Af/Pak & Other News (2/21/2012)

dump...@hotmail.com

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Feb 21, 2012, 1:04:41 PM2/21/12

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Slingshots, guns fired at Afghan protest over Quran burning:

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10463860-slingshots-guns-fired-at-afghan-protest-over-quran-burning

Pakistan receives US surveillance aircraft:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hgSwT8L-YcL1NWJQ9qZcPFATGjhg?docId=CNG.5469e3c179bfed6a0738d28903dc92dd.311

Pakistan to ask Interpol to arrest Musharraf over failure to prevent
Benazir Bhutto assassination:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/21/pakistan-to-ask-interpol-to-arrest-musharraf-over-failure-to-prevent-benazir/

Who Do You Hate The Most:

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/afghan/articles/20120221.aspx

Iran threatens pre-emptive action amid nuclear tensions:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46461790/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

Red Cross seeks Syria ceasefires; more than 60 killed:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-syria-idUSL5E8DB0BH20120221

Russia to deliver 120 T-90 main battle tanks to Algeria:

http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23731:russia-to-deliver-120-t-90-main-battle-tanks-to-algeria&catid=50:Land&Itemid=105

Russian Drone RC helicopter caught smuggling heroin:

http://scandinavianstartups.com/blog/russian-drone-rc-helicopter-caught-smuggling-heroin

Out of sight, Somali piracy fight gets rougher:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-somalia-piratestre81k0xt-20120221,0,737047.story

Unmanned version of A-10 on way:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Unmanned_version_of_A-10_on_way_999.html

Old Weapon Gives Precision Punch to Helos:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2012/02/20/AW_02_20_2012_p50-419271.xml&headline=OldWeaponGivesPrecisionPunchtoHelos&channel=defense

France to Evaluate Watchkeeper UAV:

http://www.defencetalk.com/france-to-evaluate-watchkeeper-uav-40591/

Boeing Receives Additional SSEE Increment F Order from US Navy:

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Boeing_Receives_Additional_SSEE_Increment_F_Order_from_US_Navy_999.html

Lynx, Fremm Combo Validated:

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a07d76692-408d-4c50-bd70-7d1f0e24d375&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

S-400 Missiles Deployed in Western Russia:

http://www.defencetalk.com/s-400-missiles-deployed-in-western-russia-40617/

Raytheon demos fire-control system:

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Raytheon_demos_fire-control_system_999.html

RIP, Raygun: Pentagon’s Laser Plane Laid to Rest:

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/airborn-laser-rip/

Andrew Swallow

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Feb 21, 2012, 2:29:41 PM2/21/12

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On 21/02/2012 18:04, dump...@hotmail.com wrote:
> RIP, Raygun: Pentagon’s Laser Plane Laid to Rest:
>
> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/airborn-laser-rip/
>

That is the laser plane gone.

Did the ground based semi-conductor lasers work?

Andrew Swallow

Daryl

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Feb 21, 2012, 8:37:13 PM2/21/12

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On 2/21/2012 11:04 AM, dump...@hotmail.com wrote:

>
> Unmanned version of A-10 on way:
>
> http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Unmanned_version_of_A-10_on_way_999.html

This has got to be the dumbest idea I have ever heard of.

--
http://tvmoviesforfree.com
for free movies and Nostalgic TV. Tons of Military shows and
programs.

dump...@hotmail.com

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Feb 22, 2012, 3:55:43 PM2/22/12

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On Feb 21, 5:37 pm, Daryl <dh...@nospami70west3.com> wrote:

> On 2/21/2012 11:04 AM, dumpst...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
> > Unmanned version of A-10 on way:
>

> >http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Unmanned_version_of_A-10_on_way_999...

>
> This has got to be the dumbest idea I have ever heard of.
>

Care to elaborate?

Daryl

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Feb 22, 2012, 4:25:07 PM2/22/12

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Taking something with such short flight duration, spending all
those bucks in getting rid of the pilot and dumping the weapons,
etc..

You can build a smaller, lighter, cheaper unit to do a better job.

Vaughn

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Feb 22, 2012, 5:01:14 PM2/22/12

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On 2/22/2012 4:25 PM, Daryl wrote:

> Taking something with such short flight duration

How short is it?

, spending all those
> bucks in getting rid of the pilot and dumping the weapons, etc..

Dumping the weapons? Was that somewhere in the article?

>
> You can build a smaller, lighter, cheaper unit to do a better job.

My guess is they are looking for an armed UAV that can survive the low
battlefield environment. The thing about the A10 is that we already
have the airframes.

Fair question: What could a UAV A-10 do that the manned version can't do?

Vaughn
>

Dan

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Feb 22, 2012, 5:17:11 PM2/22/12

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On 2/22/2012 4:01 PM, Vaughn wrote:
> My guess is they are looking for an armed UAV that can survive the low
> battlefield environment. The thing about the A10 is that we already
> have the airframes.
>
> Fair question: What could a UAV A-10 do that the manned version can't do?
>
> Vaughn

If I wanted to make a SWAG here I would suggest it may be a way of
proving a full sized combat aircraft can perform as well as a manned
version. A-10 has been on the chopping block since not long after it
came out. Some genius may have decided this would be an interesting
interim to unmanned fighter aircraft without the pilots kicking up a
fuss. Try it on F-15 or F-16 and watch the fireworks.

AS for making a UAV to replace A-10 my guess would be they wouldn't
want to include the big gun which is still popular with ground forces.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Daryl

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Feb 22, 2012, 5:51:28 PM2/22/12

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Easy answer. Let's say you kept the 30mm gun. Now, put an X
second delay in the controlling of the gun with the pilot
(operator) somewhere not within a few hundred miles. Now, go in
as close as an A-10 does with it's human pilot onboard. Now,
fire that gun. It's bad enough with the accidents that the A-10
with it's human, real time, pilot can do to friendlies. But take
him out of the seat and you are just courting with dozens killed
from a mistake. It's too lethal.

All of the other weapons are already carried by cheaper, longer
duration UCAVs. Remember, the A-10 is a 14 million buck (1978
dollars) bird and you can part it out for more than a standard
UCAV when you factor in the cost of modifying it. Dollar for
dollar, it's a stupid idea by someone trying to extend the A-10
past it's need cycle.

Richard Casady

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Feb 22, 2012, 8:02:43 PM2/22/12

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On Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:01:14 -0500, Vaughn <vaugh...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Never, ever, kill the pilot.

Casady

Kerryn Offord

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Feb 22, 2012, 11:28:01 PM2/22/12

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You also get to replace the mass allocated to the pilot (The body, the
g-suit, the oxygen, the ejector seat, the parachute(s), the armour put
there especially to protect the pilot... (the replacement electronics
will be a smaller volume, so easier to protect).

Over all, I would expect to find considerable weight savings... which
can be used for more fuel, more imaging, more ordnance...

Oh, and you can probably stay aloft longer.. Air refueling might be fun,
but at least the pilot doesn't have to come down to eat/ jump wastes...
sleep (You can switch pilots while in flight if remotely controlled...

bill

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Feb 23, 2012, 2:32:39 AM2/23/12

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Save on pilot training, accommodation and burials...

The reality is that it's a 'point of entry' into what has previously been
the arena available only to manned aircraft.

Try suggesting that you'd like an unmanned F-15 and watch the fireworks
as old fighter pilots explode all over the media...

--
"Hopefully the fair wind will resume, or this may well take all day."

Admiral Collingwood on being becalmed under the guns of six French ships-
of-the-line at Trafalgar