Odd and Ends

After having to come up with new titles to posts all the time, I decided to reuse this particular title for my more trivial posts. Recycling is good, or so they say.

Raccoons are nasty, vicious, and unsanitary critters despite the washing food thing they do. We have been afflicted with a rarity around here, a stealthy raccoon. Multiple times I have entered the bathroom to see its tail in the cat door as it silently escapes after raiding the cat food in the kitchen. Hopefully, the new smaller cat door will keep it out. It is also elusive once outside and hunting it down has been a futile quest.

What does the English custom of tea have to do with computer history? More than one would think as this article on LEO, the first business computer, shows. I would have thought a bank would have built the first one, but reality is wonderfully stranger than fiction.

After becoming dissatisfied with the quality of screen captures from VLC, I have switched back to WMP12 for the time being. I probably need to do more research into setting on VLC, but so far I have been unable to get it to use the ATI videocard’s built in deinterlacing that is superior to the software options. At least the Bleach screen captures will look better from now on.

With Call of Duty: MW3 and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim coming out in the same week I am very grateful not to be a hard core gamer. Game prices are ludicrously high at release these days and often you are paying so that the bugs will be fixed for the bargain hunters later on. Class me as one of the bargain hunters. Only Mass Effect 3 has me tempted that way and it isn’t due to March. More time to build up resistance, right?

Watched Will Penny thanks to Netflix last night. What a great movie. I think it is one of the few to really portray what it was like to be a cowboy and that ending was perfect. Anybody who thinks Chuck Heston couldn’t act needs to watch this film.

Is Episode 4 of Squid Girl season 2 the funniest of the entire show? It has to be of the second season so far. The first part focusing on learning English is hilarious, but the other two segments are top notch too.

For those who have given up on Bleach, now is the time to try it out again. The current arc is worth checking out and Episode 342 is where to begin. Even if you have read the current arc in the manga, a lot of fleshing out and expansion is being done, apparently with the creator’s involvement.

I am hoping to take advantage of the Metropolitan Opera’s live HD broadcasts to theaters in the near future. Unfortunately, I was not able to go see Siegfried from the Ring Cycle when it ran last week. Faust is the next one up that interests me, so we will see.

This archive has some stupendous photos from the heady days of high performance flight including shots of the A-12, YF-12, SR-71, XB-70, and X-15 among others. Man, the Valkyrie was a beautiful aircraft.

Adding Insult to Injury

That story about the trojan keylogger infection of the drone control system somehow managed to get worse. It turns out the base’s officers did not notify their superiors about it and they found out from the media. CYA at its best, folks. This really instills confidence about the competency of those in charge at Creech.

It also raises the possibility that this is a garden variety infection, rather than a deliberate hack. The stupidity on display is embarrassing and I hope some careers get black marks for this. Looking for a silver lining here is difficult, but maybe the military will finally do something about the security in place and harden the systems against hacking.

Oh yeah, this whole going mainly to drones is going to work out well…

Not So Shocking News: Drones Are Vulnerable to Hacking

Every time I read someone proclaim the era of human flown combat aircraft is coming to an end, I roll my eyes. It is highly reminiscent of the proclamation that guns were no longer needed on fighters back in the 1960’s. Go check YouTube for videos of strafing done to protect the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to see how false that was.

There are so many vulnerabilities to automated remote systems and guess what, our drones have already been hacked. This is far worse than having Iraqi dissidents intercepting unencrypted real time footage from drones. A keylogger records all the inputs and commands sent to the drones, which means somebody out there is figuring out how the actual control can be disrupted.

The most likely culprit is China, but it could be anyone in this overly wired age. But the most distressing part of this incident is the inability of the military to get rid of the trojan. That should be relatively easy unless the network itself is compromised.

I am no fan of moving warfare to drones for a variety of reasons. Taking out the human risk in warfare risks dehumanizing it to the point of playing a video game. Flexibility is not there in reacting to unforeseen situations, unlike with a human in the cockpit and on site. If we go up against an opponent with real air defenses, drones are very vulnerable to being shot down. Last, but the biggest, is the vulnerability to hacking.

It reminds me of the beginning of the most recent Battlestar Galactica series where the newest Viper fighters were disabled by a virus. Ah science fiction, you always tend to predict the future!

A Lost Generation of US Naval Aviation

As I was poking around YouTube, I found this gem of a film on carrier suitability tests being carried out on the McDonnell F3H-2 Demon. Also making cameo appearances are the production prototypes of the Douglas F4D Skyray, Douglas A4D Skyhawk, and Vought F7U Cutlass.

F3H-2 Demon Carrier Tests

All but the venerable Skyhawk had short services in the fleet and those three had the same problem – underpowered engines. Westinghouse had made extravagant promises on a new generation of jet engines and the aluminum birds were specifically designed around them. When the engines turned out to be complete failures, the U.S. Navy’s equivalent of the Air Force’s Century series were hamstrung.

Only the “Gutless” Cutlass flew with Westinghouse engines while other manufacturers engines were shoehorned into redesigned versions of the Demon and Skyray. Performance of the planes never met their potential as a result. Meanwhile, A-4 Skyhawks are still flying today, over fifty years later.

That is not to say they did not have some success. The Cutlass and Demon introduced the AIM-7 Sparrow medium range radar guided missile to the fleet. Both were very maneuverable, with the Cutlass able to out dogfight even F-86 Sabres and FJ Furies. The F4D Skyray could climb to altitude faster than anything else flying at the time.

F7U Firing AIM-7 Sparrow

F4D Skyray Carrier Operations

Oh what world beaters these could have been if the Westinghouse engines had lived up to their specifications! Instead the Navy had to wait for Vought’s next design, the F-8 Crusader, to get a decent fighter. Fortunately for them, it was just around the corner and a twin engine derivative of the F3H would evolve into the F4H Phantom II…

Thirteen Days (2000) Review

Kevin Costner stars in a meticulous dramatization of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Painstaking attention to detail breathes life into the true story of when an untested President John F. Kennedy found himself challenged by the Soviet Union with the fate of millions on the line. But the superb performances of the actors is what makes this piece of history a great film.

The movie begins with a rocket launch followed by a serious of nuclear explosions. It is a grim and unsettling presentation made more profound by the realization that this is real footage of tests, not special effects. Boldly confrontational, this sequence sets the tone for how serious the consequences could be in 1962.

Chronologically laid out, Thirteen Days follows the events of each day complete with documentary style titles. Things start on October 16, 1962 when a U-2C spy plane comes back with fresh photographs of construction by Soviet military personnel in Cuba. Quickly the cylindrical objects are identified as being SS-4 Sandal medium range nuclear tipped missiles.

The reconnaissance pictures shown are the real thing, by the way.

An interesting choice by director Roger Donaldson was to portray certain scenes in black and white to convey a feeling of the era. In fact, many of these scenes recreated photos from Life magazine. It is the kind of stage gimmick Orson Welles would have approved of and succeeds in evoking nostalgia.

We are introduced to Kenny O’Donnell (Kevin Costner) and his family. O’Donnell is John F. Kennedy’s right hand man; the one you have to go through to see him. Like Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood), O’Donnell inhabits the hardball side of politics filtered through the prism of a jock’s attitude.

That’s also a trait shared with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp in an eerie performance) which becomes very obvious as the dynamic between the three shows. They are young by Washington, D.C. standards and very aggressive. Bobby enters the picture after the briefing given on the missiles by McGeorge Bundy (Frank Wood) from the NSA.

The untried trio are the focus of the movie and everything revolves around them as the crisis unfolds at break neck speed. With over thirty missiles serviced by 3,400 Soviet technicians and soldiers in Cuba, the Soviet Union finally is building a first strike capability against the continental United States. To say this is a major problem would be a truly drastic understatement. In fact, Washington, D.C. is only five minutes away after launch. But the news gets worse – the missiles will be operational in twelve to fourteen days.

The Kennedy brothers take this as a betrayal by the Soviets since there had been a verbal agreement not to station any offensive weapons in Cuba. They are also afraid of looking weak, since their father had been involved in the Munich Conference of 1938 where the West gave the Sudetenland to Hitler in an effort to appease him. Compounding this fear is the ghost of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion earlier in the Presidency.

 

Having a bunch of people around a table talking doesn’t sound like a recipe for riveting cinema in this era of big explosions and crazy plot twists. This movie shows how compelling and tense these scenes can be as we witness officials being gathered together to figure out the situation. Standouts are Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (Dylan Baker) and General Maxwell Taylor (Bill Smitrovitch) representing the defense establishment. The nerdy arrogance of McNamara is on full display throughout the film and you can see the roots of his mismanagement of the Defense Department.

As each day unfolds, something new happens to make things even worse than the previous day. With the perceived weakness of the Kennedy’s, the military doesn’t trust them to do the right thing after the Bay of Pigs. On the administration’s side, they felt betrayed and misled by the military over that operation, so conflict was unavoidable. It didn’t help having a loose cannon like General Curtis LeMay (Kevin Conway) openly champing at the bit to attack the Soviets. Speaking of him, Conway is a scene stealer every time he appears.

1962 was a midterms election year. As a result, efforts to hide what was happening meant the President had to go on the campaign trail, much to his annoyance. It also made rounding up Congressional leaders very difficult on short notice. This was a time before cellphones and the Internet; communications were slow in ways younger people can’t begin to imagine.

Subsequently, the military buildup begins, the media starts sensing something is going on, and the Kennedy brothers float a dangerous idea that sends things spinning out of control. All the while the actions of the Soviets are a mystery to the Americans. A beleaguered JFK eventually is forced to go public with what is going on and a stunned public worries about World War III.

The reaction shot above right is cleaned up and colorized from actual media footage during the crisis. It is said a picture can say a thousand words and that face speaks volumes about how the public received the news.

The blossoming power of television is ever present in the movie. After all, Kennedy was our first “TV” president. Real footage of Walter Cronkite adds to the feeling of being there. Younger folks don’t know him, but that man was considered something close to being the voice of God to most Americans for decades. What he said was considered the absolute truth, not to be doubted or questioned. It isn’t something people in this more cynical time can relate to.

Weaving all the events with a very candid and personal look at JFK and RFK through Kenny O’Donnell’s eyes was a brilliant decision. Their humanity is ever present driving what could have been a very dry retelling of historical bullet points. People in power seem remote and more than human, but the reality is they aren’t that much different than us.

That isn’t to say the events are portrayed in a boring fashion. There are some very memorable scenes and the one that stood out to me the most was a low level reconnaissance run by two RF-8 Photo Crusaders over the missile sites being worked on. Between the political maneuvering around the mission and the intensely executed sequence you get a good impression of how everyone was walking on a razor’s edge of danger. The special effects here are superb, being a mix of the practical and computer generated that make for a thrilling run through the jungle at tree top level.

The verbal duel at the United Nations between the Soviet ambassador and Adlai Stevenson is another worthy scene out of many. Like most of the dialogue, it was taken verbatim or condensed from the records of the time. It is a moment of high drama watching a once powerful politician in the twilight of his career having to come through while the world was literally watching.

Once the naval “quarantine” is imposed by the United States, the tension mounts in the movie like it did in real life. Confusion reigns as conflicting messages are received from Premier Krushchev via teletype and a backdoor offer comes from a KGB spy to an ABC newsman.  The drums of war are beating and it seems like nothing can defuse the situation.

In the end, the “will of good men” saves the world from nuclear war. There can be no spoilers, since I’m sitting here typing this review. What a different world it would have been otherwise.

I particularly liked the ending of the movie at the O’Donnell residence as the kids react to their father finally breaking down now that things were over. Once again, showing the humanity of the participants in the crisis is what makes this a great movie.

Thoughts

Thirteen Days takes its title from the book written by Bobby Kennedy with that as the basis for some of what is portrayed. The bulk of Kenny O’Donnell’s side of things was derived from an interview he did in the late 60’s. More information and dialogue was taken from recordings of the meetings from the National Archives.

While meticulously factual, this is not an unbiased film since the makers of it are clear fans of the Kennedy’s. Watching it with the commentary track on reveals that very quickly and it is interesting to hear what conclusions they came to on the famous brothers. What’s more interesting is how I came to different conclusions from watching their final result. This is most likely because I am not a Boomer and never held the myth of modern day “Camelot” in high regard.

I did not find Jack or Bobby to be as strong as the film makers did. Much of the problems they faced were of their own creation due to showing weakness and ineptitude in dealing with the very complicated political landscape of the Cold War. That impression was reinforced by additional documentary features I’ll discuss later.

The fact I came to these conclusions actually pays tribute to just how honest they film makers were in producing Thirteen Days. They show the flaws of the Kennedy brothers without shying away from them, though some of these won’t be apparent to those viewers who don’t know the history of the time. From showing JFK being in chronic pain and popping pills to their foul mouthed tendencies, we get a relatively unvarnished view of the real men.

The excellent performances by Greenwood and Culp contribute immensely to this. Greenwood is closer to the JFK of myth in that he has a lower more authoritative voice and better looks than the real man. For the record, I don’t understand why anybody thought President Kennedy was good looking. Maybe it was the fact he had hair and it had been decades since we’d had a president with hair. As Bobby Kennedy, Culp simply becomes the man I’ve seen in historic interviews and footage.

I better not leave Kevin Costner out of the praises. His Kenny O’Donnell is the kind of guy that was needed to ground things. Through him we get a feeling of normalcy in what was a highly romanticized administration. It is a part Costner threw himself completely into and at one point during the early commentary he lapses into the Boston accent of the character without realizing it. It’s a superb performance from an often underrated actor.

There isn’t a bad performance in the sprawling cast. I get the sense everyone in the movie knew they were working on something special and put out their best effort. New Line Cinema lost money on this movie and probably knew they would. $34 million gross on an $80 million investment isn’t something studios are willing to do today.

Something that struck me on watching this that I hadn’t caught before. That is how the Roman Catholic faith is quietly present throughout the film with a couple of church scenes being the most obvious. But it is the phone call between Kenny and the U-2 pilot near the end of the movie that made me notice it. It is an exceptional scene made all the more so by what follows.

I highly recommend Thirteen Days with one warning. The PG-13 rating is earned exclusively due to the large amount of profanity in it. That prevents it from being a family friendly movie and while faithfully accurate to the records it wasn’t really needed. So parents, be aware of this and watch it before showing to children. It is an excellent movie and should be required viewing for anyone interested in history.

Technical

The movie is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is of superb visual quality. 5.1 Dolby Surround sound is well used when needed, but this is a talky movie.

What sets this DVD apart from any I’ve seen is the “infinifilm” option that allows you to watch it with popups you can click on to see more information. Include in this feature is documentary footage, interviews, making of details, extended and cut scenes, plus the standard actor resumes. All of these extend the film another extra hour plus but are well worth it.  To me the interviews with Nikita Krushchev’s son, Sergei, are the best part of the extras. Here you finally get the Soviet side of events and I never realized just how much of the Cuban Missile Crisis was directly controlled by Premier Krushchev.

The option to watch them separately from the movie is available on the DVD menus, but they suffer from being cut to be inserted into the film and do not flow on their own.

The commentary track is better than average though it suffers from redundancy with the “infinifilm” features. The film makers are relaxed and even develop a running joke throughout. Many times commentaries don’t really add to a movie, thankfully this is not the case here.

If watched on a PC, there are additional features that I didn’t check out including the ability to read the scripts while watching the film. Online extras are listed, but I didn’t check to see if they still worked.

Extra Screen Shots

Philippine Air Force F-5E Tiger’s and defunct F-8 Crusader’s were used in the flight line shots on location. Repainted to depict American aircraft they did a good job conveying the look of the period, though the F-5A only started production in 1962 for foreign countries. The F-5 program was saved by the Kennedy Administration so it is appropriate to have them in the film.

 

One thing the makers of the movie did that was interesting to me was the restoration and colorization of period footage. A lot of good views of military equipment rarely seen anymore. Check out the very rare McDonnell F3H-2 Demon fighters in the last shot.

Dust in the Wind

Or more accurately, crop dusting on a hazy Saturday morning.

It was surprising to hear an airplane buzzing the house at very low level this morn. Normally, only the rare C-130 will buzz the place about once a year or so and the local light planes keep higher. So I went outside to check out what the racket was about and was very surprised to see a bright yellow crop dusting plane circling round.

An opportunity for photos, I thought! I rushed back into the house and grabbed the Canon S1IS that is for general use and ran out. Change batteries it said. No spare batteries charged at the moment, of course.

Back in I went and got the big Canon DSLR. Being in a hurry, I didn’t bother to put the big telephoto lens on it. Switched to sport mode as I’m beyond rusty and took a few shots. Results weren’t what I wanted and I knew I had to risk the plane departing to get the 55-250mm lens.

Fortunately for me, more passes were made and I got some better shots.

The spray bars which dispense the chemicals dropped are one of the most intriguing features on these specialty planes.

I assume the thick wings hold the chemical tanks, but can’t say for sure.

The profile reminds me of early racing planes, but with a much higher canopy. That’s needed for winding your way through the weeds.

Amazing how low they fly to spray.

Well that was fun. I never did get to an airshow after getting a decent camera and telephoto lens, so at least I know they work!

The Real Stealth Involves Politics with Japan’s ATD-X

Over at The Diplomat, David Axe has written an interesting article speculating on Japan’s stealth fighter project. Read the whole thing to get an idea of the aerial arms race going on in Asia – it is even bigger than the article makes out.  Even the smaller countries have been pouring money into advanced versions of older aircraft such as the F-15 Strike Eagle, F-16 two seat attack variants, and Su-30 multirole fighters.

But back to Japan’s stealth fighter. My belief is that it is a bargaining chip with the bonus of getting some good experience with cutting edge designs and materials. The F-2 was a fiasco of epic proportions and they just lost 18 of them to the tsunami earlier this year. It will be about $73 million to repair each one if they make that decision. You can buy a better brand new plane for that! So I really don’t see Japan building a new fighter on their own unless forced to by circumstances.

The F-35 Lightning II is the best fit for their multirole needs even if it will be produced later than they want. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t go with an advanced F-15 Strike Eagle variant like South Korea and Singapore did. After all, Japan already flies their own variant of the Eagle, the F-15J Kai, for air superiority.

With all their economic problems, I think the ATD-X really is a stealthy bargaining chip to get better terms on F-35 production. Its size limitations render it useless for combat but it sure looks pretty and evokes national pride. The F-35 will be a match for the J-20 at worst and most likely superior to the Chinese fighter. Looks and aerodynamics tell only a part of the story on a modern warplane. Instead, the avionics, radar, and weapon systems fill most of the narrative – and cost.  There is where the Lightning II is going to be revolutionary. Once people see how the incredibly integrated sensors on the plane function in the real world, I predict they will be very surprised.

Meanwhile, it amuses me so many people quote Carlo Kopp. That just proves you don’t need to know anything to be considered an expert. Calling Australian Air Power a think tank is very generous indeed.

A Faux Expert Opines on China’s Stealth Fighter

One of the problems with the modern media is that there are many vaunted “experts” on any given subject who simply don’t know what they are talking about.  The Australian military aviation specialist Carlo Kopp is a prime example of this, which is why you should never quote him in a serious aviation forum – you’ll get laughed off the message board.  Yet here he is, getting the spotlight once again by proclaiming the Chinese J-20 is equal to the F-22A Raptor.

Worse yet, he claims his “analysis” of the prototype shows it is more stealthy than the F-35 Lightning II from certain angles.  This is the same guy who argued for upgrading ancient F-111 Aardvarks with the F-22’s engines!  Another one of his ideas is a F-22 fleet for Australia and he’s still championing that despite the simple fact the country can’t afford them.   Anything that threatens that dream is attacked, so Kopp has savaged the F-35 every chance he can.  Fortunately, the Australian government is more sane and want the JSF as it suits there needs quite well.

Now I’ll admit the J-20 will be a serious threat to our allies in the Pacific, but the F-35 will outclass it in stealth, avionics, and weapons.  That’s my armchair opinion based on the history of competing weapon systems over the years and Lockheed’s proven track record with stealth warplanes.  But don’t accept me as any kind of expert and do the research yourself.  You’ll probably come out more informed than Mr. Kopp.

Odds and Ends

So much for posting the other night!  It has been another strange week and I’m trying to recover from a trip to the Minnesota State Capitol yesterday.  My father and a mutual friend went up to visit our State Representitive Greg Davids and watch the House in action.  Having floor passes, we witnessed first hand the very messy process of law making.  I suspect that the general public would have an interesting reaction if they saw how things actually function.

Sitting in on the House Republican Caucus before hand was just as fascinating.  All of it was reminiscent of the activity in a beehive with constituents, politicians, lobbyists, pages, activists, and visiting students bussing around the hallways. I would have liked to stay longer and visit with the pols I’ve gotten to know over the few years I’ve been in politics.  But it was taking it out of me and we needed to get going on the long trip home.  There were also sliders to get at White Castle.  All in all, a good time.

Now for a few links to things that caught my interest around the world:

The Russian Bear has been stirring for awhile and the Brits have been intercepting their bombers quite a bit in the past year.  The Norwegians have been busy doing the same and I get the feeling that Obama’s weak behavior in dealing with foreign countries is getting tested.

The economic and totalitarian fiasco that is ObamaCare will soon reap destructive results in the bond markets. Scratch that, it is already happening. Once again it is a problem magnified by Obama’s incompetence in handling foreign affairs – of course he isn’t any better at handling domestic affairs either.

Locally, we had an endorsing convention last Saturday.  Both candidates for the Republican endorsement ran good campaigns and I think Jeremy Miller will win in November.  The results weren’t a surprise but the margin of victory was.  It bodes well that all three counties went for Miller. Congratulations to Jeremy and I look forward to helping his campaign out.

Relying on Drones Is a Bad Idea

Drones are starting to replace combat jets, but is it a wise decision?

One of the debates in military circles is whether or not manned aircraft have a long term future in combat.  The main idea is that remote controlled drones can be sent to fight without jeopardizing any American lives in the process.  They will be cheaper to manufacture and we won’t ever face an enemy with a significant air force again are parts of that theory.

I have problems with the argument, both on overall cheapness and the idea that all wars will be like Iraq and Afghanistan from now on.  The latter is foolishness because history says the next war will be unlike the previous one you fought, at least as far as the United States goes.  As far as being cheap, the drones have to be as they have an astronomical loss rate.  While that data is over two years old, I highly doubt Predator losses have improved significantly.

Then there is the whole concept of remote control being vulnerable to disruption.  We haven’t seen control of a drone being taken over by hostile forces, but they have successfully hacked the video feed of Predators.  The day will come when there will be a true hack rather than leeching video like a satellite TV pirate and what then?

That photo above is of a Predator pilot and instructor in the control station for the MQ-1.  He sits in a room watching monitors and pilots the drone via satellite. I believe having a human in the aircraft allows for many more contingencies to be dealt with.  You can’t hack a human and they can react much more quickly if they are in a real cockpit rather than a virtual one thousands of miles away. That flexibility simply cannot be replicated.

Then there is the “what if” of satellite jamming and destruction.  China has shown they can shoot down satellites as have we. Getting a replacement up is far more expensive and difficult than getting an airplane in the air.  I fear we are witnessing an over reliance on high technology that could be catastrophic against a powerful opponent such as China or Russia.

A more practical “what if” of facing an opponent with a real air force.  Drones are easy prey for manned jet fighters as the following video shows:

 

The answer to that is to use a stealthy drone as shown by the recently revealed RQ-170 Sentinel.  I find it strange that they are testing it in Afghanistan where there are no radars or fighters to evade.  Perhaps they are hopping over the border into Iran.

Still, there is a lack of flexibility inherent in such a design.  We’ll never see CAS (Close Air Support) effectively carried out by a drone.  Their slowness makes them effective only in environments we completely dominate in the air and their ability to respond to a changing threat is minimal.

Then there is the inevitability of them being hacked some day.  Everything networked gets hacked at some point, it is the nature of our time. The rest of the world has gotten very tech savvy and really are only limited by their budgets.  Just a couple of days ago, Twitter was hacked by Iranians.  While that isn’t a military organization, they do have active security experts protecting the network after some embarrassing lapses.

Lest you think I despise all drones, I don’t.  They have their uses but are too limited to be replacing fighters, bombers, and attack aircraft.  Reconnaissance is their forte and there they excel, but at quite a cost in airframes. 

One day this debate may be looked back at in much the same way the fiasco of going to missile only jet fighters is.  Generals, technicians, and politicians got overly enamored with technology and it failed to live up to exaggerated expectations. Going all remote control will suffer the same judgment in history, but we need to fight for programs like the F-35 Lightning II.

Manned aircraft will never be obsolete as long as the fog of war exists – and that will never go away.  Yes we will lose pilots because the nature of war means casualties.  That is unavoidable and a painful truth.  We can’t afford to lose our ability to fight a wide range of wars from fear of casualties.

The secret to our military’s success is only partly due to technology.  Most of it is due to flexibility and the supreme competency of our troops.  Often they have to make orders given them by isolated generals and politicians work in the field.  To continue doing that, they need to be fast moving and flexible.

Drones are neither fast moving or flexible, so relying on them primarily for an air force will be disastrous for the troops on the ground. Ask someone on the ground whether they’d like a Predator or a Strike Eagle backing them up.  I bet they’ll choose the fighter every time.

Navy Starting to Growl

One of the more esoteric missions in military aviation is that of electronic warfare.  While most people are familiar with the ideas of fighters, bombers, reconnaissance and attack planes, they will draw a blank when you mention “jammer planes.” The latest US design is the EA-18G Growler and it finally has been declared operational.  Deployment will begin next year.

A modification of the F/A-18F two seat Super Hornet, the Growler is replacing the much older EA-6B Prowler design.  The Prowler is a four seat derivative of the A-6 Intruder attack jet that served so well from the Vietnam War to Desert Storm.  The main advantages of the new design are the youth of the airframes, ease of maintenance, and ability to defend itself from aerial threats. 

So the Navy has their new jamming bird, but where does this leave the Air Force?  One of the more boneheaded decisions made was to get rid of the EF-111A Raven’s that did a bang up job in Desert Storm.  They had many years left in them and were a perfect match in performance to the F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16’s they escorted.  Since 1998, the Air Force has been dependant on the Navy Prowlers to do the same job and now they will have nothing.

Meanwhile, the Prowler isn’t done yet.  The Marines are keeping theirs and I haven’t run into a retirement date for them yet. 

While I’m not a fan of the Super Hornet (or Super Bug), I do like the Growler as a platform.  My chief complaint about the F/A-18E is its limitations as an interceptor/fleet defender compared to what an upgraded F-14 Tomcat could have been. Thankfully, AEGIS cruisers have only gotten more capable in taking out incoming attacks. Then there is the range problem. 

But what is done is done and cannot be undone. Hopefully the F-35 won’t be cancelled and I believe it will give air superiority back to the carrier wings in any future engagement.

So it may be surprising to read that I’d like the USAF to consider buying the EA-18G instead of thinking drones will do the job.  This looks to be a very capable platform for electronic warfare and there will be a need for it before all is said and done.