Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The Expensive Wrong Direction of the U.S. Air Force

Huge problems with stealthy aircraft as they can't carry such big bomb loads and they can't fit enough kill power as can be designed for conventional aircraft.

The reasons are simple since the stealthy design means the aircraft has to take a particular shape and the shape would otherwise be focused on the size of the payload, along with protection, etc, etc.  The reason the weapons aren't as strong is they must be recessed in various ways so they do not give off any radar signature.

Sorry we don't recall the citation for the above but it was immediately logical on reading it.  Of course it's this way.


Just now the Air Force is tired of the B2 Big Mac Bomber for nukes and wants to make a bigger, sneakier version for a long ton of money.  It's a brilliant plan when a nuclear submarine can deliver a whole lot more nukes and deliver them faster.  These nuclear launcher boats will be floating all around wherever you want to kill the hell out of something and the launch-to-landing time will be a whole lot shorter than it takes B3 Ultra Big Mac Bomber to fly there from the other side of the world.

Likely the submarines will get snuffed as soon as they launch and then the defenders will shoot up the Air Force for target practice after that.  The submarine wars have launcher boats and attack boats.  The launcher boats will be firing off nukes at your country but the attack boats will be hunting for your boat.  As soon as that launch is detected, they will be onto your boat like Sigourney Weaver chasing space aliens.


These kinds of weapons are easy to sell to the public because they're ultra dramatic and look like something out of the latest "Ironman" movie from Hollywood.  That B2 Big Mac Bomber is huge, flat black, and bad-ass with those bizarre angles which all mean it seriously wants to damage something.  That is one deadly-looking aircraft.

Yah, it looks dramatic but it will get to the game late and probably be picked-off like an after-dinner amusement at a party.


Consider as the intruder aircraft will have to fly likely at least a thousand miles to enter 'enemy' airspace.  They can't be doing Mach 2 or better or they would make so much heat the bombs would probably explode inside them.  Even at that highly-unlikely speed, it will still take the aircraft a large part of an hour to reach their targets.  The submarines will have launched and landed their missiles in likely much less than half that time.  ICBMs from the continental US should arrive not long after that.  By the time these supremely-expensive aircraft get there, the game will already be over.


It's WWII thinking to expect such a conflict to be waged in the same way as the battles for air supremacy over Germany.  In that situation, the Air Force led the attack but in the new situation the Air Force will get there last.  Today rocket power calls the end game and it will be surprising if the aircraft wings of the Air Force ever see it ... except to get blowed-up.

Evaluate as the defenses of the 'enemy' will have already been tested by all the submarine missile launches, all the ICBM launches from U.S., and yet still they survive.  In that circumstance, it's reasonable to conclude they will be able to take out the bombers as easily as playing for stuffed animals in a shooting gallery in a carnival.


(Ed:  ok, General Patton, what will you do with your armies?)

I'm not in this one, General Bradley, as the nukes make it a dirty game with no win.  Everyone dies or ends up radioactive ... and still they die.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The planes are already there. They used to fly 24/7. Mostly out of the tiny island of Guam for Pacific.
Pretty cool to watch them lumber down the runway. As the gain lift and the wings straighten and finally get airborne. Each wing has a landing gear wheel on the outside each to keep it off the ground when loaded with fuel
Later they took off with less fuel and fuel once in air to lessen that
But that is 40 year old knowledge of a 60-70 year old plane

Unknown said...

That old plane is going to fly sorties over Syria so someone damn sure still likes 'em.

That aircraft is an excellent item of evidence as they have probably upgraded the engines and the electronics in it over the years and, unless you're a glory-seeking cowboy, they seem relatively-difficult to crash).

They don't care about stealth as they're the Big Dawgs which carry the biggest bombs the Air Force can build. The top speed of the aircraft doesn't seem such a big deal when they have no chance of reaching targets before the rocket vehicles get to the them anyway.

Anonymous said...

They can launch weapons from 1000s of miles out Just as the subs can. The engines are basically the same. And I would assume the electronics are updated weekly just like your home computer is Unless you are like me and have WindowMe sysyems (lol)

Unknown said...

Yah but subs are likely much closer and they don't need travel time before they can launch. I really don't think the Air Force is much in the game this time although that assumes there are no military satellites firing lasers or whatever.

Here's yer sci-if world burner weapon in what happens when you fire a laser from an environment which is near absolute zero. Do you get superconductor effects to make a laser which can bore a hole through the Earth?? Whoa, get this ... it's programmed to only penetrate deep enough to break the magma crust in that location ... and cause a fookin' volcano! Now that's some highly-dramatic modern warfare!

Anonymous said...

The planes are closer and can fire pretty much any weapon in the arsenal. Cruise missile range 2000miles accuracy 100

Unknown said...

A cruise missile goes into the same category as the other rocket-type weapons. The aircraft are just too slow to count and the current B-2 isn't even supersonic. The proposed son-of-B2 is likely faster but it's probably fantasy to think it will break Mach 2.

The days of air power with Errol Flynn and Lafayette Escadrille are of a previous century, I believe.

Anonymous said...

The cruise missiles are launched from the aircraft with a range of 1500 miles. So they can react far faster than subs or missile ships. Which would have to be already in the area.

Unknown said...

If it's the basic movie WWIII (i.e. build-up of tensions, bark, bark, bark) then the subs would likely already be in positions relative to the bad guy. Even at Mach 2, the aircraft takes an hour to cover 1500 miles and the cruise missile is only a jet motor rather than a rocket. There are some huge ones which deliver nukes and those go supersonic but the payload is 17 kt which is peanuts except for tactical applications. The ICBMs deliver at least three warheads and they're one or more megatons a piece.

Anonymous said...

Why have you gone nuclear
Dune says No Atomics

Unknown said...

It's not be going but rather I'm the observer and what I observe doesn't make a whole lot of sense