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Air Combat More Stealth than ‘High Noon’

W. Thomas Smith, Jr. has the top story at Human Events today.

Test pilot Jon Beesley — one of only two men on the planet to have flown both the F-35 Lightning II and the F-22 Raptor — says aerial combat is not two gunfighters facing each other in the middle of the street, drawing pistols, and shooting it out.
 
“That’s High Noon, that’s Gary Cooper,” says Beesley, 59, a grandfather of 16 and a former Air Force fighter pilot who now test flies experimental and prototype fighter-aircraft for Lockheed Martin. “Air combat has always been about stealth; about being able to get into position to kill the other guy — preferably unobserved — and if you are observed, being able to outmaneuver him.

“Ever heard of fighter pilots wanting to come out of the sun or the clouds? That’s why they want to do it. They don’t want their opponent to see them. That’s stealth.”

COMMENTS

  • stixxxnstones

    I’m on my way in to the AF at the moment…off to the training station in mid-February.

    Oh man, I can’t wait >:D

  • rickz77

    “Beware of the Hun in the Sun”

  • Raven

    The best way to not get hit tis to hit from where they can’t see you…

  • Ausonius

    ObaMao does not want the U.S. to have an advantage anywhere, and as a crypto-pacifist he does not want to have to use any weapons.

    Always remember this speech:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs

    This version has an interesting commentary on the missile defense system:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COl4soeox6Y

    Senator Inhofe has some interesting comments from April:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnsYKmFb8VA

  • red_refugee

    Given that we had almost a trillion to spend on “economic stimulus” it was insane to say that we couldn’t spare a few billion a year to keep the F-22 line open. At $130m each, the F-22 is a bargain compared to the Japanese F-2 or the Eurofighter. Those also cost over $100m each, but are much smaller, aren’t stealth, and don’t have thrust vectoring.

    Cutting the F-22 is just part of Barry’s plan to weaken the military and part of Gates’s plan to move all defense production to Texas.

  • Wing Zero

    Cause I can probably provide some insight…

  • Wing Zero

    It did NOT depict real air to air combat.