Cool and clear. Yesterday ended up being cool to start, warm in the afternoon, and cold at the end. Today should be similar.
I had a leisurely morning, but worked hard on the grounds all afternoon. Grass/clover/weeds grew enough I had to mow on the highest setting and in most places I could only cut half the width of the mower deck without bogging down. So that took twice as long as usual. I also cut about a third of the common area. The neighbor on the other side cut the other 2/3.
That was followed up with trimming and blowing the debris off of hard surfaces.
When I finally got done, I had a bit of daylight left so I went to see the progress in my shared garden. Stuff was sprouting! Far better result so far than pretty much any gardening I’ve done on my own. With the 1″ of rain a couple of days ago, it was well watered and the plants were putting that to good use. Now, if we can keep the deer from eating it, maybe we’ll get some veg in a few weeks.
Dinner was a pot roast in the slow cooker. Small potatoes, celery, onion, and turnips made a very nice sauce. I used the McCormick packets for seasoning, and I like them better than what I was using. I’ll have to stack some more.
Played a card game with the kids and in-laws, and then had a small fire down on the dock. It as pretty dang cold by then, so I didn’t stay too long past midnight. Shortwave doesn’t have a lot of general interest stuff Sunday night, but I heard New Zealand on 17.500mhz pretty well. Florida was only moderately loud.
There was a woman talking about central bank digital currencies on the same frequency that carries Alex Jones and she had some very interesting stuff to say, based on press releases and other battlespace prep that TPTB have been releasing for the past year. It’s more control and more tracking, and it’s probably coming sooner than we think. I missed her name, but she has a substack. I’ll try to find her later and see if the talk is online somewhere.
Sky was black but there were patchy clouds, so I didn’t see much. No meteors.
One of the other neighbors I don’t see very often was driving around on his side by side, and we had an interesting chat about gardens, and prepping. He’s in Houston most of the time, and considers this his BOL. He was headed to his deer lease to see if he could get some hogs. I mentioned I had freezer space and a bone saw. We’ll see if any pig comes my way. It would be nice to get some, and put the smoker to good use.
FWIW, he thinks the lake would only feed about half the people on it. He hadn’t thought about how many of those people are dependent on insulin and other drugs that would stop flowing in a real collapse, and what that would mean wrt the number of mouths to feed. It’ll be interesting to see if he gives it more thought the next time I see him. It was also interesting that he commented about how much work I was doing, and how hard I was working at it. People do pay attention, and they are making judgements. Hopefully, I’m making the right impression. Being seen as a hard worker can’t be a bad thing.
Today will be more work, stuff that I didn’t get to with all the lawn care yesterday. Family is headed into town to see what there is to see on a Monday, when there isn’t a Christmas festival going on. I’m betting on “not much”.
Stack. Make connections to a community, whatever that means for your area and your life. I’m as convinced as ever that where you are, and who you are with, is going to be critical for whatever comes…
nick
Is it still Sunday? This DST really messes thing up.
Forecast is for today all day.
I believe that today is Monday, not Sunday. Unless the daylight savings time really messed up this time.
I do remember flying from the Philippines back to Hawaii and arriving in Hawaii before I left the Philippines according to the clock. That international date line will really mess things up.
I used Chrome to go to the link (Safari won’t load it as suspicious). The page was not found on Dreamhost.
Meme Monday on Twitchy:
I said to my wife yesterday, “Our kids are spoiled.”
She replied, “All kids smell that way.”
That’s weird. The site is there. The file is there. http://remset.com/files Once there, right click to save or click to open.
Rick’s version of the link doesn’t work. Because of https:
My fault for leaving off the http://
That worked. Opened right up in Chrome.
Hey Nick ! Happy Monday !!
As for the link and the ‘suspicious’ site – I suspect there is something out of order with the site’s SSL cert.
I noticed a headline this morning about the Ukraine War is now a "production war" and Russia is now producing artillery shells at 3x the rate of Ukraine and its suppliers. That got me to thinking…
In WW2, the country shifted to war mode and started cranking out aircraft, tanks, trucks, ammo, and the like at one heck of a rate. I remember reading that we cranked out about one P-51 per hour at the height of its manufacturing. Considering what goes into modern war machines, is that even feasible today. If three of our aircraft carriers were sunk, just how quickly could they be replaced? If we had a worthy enough opponent and lost 100 fifth-generation fighter aircraft in the span of a month. How long would it take to replace them? Same thing with tanks. Just how quickly could we crank out M-1s? If we were in a war where we were losing aircraft, ships, and armored vehicles like crazy we would be losing them faster than they could be manufactured. Even if the US was completely mobilized it simply takes too long to produce high-tech weapony. (Assuming we could even get the chips we need in the quantities we’d need). Though, I suppose, on the flipside it would also take our enemies equally long to produce their modern weaponry.
🤔
Glad y’all are here to keep me on my toes… Fixed. Woke up thinking it was Sunday today…
61F and part sun this late morning.
I smelled bacon but haven’t seen any yet. Coffee is brewing…
————————
In WWII we had factories to switch over to wartime production. That process started long before Pearl Harbor.
We don’t have anywhere near that anymore.
That’s one of my indictors that things are getting serious. They are building chip fabs at an astonishing pace. When the other materiel producers gear up (BAE, and the others) pack your shite and head for the hills.
————————–
Our enemies will be using low cost weapons like hezbola uses, or the Ukes with granade dropping drones.
n
As noted earlier, the constraint on artillery shell production is a shortage of raw material from China.
You do have a shotgun and a variety of loads, right? The following video is very far from great but they did the work of shooting down a handful of drones with a variety of weapons and load types. They discuss penetration of different kinds of pellets and the various vulnerabilities. I don’t know how well their experiment generalizes from shooting down $30 plastic drones to shooting down $5000, higher-flying drones. Perhaps one of you fine readers would send them $30k so they can buy a few of the bigger, tougher devices and figure out how to destroy them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MunOMvagPY
The thing with small drones is that they are on your azz before you realize it.
Ugh, please, it’s Daylight Saving Time, not Savings.
And yeah, getting off your lawn!
>> When the other materiel producers gear up (BAE, and the others) pack your shite and head for the hills.
“BAE?” Hmm…
From SteveF yesterday:
Definitely an effect of Daylight Saving Time. 😉
When I lived in Iowa, people told jokes about farmers and DST. Two popular ones were: “The extra sunshine ruins the crops,” and “The time change messes up the dairy cows’ schedules.” That second one might be a human transfer to the animals. Are you sure you aren’t influencing your flock? OK, I will be the first to admit that human schedules couldn’t possibly influence the birds. Or could they?
Going on DST has never bothered me. I don’t care when the sun rises, but care a lot about when it sets. I know that might not be logical, but it is a true emotion. When I lived in Michigan, I was the farthest West in a time zone I have ever lived. I never noticed that until I moved to other places. Now, I live farther East in my current time zone than any other place I have lived. It really makes a difference to me. In Michigan I was 40 minutes past noon at equinox; here I am 2 minutes before noon.
Note that 40 minutes actually puts my former place in Michigan in the Central time zone. TPTB in Detroit wanted to be in the same time zone as new York, so lobbied to put the entire state in the Eastern time zone instead of the Central time zone where it belongs. Politics over geography.
Nothing of the sort. I am just laughing at/for/with you for the mistake.
Travel to Norway in the winter, or summer. In the winter the sunset lasts all day as the sun barely gets above the horizon. Daylight starts at 0900 and ends at 1500. In the summer daylight starts about 0400 and ends about 2300. I don’t even know if it was DST or ST.
Ray, I visited Oslo, Norway, in mid July of 2006. The Southern part of Norway; not very far North, but we did see a lot of sun.
Auburn Hills, Michigan, is the farthest North I have lived. Fort Lauderdale is the farthest South.
Hmm, no Mr. Greg so far today…must be a victim of the DST space/time continuum…
I am on campus at work today.
Posting requires using my phone.
In person meeting with management. Either I’m fired or I got my annual raise.
In WW2, the country shifted to war mode and started cranking out aircraft, tanks, trucks, ammo, and the like at one heck of a rate. I remember reading that we cranked out about one P-51 per hour at the height of its manufacturing. Considering what goes into modern war machines, is that even feasible today. If three of our aircraft carriers were sunk, just how quickly could they be replaced? If we had a worthy enough opponent and lost 100 fifth-generation fighter aircraft in the span of a month. How long would it take to replace them? Same thing with tanks. Just how quickly could we crank out M-1s? If we were in a war where we were losing aircraft, ships, and armored vehicles like crazy we would be losing them faster than they could be manufactured. Even if the US was completely mobilized it simply takes too long to produce high-tech weapony. (Assuming we could even get the chips we need in the quantities we’d need). Though, I suppose, on the flipside it would also take our enemies equally long to produce their modern weaponry.
Ford was making a B-24 an hour at the peak also. At one point, Jimmy Stewart led thousands of B-17s and B-24s into Germany on daylight bombing raids after he became the lead squadron commander one horrible day in 1943. There may have been 10,000 bombers at one point flying daily into Germany.
https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Jimmy-Stewart-Fight-Europe/dp/173227357X?tag=ttgnet-20/
We have thousands of F-16s, F-15s, F-18s, F-22s, and F-35s (military and Guard jets). We have hundreds of B-52s, B1Bs, and B-2s. Plus the super secret bomber and fighter that no one talks about. And then there is the super super super secret Aurora, the SR-71 replacement. Supposedly there is a F-22 replacement coming out this year but nobody knows anything about it.
We are making at least four F-35s a month in Fort Worth, Texas. That can easily be scaled up to 30 ? 40 ? 50 ? a month. That plant used to make F-16s, before that it made B-17s. The F-22 production line in Georgia is shut down since 2017. I have hear rumors that they are considering building a stripped down F-16 and F-15 for mostly export.
I’m getting stuff started. Not done, mind you but started. Got a burn pile going. working on mounting the starlink antenna. Moving debris to the burn pile if I’m going that way anyway.
BAE under various names builds a lot of vehicles for DoD in the US. They have a shaker table, in a building, that is big enough to shake a Bradley fighting vehicle for certification trials. They dug a BIG BIG BIG hole and filled it with concrete, then mounted the table to that. STILL shakes the whole facility and surrounding area. Makes a helluva racket while running too.
Clear out and hot in the sun. Warm with a good breeze…
People out on the lake fishing, but I don’t see them catching.
n
In WW2, the country shifted to war mode and started cranking out aircraft, tanks, trucks, ammo, and the like at one heck of a rate. I remember reading that we cranked out about one P-51 per hour at the height of its manufacturing. Considering what goes into modern war machines, is that even feasible today. If three of our aircraft carriers were sunk, just how quickly could they be replaced? If we had a worthy enough opponent and lost 100 fifth-generation fighter aircraft in the span of a month. How long would it take to replace them? Same thing with tanks. Just how quickly could we crank out M-1s? If we were in a war where we were losing aircraft, ships, and armored vehicles like crazy we would be losing them faster than they could be manufactured. Even if the US was completely mobilized it simply takes too long to produce high-tech weapony. (Assuming we could even get the chips we need in the quantities we’d need). Though, I suppose, on the flipside it would also take our enemies equally long to produce their modern weaponry.
The Army placed an order for 3,000 ??? new M-1 tanks last year and then canceled the order after all of the Russian tanks were destroyed by drones. This is why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOlyytCzWkU
Supposedly the M-1 tank is in a total redesign to defend from drone attack. Four years ?
The Navy is building two new nuclear Tridents in Newport News ??? plus a nuclear carrier to replace the Enterprise ? There is also six nuclear Tridents on order in Newport News from Australia after they canceled the English Diesel Electrics.
The USA is number one arms supplier to the world. Russia is a close second.
I have been to Norway four times, the last being June of 2023. Sandejford, Rena, Oslo and some towns I cannot name. We had three children from Norway as exchange students. Two of the students were from the same family.
We had the old sister for a month as a welcome family until we found her another home. But we still treated her as our student and took her with us on trips and outings. The family she was with were our best friends.
The younger sister came to use halfway through the exchange year, The mother called us on Friday in a panic as there were problems in the child’s home and she was going to have to return to Norway. The mother asked if we would take the daughter for the remainder of the year. We agreed and she arrived on Sunday.
We spent New Years on one of our trips to Norway with the family. All we paid for were plane and train tickets. We stayed at their house and paid for everything and took us many places.
This last trip we stayed with them again and had a great time. One night they invited a bunch of friends and family for a dinner. It was a really nice event.
We went to the oldest daughter’s wedding in Oslo. The family rented the entire restaurant that overlooked Oslo. Expensive affair with a private chef paid for by the family. Three different kinds of caviar were served as appetizers. Lots of wine. At best guess 250+ bottles of expensive stuff. Food was some of the best I have eaten. The daughter’s marriage only lasted two years.
The last plane that I worked on was the USAF C-17. I left that program when I retired in April 2007.
Building stuff – which is better: one F-35, or a hundred armed Cessnas? Serious question, because Western countries choose the high-tech, super-expensive option. In a serious war, however, the hundred Cessna’s just might (imho probably would) win.
I am on campus at work today.
Posting requires using my phone.
In person meeting with management. Either I’m fired or I got my annual raise.
Good luck !
Building stuff – which is better: one F-35, or a hundred armed Cessnas? Serious question, because Western countries choose the high-tech, super-expensive option. In a serious war, however, the hundred Cessna’s just might (imho probably would) win.
Until somebody fired a SAM battery or twenty at your hundred armed Cessnas. Go watch the latest Maverick movie, that is probably realistic for sites protected by hundreds of SAM batteries. Then there are the super secret fifth generation fighters that can turn on a dime.
My 85 year old dad bought a new Mercedes 350E last week to replace his ten year old 300E with 110K miles on it. So Sunday morning, he and mom get in it, he briefly sees 8am on his 17 inch wide by 8 inch tall front display and his 17 inch tall by 10 inch wide middle display. Then both displays wink out. Evidently all of the displays crashed while updating to CST DST. So, the vehicle is running, his gear selector is working, and his turn signals are working. So they take off for church with no speed indicator, turn signal indicator, time, a/c, radio, etc. Right when they got to church in 15 minutes, the entire system must have finished a hard boot and came up and start showing him all of his information.
I jump in my 2019 F-150 4×4 an hour later, I briefly saw 9am which updated to 10am automagically five seconds later. I taunted dad about it later. And he still has not figured out the right voice command to turn on the rear window defogger as there is no dedicated front / rear defogger button.
BTW, all of the farmers in their small town church are either planting, tilling, or spraying weeds right now. So I had to do the closing prayer as Dad did the opening remarks and prayer. Another guy handled communion and the preacher handled the song leading and preaching as usual.
“Ted Cruz’s home is the new hotspot for Pro-Palestine protests”
https://www.chron.com/politics/article/ted-cruz-palestine-protests-18881832.php
“Houston community members have been demanding local leaders call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.”
There needs to be something the cops can do. That is not right.
100 armed Cessnas would probably disintegrate in the wake turbulence of a supersonic fighter making a close high-speed pass. No missiles required.
“Mississippi SOS Warns Biden Is Registering Illegal Aliens to Vote with Executive Order”
https://slaynews.com/news/mississippi-sos-warns-biden-registering-illegal-aliens-vote-executive-order/
““As you are aware, on March 7, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order No. 14019 which sought to turn the Department of Justice agencies from their historical missions of law enforcement to voter registration and get-out-the-vote operations.”
Is this true ?
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
The Mercedez probably was also doing a firmware update. Seems to me that should be done when the vehicle is parked.
My 2014 does not update any time. It would be nice if it did and updated when crossing time zones. Ford wants $150.00 for a new map memory card. Not going to happen. My Garmin GPS will do just fine.
My Garmin GPS will do just fine.
I can suction mount mine (also Garmin) to the windshield and don’t use the one installed on my dash.
The 2023 Air Force Assocation Almanac says we have:
45 B-1B Lancers
20 B-2A Spirits
76 B-52H Stratofortresses
Total Bombers is: 141 with a typical availbility of less than 60% or 84.6 planes on the average day.
185 F-15C Eagles 45.7% Mission capabile rate, net 84.5
18 F-15D Eagles 58.5% Mission capabile rate, net 10.5
218 F-15E Strike Eagles 51.6% Mission capabile rate, net 112.5
752 F-16C Fighting Falcons 70.7% Mission capabile rate, net 531.7
145 F-16D Fighting Falcons 68.9% Mission capabile rate, net 99.9
185 F22A Raptors 57.4% Mission capabile rate, net 106.2
354 F-35A Lighting IIs 65.4% Mission capabile rate, net 231.5
Total Fighters is: 1857 Fighters with an typical availbility of 1176.8 on the average day.
NOT hundreds or thousands of anything.
Total planes 1261.4, world wide.
185 F-15C Eagles 45.7% Mission capabile rate, net 84.5
18 F-15D Eagles 58.5% Mission capabile rate, net 10.5
218 F-15E Strike Eagles 51.6% Mission capabile rate, net 112.5
752 F-16C Fighting Falcons 70.7% Mission capabile rate, net 531.7
145 F-16D Fighting Falcons 68.9% Mission capabile rate, net 99.9
185 F22A Raptors 57.4% Mission capabile rate, net 106.2
354 F-35A Lighting IIs 65.4% Mission capabile rate, net 231.5
Total Fighters is: 1857 Fighters with an typical availbility of 1176.8 on the average day.
You and I forgot the F-18s.
And the Marine Corps F-35Bs and the Navy F-35Cs.
https://www.f35.com/f35/news-and-features/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-f-35c.html
Are those numbers including the Guard planes ?
It also helps if they’re currently in production. Crank out more F-35s? Sure. Crank out more B-52s? Umm… the last one rolled out of a factory in like 1962. Building aircraft today is a lot more involved than riveting sheet metal like it was in the 1940s. How long would it take to get a dozen more factories producing?
Actually, I suspect, IMHO, our Military Industrial Complex more resembles Germany’s at WWII’s beginning. The Germans had superior engineered products, for the time, riddled with graft and pork produced by fussy craftsmen rather than the Joe and Josephina Sixpack mass production that got cranked up here. We were immune from bombing then, too. It still took a couple of years and millions of deaths to overwhelm the Nazi’s on a material way. Lots of guys were at least shade tree mechanics then, too.
We had ~600 B-52s around 1970. I’m not sure but I think it is around 60 today. Short production runs for B-2s and B-1s too., Lynn’s naval hull starts for multi Billion dollar carriers and subs are impressive products but hardly mass production. Tomahawk missiles are a million bucks a pop. And now the graft and pork are institutionalized here, too.
See any of the War Factories series on Youtube . Very illustrative. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfMrqOdrCidQ2gpuSIxW07ylqTu0Fln3v
The F-18E/F is still in production for another year.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a43099687/super-hornet-strike-fighter-to-end-production/
The F-22 production line can be revived for $50 billion, gulp.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-air-force-cant-build-anymore-f-22-raptor-stealth-fighters-207540
We also forgot the A-10s. We have 260 of them.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2024/02/09/davis-monthan-air-force-base-begins-retiring-a-10-fleet/
Or the E-2 and E-3 numbers, possibly the most important planes for establishing air superiority.
I swapped Ethernet cables in the house today. It wasn’t as dusty under my desk as I expected. All CAT 8 now.
Swapped in the new UPS. I had to uninstall the old software to install the new version. Didn’t work. Rebooted and then it worked. 223 minutes runtime with a 35 watt load. I’m not sure what changed as it’s all the same stuff that was 27 watts on the old UPS. I know, it’s bits vs bytes. That’s the ticket!
Internet speed is the same. I expected that. Have not yet tried tossing files across the LAN . I haven’t swapped cables in the EDC to make it a fair test. Tomorrow unless I find something shiny to play with.
Then I need to double check the aim of the NanoBeams.
New cables in the house did not speed up the wi-fi much. The UniFi has a new cable. Maybe 2.4 wi-fi with my phone is messed up. 42 down and 23 up while about 10 feet from the UniFi. Plenty fast I think. The Roku doesn’t stutter.
Wi-fi has always been slower than a wire for me.
Speed tests will make you crazy. I’m having fun anyway.
Yes, I have Gb speed switches now. The PC’s do Gb too. I’m just making my LAN run as fast as I can.
^^ My first wISP connection was 256Kb up and down. Ten times faster than dial-up. My current wISP plan is 105/105 Mbps.
I’m doing the Boy Scout thing and being prepared.
The leader is always wearing the pricey outerwear. Third from the left as the camera pans back and forth.
$2000 easy unless the coat is a knockoff, but I doubt it with that demographic.
The E-2 and E-3 are old. There is a 737 airframe successor developed for the Aussies this century, the Wedgetail: https://youtu.be/R1-qhZO0FZw We’re supposed to get some RSN.
Those numbers include all of the reserve and guard planes. I didn’t forget the F-18X; at the time the Almanac was published the F-18X was listed as 2 in acceptance testing, i.e., no assigned mission. I did not include the A-10; none are assigned outside of the US.
Navy or Marine fighting aircraft are as I didn’t have the data on them. They didn’t have any bombers so that total is not going to change.
Increasing F-35 production is not easy. The pipeline for parts only has the parts and tooling for those in the current budget; lead times vary from months to years.
Message received: go for a head shot so the coat won’t have a bullet hole when we loot the body
The 707 airframes are old but not the AWACS system, which is constantly updated.
Boeing built a 767 variant for the Japanese, and until production gets shut down in Everett, a minimum of three years away, the line is still available.
Remove the planes involved in 9/11, and the list of 767 incidents is extremely small.
@Lynn
The commies made notes about our manufacturing capability.
Plan A is to spike that by making the stupid Americans
buy the rope to hang themselvestheir raw materials and crical parts overseas.Plan B is to spike the supply of pilots by turning the military into woke girly men.
Plan C is to get us to import an army of invaders fleeing tyranny.
How they doin’?
The cops need to stay home while 20 softball leagues show up for batting practice.
>> I am on campus at work today.
Posting requires using my phone.
In person meeting with management. Either I’m fired or I got my annual raise.
Hopefully the latter…
Re-education camps? Ja!
https://twitchy.com/gordon-k/2024/03/10/hunt-them-down-new-york-city-goes-full-fascist-on-firefighters-n2393830
>> We also forgot the A-10s. We have 260 of them.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2024/02/09/davis-monthan-air-force-base-begins-retiring-a-10-fleet/
I’ve been to DM – its size is amazing. Pictures sorta don’t due it justice.
Hey, look over there…COWS…wow!
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/03/09/need-more-proof-biden-was-drugged-for-the-state-of-the-union-n4927158
Our Wally at the tolling company came from the F-35 project in Fort Worth.
Both the F-15 and F-16 have modern variants in active production now.
Libs of TikTok Claps Back at Chasten Buttigieg After He Exploits Tragic Death of Transgender Student
https://redstate.com/jeffc/2024/03/11/libs-of-tiktok-claps-back-at-chasten-buttigieg-after-he-exploits-tragic-death-of-transgender-student-n2171239
As a taxpayer, I want qualified people involved in government. This is actually quite simple. Pete isn’t qualified for his appointed government position. He has no experience in transportation. He doesn’t live in reality. Holds no relevant degree. Can’t even credibly ride a f*cking bicycle, for f*cks sake. It’s just more LBQTABC theatrics.
Navy or Marine fighting aircraft are as I didn’t have the data on them. They didn’t have any bombers so that total is not going to change.
Until recently, we had ten carriers, each with 75 to 85 F-18 jets on them. Plus several of the naval base across the USA have F-18 jets on them. Not sure which variant as there are the single seat and two seat versions of each of the three ? models. The Marines have quite a few F-18 jets also. That is around a thousand F-18 jets that operate in both fighter and attack modes.
The A-10 jets were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan until recently. Amazingly tough planes for close air support.
https://www.military.com/air-force/air-force-pilot-landed-damaged-10-warthog-using-only-cranks-and-cables.html
Navy or Marine fighting aircraft are as I didn’t have the data on them. They didn’t have any bombers so that total is not going to change.
I am not sure how many Harrier VTOL jets that the Marine Corps have left. They are rapidly being replaced with F-35B VTOL jets. My SWAG would be that our 12 ??? amphibious carriers have a couple of dozen VTOL jets on each of them.
Both the F-15 and F-16 have modern variants in active production now.
https://breakingdefense.com/2023/01/israel-formally-requests-25-f-15-ex-from-the-us-sources/
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/10/16/f-15s-arrive-in-middle-east-amid-israel-hamas-war/
Looks like we are making F-15 EX models, at least for Israel. If Israel is getting them then I will bet that the USAF is getting a few too.
Looks like we gave Israel some A-10s also last October. For you know, support.
The F-16 makes a lousy E-3 Sentry escort, and the F-22 is too limited in number to be effective.
Plus, IIRC the F-15 can carry more AIM-120s than anything else in the Air Force inventory.
My point was we don’t have a “hundreds” of bombers, less than 100 are available at any given time.
Nor do we have “thousands” of fighters, maybe a bit over two thousand if we include the Navy and Marine planes.
The next world war will be fought with what we have and I’d be surprised if we average more than a few sorties per plane. If they surivive their first sortie, how many will return to an airfield able to refuel and re-arm them.
“A big plane, like a 52 … vroom … jet exhaust frying chickens in the barnyard.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yu38kXw7lk
The SR 71 is a surprisingly large plane. The Museum of Flight in Seattle has one as the centerpiece of their main hall.
The cockpit is also extremely small. The museum has (had) one you could climb into for pictures.
Sitting in the cockpit, I joked about the “October Surprise”, much to the discomfort of some waiting in line for their turn.
Believe it or not, Mayor Pete is serious Deep State, with stints in Naval Intelligence, McKinsey, and The Truman National Security Project.
My guess is that Hizzoner and Chasten (seriously?) have been out to measure for drapes at One Observatory Circle.
I’m searching for a BOL. I have a budget and a territory, and a few constraints.
Less than a 2 hour drive from my neighborhood, over an acre of land, neighbors who don’t look like meth cooks or tweakers, a house that’s move-in ready or cheap enough to get it fixed within my budget.
Don’t need a lake nearby, don’t want a flood zone property.
Anyway, we drove by 3 properties last weekend. Google/Android Auto took me down a labeled road, with street signs, that I never would have traveled on my own. I almost put the truck in 4 wheel drive, and was worried how I would turn around and get back out if need be. I’m not talking about asphalt, or gravel, or graded dirt. I mean narrow bare dirt with deep ruts and bushel-basket potholes, up and down hills.
At one point, I drove over this tilted concrete structure with a drop off on the side, no guardrail, that dropped into a pond. It had obviously flooded recently and that’s the source of water for the pond. I was worried that as I traversed it, the structure might slide off into the pond, taking us with it.
My girlfriend was impressed enough with my reaction that she’s quoted my remark back to me several times. She never heard me say “Holy Shirt!” while driving before. (Except no “r”, of course.) Apparently, I said it with feeling.
OTOH, one of the other properties looked really good, and we toured it today with the realtor. Time to get serious. I’ll most likely make an offer this week.
It has good roads up to the house. They change from ashphalt or oil-and-chip at the house to well-maintained gravel just past it, but I went further to check out the neighbors.
Oh, it has fiber internet, too. I may not need a ham radio tower, because there are a couple of magnificent trees I could hang wires from. But I do want a tower, just bacause.
don’t want a flood zone property.
That drops out a surprising number of properties. I would not buy the lowest house in a neighborhood. Nor the house next to it.
I would also not buy a house all by itself. If you need a BOL then you need some neighbors.
Anyway, we drove by 3 properties last weekend. Google/Android Auto took me down a labeled road, with street signs, that I never would have traveled on my own. I almost put the truck in 4 wheel drive, and was worried how I would turn around and get back out if need be. I’m not talking about asphalt, or gravel, or graded dirt. I mean narrow bare dirt with deep ruts and bushel-basket potholes, up and down hills.
That sounds like a private road. Most counties will not let their roads, even gravel roads, get that bad. If you were in Arkansas, I would tell you to be extremely careful, there might be a survivalist compound at the end of the road with some very wary people.
Oh, it has fiber internet, too. I may not need a ham radio tower, because there are a couple of magnificent trees I could hang wires from. But I do want a tower, just bacause.
Huh, I have not seen fiber internet in any neighborhood of less than a thousand homes here in south Texas. Except a brand new tract neighborhood with 50 foot wide lots. Putting in fiber internet for acre or more lots is very expensive.
That could be a private internet that somebody put in to get for their home / business and is sharing with the neighbors for a fee.
I wasn’t fired.
We have phone company fiber in my neighborhood. In fact, the union guys told me I’m the last copper line on my street.
The houses are ~ 30 years old. Not tremendous lots but not postage stamp sized either.
Texas sold its soul for the Death Star to fun fiber so the company can pick and choose.
I’m not sure what to make of the conversation, however.
The next world war will be fought with what we have and I’d be surprised if we average more than a few sorties per plane. If they surivive their first sortie, how many will return to an airfield able to refuel and re-arm them.
My friend who just turned 99 was a replacement copilot on a B-24 in the Pacific from late 1943 on. In two years, his crew lost three planes to Zeros, anti-aircraft fire, etc. The attrition rate on the planes was horrendous. Even though the B-24 had twelve ? gas tanks in it, the crews were running out of gas all of the time and having to ditch in the Pacific. Especially if the crew did not trim the plane properly which caused excessive drag and used more fuel.
“SpaceX: Cellular Starlink System Works on iPhone, Pixel, Galaxy Devices”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-cellular-starlink-system-works-on-iphone-pixel-galaxy-devices
“SpaceX also tells the FCC that its cellular Starlink system works indoors.”
Ok, that was unexpected.
Time for bed.
If we’re building more of the platforms we have, my only question then is “has the rate increased?” and a related, “when did it start?” EVERYONE and their brother is looking for anti-drone weapons.
One of my trade magazines has some interesting stuff about lasers in it. There is a 150kW weapon mounted and deployed. The laser in a factory cutting 2″ steel is 30-50kW. There maybe differences in one being pulsed or limited duty cycle. It’s a beast by any measure though.
They are RFP an order of magnitude increase in output power for the DoD with a short timeline.
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got the starlink antenna moved and mounted. Still some tree blockage on one side, low on the horizon. Damn box is VERY sensitive to aiming, and it must be level in the mounting hardware plane. We were getting 30Mbps, now tonight we’re getting 126Mbps down, 17 up using their app. Wifi from box to my device shows at max- ~600Mbps. Oddly the wifi upload is 170Mbps. Isn’t wifi symmetrical?
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spent a couple hours chatting with the neighbor who’s also apparently prepping. A couple of other neighbors stopped and chatted too. Not about prepping but more guns, carry, and a bit of politics. It’s like dating, without the chance of sex, but I guess I could still get fusked…
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Played cards and pool. No fire tonight, it’s see your breath cold, and very damp.
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@greg, glad you’re not looking for work again.
n
@greg, glad you’re not looking for work again.
+1
The thing is: you then need a hundred SAMS for the Cessnas, whereas it may take only a few to nail an F-35. A basic SAM costs about $50k, whereas an F-35 costs $100 million.
The advantage of the F-35s is the stand-off range: They can fire missiles from many miles away. But again: how many missiles? At what targets, exactly? Low-tech targets may not even show up, for example, having much lower heat signatures. Also, in combat, the endurance of a 4th or 5th generation fighter is measured in minutes. They only stay in the air longer if you replace weapons with external fuel tanks.
Having been in USAF procurement for the F-15, I understand all the arguments for high-tech. However, I also respect the old saying “quantity has a quality all its own”. You can crank out hundreds of low-tech weapons in the time (and for the same money) it takes to produce one high-tech beastie.
The ultimate difference comes in people. Pilots want to think they are super-special, and they expect come home to a warm dinner after their sortie. USAF pilots do not consider themselves expendable – they are so much more important than the grunts who put boots on the ground. Those 100 Cessna pilots definitely would be expendable assets, just like the ground troops. Not acceptable to the USAF mindset.
Of course, unmanned drones are completely changing the picture. The operators sit safely behind the lines; the drones are cheap and expendable. Even 30+ years ago, I saw presentations on how much simpler and better an airframe would be if it didn’t have to carry a meat-sack. The USAF brass (pilots all) were already fighting that vision tooth and nail. Back then, it wasn’t quite possible. Now it is becoming reality.