Air Force will probably cancel JSTARS recapitalization this month

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Says I can't reply to anyone that's not Admin here. Don't want to take this thread off course but... I saw your Lady friend back in May Green looks good on her.

Ran a quick synopsis by Zaphod shortly afterward so he's aware.

a reply to: sqd5driver

They have tried to replace the KC-135 since shortly after 9/11. Their first attempt, they were going to lease 100 aircraft with the option to buy them at the end of the lease. That attempt resulted in the contract manager and her son going to jail.

They've been talking about replacing the TF33s on the B-52 off and on for 30 years. I could cite others, but if you look, fighter related programs zip right through.

There has been A Chief of Staff of the Air Force that didn't come up through fighters. And they lasted something like two years.

a reply to: sqd5driver

Yes it does. Shes purty aint she. Fast too.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I see a pattern here...

In a weird way, it kind of proves just how good the guys on the ground (rank a file) really are. The fact that they can maintain the readiness they do with dwindling resources says a lot about THEIR quality.

Too bad the leadership can't seem to think past their next promotion.

I guess it's true what they say...Sex sells. Fighters are the fine girls in bikinis and tankers are just the fat best friend who appreciate some attention and make sure you eat before you go out with the hot girl. You can't party on an empty stomach though...

a reply to: sqd5driver

Hang around and watch the way the game is played and you'll figure out pretty quickly that they buy airlift and tankers mostly because Congress puts their foot down. Or because their latest fighter plan is far enough along that they can allocate a small portion of the funding somewhere else.

The Bastard Who Will Not Be Named announced after Desert Storm that we would no longer buy non stealth fighter aircraft, and that has slowly bled over into other areas as well. Now it's UAVs, and soonn it will be tankers, with the KC-Z program.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I've seen you reference The Bastard Who Will Not Be Named twice today... Was this the same guy who cancelled the A12?

It just slays me to see that this issue is so pervasive. Even NASCAR teams are happy to invest in fancy transport rigs. Maybe we need to get Dale jr up in there to explain things.

a reply to: sqd5driver

He was AF Chief of Staff in the 90s. I had the dubious pleasure of being at a base he was base commander of. Let's just say that it was the prettiest base in the Air Force and leave it at that.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ah yes. Does the term "Total Quality Management" still make you die a little inside every time you hear it? Unfortunate how some people's stink can linger for years and years.

a reply to: sqd5driver

God yes.

One of the first big things he did as CSAF was make the dress uniforms look like airline pilot uniforms. They had the sleeve bars and everything. To say they were hated doesn't even start to cover it.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Seriously?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ok i deleted the post. But yeah do they seriously say that

Big surprise, the Air Force missed their self imposed deadline to decide on the recapitalization this month. Now they're saying they might not release a decision until after the FY19 budget is submitted next spring.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Its almost as if the air force has sonething better to do the AWAC roll and JSTARs plus a lot of other things.

Also with every gen 5 fighter out there being a sensor craft too. You could always just link them all up and be a virtual flying cloud of C3.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR

Also with every gen 5 fighter out there being a sensor craft too. You could always just link them all up and be a virtual flying cloud of C3.

The only problem with that is the number of 5th Gen fighters will be low relative to the number of missions. The F-22 and F-35 do seem like data sponges which would help alot and allow the JSTARS to loiter a bit further back, but that kind of data in real time may seem to benefit in an immediate tactical level but for strategic stuff,even with the leaps of technology that make it so much easier to capture you would still benefit greatly from a dedicated C3 asset like a JSTARS et al. to process and filter the data to make better use of it.

a reply to: FredT

The problem with the F-35 is that it pulls in so much data that it can't easily transmit that to other aircraft in the area. A large platform with serious computing power and filtering ability is almost a necessity.

a reply to: FredT

Listen to zaph. A large platform is almost a necessity.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: FredT

The problem with the F-35 is that it pulls in so much data that it can't easily transmit that to other aircraft in the area. A large platform with serious computing power and filtering ability is almost a necessity.

Thanks you articulated what I was trying too.

The sheer volume may not be useful in the moment and given the whole data sponge thing: 1) broadcasting that much data may give away its position, and 2) There is simply no way even with a ton of automation that the pilot can fly his or her aircraft, and interpret all that data.

a reply to: FredT

The F-22 was a data sponge, the F-35 has reached the point where they're having to develop new technologies to handle the amount of information involved. It's actually driving the industry, and creating almost an entirely new field of technology because of the information overload, even for the automation. The aircraft filters out a lot automatically, and the pilots can adjust the system to what they want to see, depending on the mission, but even that they're dangerously close to information overload.

a reply to: BASSPLYR
I see whatz you didz there