Missing Raptor Found

An Elemendorf AFB, Alaska F-22A Raptor disappeared during routine training mission at 1940 Hours, 16 November 2010. After two days of searching, the crash site has been located 100 miles north of Elemendorf AFB, Alaska.


A recovery crew has been dispatched to the site. The pilot is feared dead. The cause of the crash has not been determined.

Japanese Intercept Russians

Oct 8, 2008- F-15's flown by the Japanese Self Defense Force successfully intercepted a pair of Russian Tu-22 bombers. The incident occurred over the Sea of Japan. Moscow announced that the flight was part of their "Stability 2008" exercise. In addition, the Russians claimed that the flight was over international waters, on a routine training mission.



However, the fact that a pair of Su-27 Russian fighters were scrambled to join the bombers after the intercept was quite unusual.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Drik was quoted as saying by the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies.

"Four Japanese air force F-15 fighters escorted the strategic aviation crews as they flew over the Sea of Japan."

Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets were also sent up to join the bombers after the Japanese intercept to ensure that the Russian Tu-22 bombers, known in NATO parlance as "Backfire" bombers, completed their mission as planned."

History of previous intercepts

Best TDY Patch

TDY is a term used in the U.S. Air Force which means "Temporary Duty". Which usually means going somewhere other than your home base for training. While on TDY people tend to let their hair down and party a little more than usual. Much of this happens in Officer and NCO clubs on base. There are times that one might find oneself in uniform.
"Who was that?" Is a common question and at those time it's easiest to track the "celebrity" down to his or her unit by checking out the squadron patch worn on the uniform. TDY's are also occasion to where unauthorized patches.

Hence, we have a winner. This is an actual patch worn while TDY. No photoshopping here.

Putin Says- "Pimp My MiG"

Technically, "Pimp my Sukhoi". On November 25, 2007, the Russian Air Force accepted it's first batch of upgraded Sukhoi-24 fighter bombers. The Su-25 is the Soviet response to the American F-111. Having been in service for 32 years, it now sports the latest electronics and gadgets. Flat screen instruments, GPS and smart bombs are just some of the improvements.

While the upgraded Sukhoi is another step in Russian President Putin's path to making Russia a military superpower again, it also gives credence to another concern in the West. Take a look at this MiG-25.To prevent capture or destruction during Desert Storm, the Iraqis buried this MiG-25. Designed in the 1960's it was long feared as a "premier" fighter. It has since been reduced to an airborne target for Western fighters. Or so we thought. The MiG pictured in the picture above looks like a MiG-25 but it has been "pimped" as well. Old on the outside, everything inside is new. Electronics, engines, weapons. All courtesy of the French. This gives rise to speculation about how helpful the French have been.

Consider the plight of the Iranian F-14 Tomcats. Back in the 1970's the U.S. sold a bunch of Tomcats to the Shah of Iran. He was deposed and the planes fell into the hands of the Mullahs. Rumors abound of how the American technicians sabotaged the weapon systems before they were kicked out of the country. Coupled with a parts embargo by the U.S. this reduced the Iranian F-14 fleet to museum pieces. The last time they were used in combat was during the Iran/Iraq war of 1980 and even then they were used as airborne controllers rather than weapons.
In light of the upgrade of the Sukhoi and the story of the "Buried MiG", a question has to asked. Have the Iranians upgraded their Tomcats? Intelligence estimates are still guarded. A F-14 "pimped" by the French (or Russians) poses a real challenge to the U.S. and her allies.

Austrailia Has Doubts About F-35

There is only one of them so far and it has flown seven times. It has had a mysterious ground abort at Pax River awhile back and to my knowledge hasn't flown since.

Packaged as the Joint Strike Fighter, it will be flown by all of our services and as many allies as we can convince.

We have tried this before. In the sixties Defense Secretary Robert McNamara pushed the idea of a universal fighter plane. It resulted in a rounding success, the F-4 Phantom and an utter disaster, the F-111. Before you Aardvark fans go berserk, yes the F-111 became an historically great aircraft. For the Air Force. As a Joint Fighter it never cut it. It was too heavy for carrier operations which left the Navy and Marines high and dry. This was after the "Weight Reduction Program", the "Super Weight Reduction Program" and the (I'm not making this up) "Colossal Weight Reduction Program". The result was a snub nosed version of the F-111 that still didn't have the range or the payload to get off of a deck.

The F-111B

Don't misunderstand me. I'm hoping that the F-35 turns out to be everything it's designers (and the DoD) says it can be. On the other hand, aren't we reinventing the wheel here? History repeating itself?

Australia, God Love them, has agreed to go ahead with the F-35. However, there are questions being raised on whether the F-35 is right for Australia. This video raises more than a few good points. It begs the question, "Is the F-35 right for America?"