NOVA: Battle of the X-Planes

PHOEN$X · 5 February 2003

Did anyone else catch this 2-hour program on PBS tonight? What an amazing look at the awesome fighters being developed to replace the current crop of military jets! (And it's always nice to see what my tax dollars are paying for

) I don't want to spoil the results for anyone who hasn't seen the program, but I have to say that I am less than thrilled with the looks of the Boeing design.

Here is the offical NOVA web site on this special:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/xplanes/

Of course, it makes me wonder: since we're being shown these planes now, the government must have some new, top secret projects in the works

Auraraptor · 5 February 2003

Yea it was sweat.

Funny thing on lockheed though when thy said that if they didnt win, they might die as a company...If I am notmistaken, they make a hellaofalot of the planes used today, from the f16 to the F117...so I dont think that they would 'die' as a company(F16s are still bought by countries around the world) ...

...one thing though, what ever happened to the F22 Raptor???

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Resident E38er

-97 NSX "Nina" #183

Auraraptor · 5 February 2003

thing on the raptor....lockheed makes it too, and the AF I thought was to buy xxx number of craft...what happenned?

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Resident E38er

-97 NSX "Nina" #183

PHOEN$X · 5 February 2003

It sounds like the future of the F22 Raptor is in limbo according this article:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/4671033.htm

As far as the F16, it's what, a 40 year old design by now? I think the demand for it is going to drop off as countries look for replacement aircraft that can vie with the F35.

Auraraptor · 5 February 2003

Originally posted by PHOEN$X:
It sounds like the future of the F22 Raptor is in limbo according this article:

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/4671033.htm

As far as the F16, it's what, a 40 year old design by now? I think the demand for it is going to drop off as countries look for replacement aircraft that can vie with the F35.

yea thats true, but some poorer countries will still opt for the 'old school' stuff. I remember some 3rd world nations still using the mig 15/sabre gen planes into the early 70s. But I still give the old 16 about 5-7 years tops.

Poor F22

PHOEN$X · 5 February 2003

I think poorer countries will be able to get all the F16s they want as the US retires its aging fleet (and replaces them with F35s)

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NeoNSX · 5 February 2003

The F16 may be old, but it's still as sweet as an NSX.

if you want some really beautiful F22 photos, check out the <A HREF="http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/military/f22/f22photos.htm">Boeing F22 Photo Gallery</A>.

TOP SECRET: ...one of the 'top secret' planes phoen$x is talking about is the F69-NSX ... apparently Honda is involved in development.

Viper Driver · 5 February 2003

Originally posted by Auraraptor:

But I still give the old 16 about 5-7 years tops.

Not me. As stated already, Lockheed-Martin is still building them and is still developing them into newer versions. The Block-60 version being developed for the UAE and possibly Israel has some drastic improvements over earlier versions. This jet is a direct competitor to the over-budget, underachieving Eurofighter, Rafale, and Gripen aircraft. I see the F-16 being a potent competitor for much longer than 5-7 years, especially when one takes a look at the competition.

Also, the F-35 (JSF) won't even enter flight testing until 2007, and most definitely won't be fielded until after 2012. With avionics and airframe upgrades, the USAF's F-16 fleet will have no choice but to fulfill the USAF's needs until the JSF replaces them. Based on what's coming down the road to us F-16 guys in the upcoming years, I'm pretty confident that we'll remain very effective and viable for a lomg time to come.

Yes, and I second the motion that the F-16 (Viper) is one sweet-looking airplane!

Chuck

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'91 Black/Ivory NSX
'89 Gray/Gray F-16C

[This message has been edited by Viper Driver (edited 05 February 2003).]

PHOEN$X · 5 February 2003

I found some cool videos of the JSF test fighter here, including the neat vertical takeoff.

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Vytas · 5 February 2003

Personally, I wish the YF-23 won the competition over the YF-22. The 22 seems more bulky and I really never liked it that much compared to the 23. Only two YF-23s were produced. One is on display at an aircraft museum in Hawthorne, CA and the other stored at NASA for testing purposes, I believe.

NeoNSX · 6 February 2003

Vytas: i was gonna mention the YF-23 in my last post coz i also liked that plane (after playing a flight sim game in the mid '90's.

) It looks more 'futuristic'. No wonder i couldn't find web resources on it, i was searching for F/A-23...

Viper Driver: I'd agree with your opinion; the F-16 may hang around for years to come. In Desert Storm, didn't the US fly F-4 missions? And how old are they?! The US would be crazy to disgard an aircraft that have proven itself so well.

i love the F-16... and how ironic that Honda claims the NSX was modeled after the F-16 (and i think an engineer who helped design f-16 worked on NSX)... the two sweetest flying machines on the planet...

David · 14 February 2003

One of the really fundamental advantages the US now enjoys in the field of military aircraft development is that we are the ONLY coulntry in the world with the resources to develop stealth aircraft. Even the European consortium currently developing their new tactical fighter didn't try to incorporate stealth technology. They knew from the start they could not hope to do it.

You can't kill what you can't find.

[This message has been edited by David (edited 13 February 2003).]

NOVA: Battle of the X-Planes

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