Tag: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

Mystery Over Missing Sidewinder Missile That Failed to Shoot Down UFO

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

Mystery Over Missing Sidewinder Missile That Failed to Shoot Down UFO

But the F-16 jet tasked with shooting the object over Lake Huron on Sunday “missed on its first attempt,” according to Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson.

Citing U.S. officials, Tomlinson wrote on Twitter that a second Sidewinder air-to-air missile was required, and it is “not clear where the first missile landed.”

A Defense Department spokesperson told Newsweek they were “certainly aware of the reporting on this,” but did not have any other details they could provide at this time. [Yet Kirby ‘can’t’ confirm that it happened]

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“The warhead is relatively small, as is the missile, limiting potential damage if it misses or something goes wrong,” [Jodi] Vittori previously told Newsweek.

National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Monday that the objects downed in Alaska and Canada “are in remote and wintry terrain,” with the object over Michigan likely to be “in very deep water in Lake Huron.” This makes salvage operations more difficult, he added.

Thanks to Dave DeCamp for this find! FYI, according to Wikipedia, the Sidewinder is almost 10 feet long, 5 inches wide, and 188 pounds. The warhead, itself, is 20.8 pounds. They’re shooting down these unidentified objects, all willy nilly, but I’m not supposed to be concerned about a missing missle?! Sorry, not sorry, this one hit too close to home! Time to look for more memes, I guess! 😅

Related:

Jet that shot down unidentified object over Lake Huron took off from Madison (missing missile was noticed when the F-16s landed back in Wisconsin)

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Ukraine expects to receive 24 modern fighter jets, says Air Force Command + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ukraine expects to receive 24 modern fighter jets, says Air Force Command

But even once negotiations for the delivery of these jets will be completed, Ukraine will not be able to use them on the battlefield for months, as training of pilots and technicians will take at least half a year, Ihnat warned.

Related:

Ukraine Situation Report: Kyiv Improving Airfields Anticipating Western Fighters

There is currently one Ukrainian student in the U.S. Air Force Aviation Leadership Program, which provides pilot training in the T-6A, not geared ultimately for any one specific combat aircraft, Air Force Capt. Rachel Salpietra, an Air Force Secretary spokesperson told The War Zone Friday afternoon.

“Ukraine has been participating in the program with us for the last 12 years,” she added. “Ukrainian maintainers and engineers have not participated in any training with the U.S. Air Force for the past several years.”

UK might donate fighter jets to Ukraine for air policing – The Telegraph

Commenting on the matter, one of the newspaper’s sources said “never say never,” while another one stressed that “it’s not the priority now,” regarding fighter jet transfers.

How Much it Actually Costs to Fly U.S. Military Aircraft

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

How Much it Actually Costs to Fly U.S. Military Aircraft

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter costs $41,986 an hour across all models, including the F-35A for the Air Force, the F-35B for the Marine Corps, and the F-35C for the Marine Corps and Navy. The Air Force in particular is stuck with the headache of replacing the F-16, which costs $26,927 an hour, with a plane that costs 25 percent more to operate, permanently raising costs. This is especially a problem as the F-35 was originally promised to cost the same to operate as the F-16. The Air Force must now either buy fewer F-35s or figure out how to foot a bigger annual bill.

We won’t be fooled again, say people of Pakistan

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment
AUGUST 04: PAKISTAN JUSTICE MOVEMENT (PTI) PARTY SUPPORTERS HOLD A PROTEST LED BY FORMER PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN AGAINST THE COALITION GOVERNMENT AND THE ELECTION COMMISSION AT FATMA JINNAH PARK IN THE F-9 REGION OF ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN ON AUGUST 04, 2022. (MUHAMMED SEMIH UĞURLU – ANADOLU AGENCY)

Politicians in Pakistan rise to power and fall from grace with alarming regularity, so much so that not a single prime minister has ever completed a full term in office. The one constant has been the genuine love and affection ordinary people have for the military. However, that could be about to change now that some inconvenient truths are beginning to surface in the increasingly clumsy attempts to silence Imran Khan.

We won’t be fooled again, say people of Pakistan

China’s neighbors are buying US weapons Washington isn’t delivering

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

China’s neighbors are buying US weapons Washington isn’t delivering

Even though the United States views these weapons sales as integral to deterring China from attacking Taiwan, some of the deals were publicly announced as far back as 2017.

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The reasons – government delays, supply chain issues and production requirements – are numerous, and the problem won’t be easy to fix, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Defense News.

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The U.S. government has approved the sale of 10 weapons systems Taiwan has yet to receive – some of which are not slated for delivery until the end of the decade.

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The United States has flooded billions of dollars in weapons into Ukraine, including items that are part of Taiwan’s backlog, such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and High Mobile Artillery Rocket Systems.

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For example, several Middle Eastern and eastern European countries are ahead of Taiwan in Lockheed Martin’s F-16 production queue. In 2019, the State Department approved an $8 billion Taiwan sale for 66 F-16s, but Taipei does not expect to receive the aircraft until 2026.

“Saudi Arabia is still ahead of Taiwan on the priority list in some cases,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told Defense News ahead of a July meeting with Taiwan’s Washington envoy. “We need to take a look at that.”

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Russian Ops in Ukraine – Russian Advances, Ukraine Shelling Nuclear Power Plant

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Aug 13, 2022 Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for August 14, 2022:

– Russian forces continue to make incremental progress along the Siversk-Bakhmut defense line even according to pro-Ukrainian sources;

– There is no sign of any Ukrainian offensive around Kherson, even according to the Western media;

– Another US-supplied HIMARS has been destroyed according to the Russian MoD, that is now 8 out of 16 sent to Ukraine destroyed;

– The Pentagon is now struggling to explain why it is unable to supply Ukraine with sufficient weapons needed to execute the ever-pending “Kherson Offensive” yet to materialize;

– Claims made by the Pentagon regarding the effectiveness of various weapon systems sent have been contradicted by recently discovered documents from the US military itself;

– The US Army claims the effectiveness of common US anti-tank weapons like the Javelin and the AT-4 is around 19% among trained US soldiers. This would be much lower among Ukrainian troops;

– The Western media has decided to assign credit to Ukraine for a recent explosion in Crimea despite Kiev denying any involvement;

– Ukraine is shelling Zaporozhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in an attempt to force Russian troops to leave through international pressure;

Russian Ops in Ukraine (August 14, 2022) – Russian Advances, Ukraine Shelling Nuclear Power Plant (Odysee) via The New Atlas

References:

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