of shot I took of my repaint of Nemeth Designs S-76: About the Dodo Advanced B206, it is amazing what those guys did with simple FS system, and they're still working on it making it even more realistic... man, I can't wait for the UH-1 (and they say it may not by the earliest model to be released)

And where did you get that info from? In second offer (the final in early 2000s) there were only Mirage, Gripen, and Viper, there were no MiGs or Hornets. The Hornet was in fact in the first auction, but the Boeing withdrawn from it making more room for Lockheed offer. Buying MiGs or Su's were never an option. I say this once again, we needed a true multirole fighter, capable of intercepting hostile fighters/bombers, carrying bombs, and performing SEAD missions. The 39 can't do SEAD, and his CAS capabilities are still limited. It also have short legs, just like our MiGs, and we are bigger country then Czech Republic. Few times better, and many times cheaper. F-16C/D-52+ is pretty new model, he can kick buts of Eurofighter and Rafale as ground pounder, because, those two are not yet finished. In the air, well it is different class, but it may hold its ground, the tactical knowledge and pilot skill will be decisive. As to newest American fighters... which one? The only newer than our Vipers are the F/A-18E/F and F-22A. Our Viper could kick the Super Bug in aerial combat, and haul nearly as many bombs. As to the Raptor.... there is no other plane in the world that could compare with it, yet still our plane is 3 times cheaper :music_whistling:

Ukr_Alex, that kind of exercise would be a blast :thumbup: but it won't happen before 2009, we need at least one operation squadron for that ;) Vekkinho, those airplanes are brand new, and good luck sending any fighter for 10 hours long flight over the "pond" and expect no malfunction on the way. Our Vipers had malfunctions of secondary systems, not crucial to flight safety... nor combat ability. Ask those Chech folks about they're Gripen, and you will hear there was some serious stuff INOP.

Not really, those planes are still property of Lockheed Martin company, not Polish Air Force, and were flown by American pilots, that's why they couldn't fly with our check board. See first pictures of Israeli F-16A/B, or Iranian F-14s, those were also delivered by US Pilots so they had US markings.

Well there is no DU ammo for the M230 cannon, only for the GAU-8/A. I know where you going with this, and there still is no proof that DU is more dangerous than any other heavy metal... like Lead for example. Actually, more concern should be given to everything, what comes from a destroyed tank - like Asbestos dust, or gases from burning ammunition propellants. When I say the cases are dropping I mean, there is no additional mechanism that could accelerate the cases away from the gun - like in cannons mounted on APCs.

Ok, I got a reply from an AH-64 Crew Chief. It appears that there is some misinformation on the Internet. It is normal operation to eject the spend cases... and actually they're not ejected... they simply drop from the bottom of the gun ;)

Very interesting find! Yes the M230 can operate in "open" system - that's how it worked on AH-1 test bed, because simply there was no room for the chain system, and both links, and spend cases were ejected while firing. Yet, the M230/M230E1 as part of Area Weapon System - M139 Armament Subsystem on AH-64 Apache family helicopters is working in "closed" circuit, you can read about it here: http://www.nme.de/cgi-shl/nme/ah64.php#cannon and see in action here: Unfortunately you can't read about it in official AR manual to AWS, because it's still classified. The TM 1-1520-238-10 (Operators manual to AH-64A) does not say anything about spend cases. Only about operation regimes, ECP 1206 (Mechanical Gun Stops) and ECP 1251 (Electrical Gun Stops) regarding use with external fuel tanks, and Dynamic Harmonization. Of course I will ask some people for verification of this photo.

Here's a nice, but little too dark shot from the front: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/301-400/walk346/images_Bernie_McKenna/F-15_10.jpg only half of the gun is visible from this position. http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/001-100/walk004_F-15E/images%20Steve%20Bamford/sheb0622.jpg http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/001-100/walk004_F-15E/images%20James%20Deshiro/pic05.jpg Walmis, you know we will not leave you alone until our Eagle will look better - more real and detailed than anything in Black Shark :smilewink: and if you run, we will find you... I live not so far away you know :smilewink: BTW how about adding FAST Packs (CFTs "Dash 3" version)? As additional drop tanks, that will add some 8800 pounds of fuel, just to make those Flankers run :music_whistling:

You wrote about diameter of the barrel, thats something completely different than caliber - the caliber is inside (tha hole), diameter is outside. Yet there is something very wrong with this model.

well, I'm shocked :huh:

but they are not 20mm in diameter, they are something around 34-38mm at the end, the caliber of them is 20mm. What is your spacing disc diameter ? It should be 6 inches.

Well that's what Lockheed Martin included with the planes, the main ordnance deal should come when our F-16s squadrons go operational :pilotfly: Hope some HARMs, AIM-120Ds, SDBs, JASSMs and JSOW-As will be bought.

-6 Goodrich DB-110 reconnaissance pods -36 Pantera targeting pods (export version of Sniper XR) -44 AN/ALQ-131/-184 ECM pods (nobody knows which) -8 ACMI pods -48 JHMCS -20 NVG sets -130 LAU-129 launchers (probably with ALE-50) -384 AIM-120C-5/-7 AMRAAMs -384 AIM-9M2/X Sidewinders -816 AGM-65G Mavericks -384 CBU-87 CEMs -140 CBU-105s -280 AGM-154C JSOWs -215 Mk82 bombs -920 Mk83 bombs -232 Mk84 bombs -215 GBU-22/-24 sets for Mk82 bombs -232 GBU-32/-32 JDAM sets for Mk83/84 -232 GBU-10 sets for Mk84 -232 GBU-16 sets for Mk83

Oh, now I see, the Compass Ghost was two-tone grey camo, the Mod Eagle is two-tone Ghost Grey (the darker looking kinda bluish). In that case the scheme provided by D-Scythe is way off. The base color is not FS36251 (Agressor Grey), but FS36375 (Light Ghost Grey). What D-Scythe posted must be scale modelers help, probably for 1:72, or 1:144 scale, where the paint must be darker. And I never came upon the "Mod Eagle" name :smilewink:

Not really, all of them are Compass Ghosts, if the "Mod Eagle" have FS36251 (Agressor Grey) as base color, than none of them is that camo, they're way to bright.

It should be 0.8Ma at 12000m ... that's what the real thing fly for best range. I don't know if that's true in the game... I fly Eagle :smilewink: But I can tell you this - stay away from using AB and you will be fine... don't even think about using it for take-offs - unfortunately, you can't tell this to AI, co it will always run out of fuel before you do.

Does anyone have a photo of real F-15 in Mod Eagle camo scheme ? Was looking at Airliners.net and FenceCheck.com but didn't find any... :music_whistling:

That cannon is too small.. it almost looks like a GAU-2, not GAU-4 In M61A1 the last spacing disc have diameter of 6 inches (152mm). here's some shots for size comparison of this 20mm Gatling gun: M61 in SUU-23/a pod http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/zh/f/fc/M61_A1_20mm_GattlingCannon.jpg http://www.midwaysailor2.com/mnangmuseum/museum-031b.jpg

The rounded antennas on the tail, wings and under the intake, are parts of AN/ALQ-178(v)5 Rapport III system. IIRC it was design by US, Israeli an Turkey to counter the S-300. :music_whistling:

oh, yes, especially from the M230 chain gun mounted on Apache attack helicopter... :doh: Somebody at ED didn't do his homework :music_whistling: AH-64 Apache gun system uses closed circuit ammo feed, all used ammo cases are returning back to the ammo box. The "chain gun" in M230 name doesn't mean ammunition feed type, it mean the gun is powered by a chain - connecting it to electric motor. Ammunition is linkless, like in most modern US warplanes (for example the M197 used in Cobra helicopters is an exception). Apache ammo box:

One of Murphy’s rule say: "if something can go wrong - it will" and a modern fighter jet is very complicated piece of machinery... :) Just a side note: There was scheduled a flyby off two Fulcrums during the Thursday's ceremony, but they never reached Poznan, because of malfunction of one emergency control lights in MiG-29UB which light up in flight indicating engine problems.

Yes, and the Swedish Air Force system is very interesting… but very different from the NATO one. We have only few bigger bases, and roads are almost no longer used as stopgap airstrips, so the planes range is very crucial to us. We also need some offensive capabilities like precision bombing, radar and SAM busting etc. – things that are not considered by Swedish air force which is defensive by nature (the country is neutral for over a century). The cooperation with other NATO countries is also crucial, especially for aboard missions, like air policing over Lithuania. The F-16 can work with AWACS planes which we have to our disposal. There is also something called AN/APG-80 waiting for buyers other than UAE… There is nothing Gripen have, or can do that F-16 can’t, but there are still things F-16 can do which Gripen can’t. Anyway with F-22A and F-35 on the horizon both F-16 and JAS-39 may be considered obsolete. But with F-16 we can hop in to another LM fighter with little friction, Gripen have no successor, and this count too.

oh, you should know the radar range is the smallest issue with long range missiles – not all engagements are head-on you know ;) Anyway… what do you mean the F-16 is not planed to have Meteors ? Nobody asked for them to be on that machine! If we’ll ask for them, and pay – we’ll get it ;) Second thing - the JAS-39 PS-05/A radar have smaller range than AN/APG-68 V(5) on USAF F-16. And we are getting newest AN/APG-68 V(9) ;)