brocola
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A US ‘something’ looks like it’s fishing for submarines again
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Realist
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Must be one big line and hook for that fish.
Silver-Fox
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Realist
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Yeh nuclear powered.It’s one of those big Earth magnets
brocola
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It’s one of those big Earth magnets
Haha closer to the truth than I realised, of course like everything nowadays it's launched from the P8 Poseidon as a drone
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I think it's about time to make this thread available to only those with top level clearance.
Will anyone without top level clearance please promise not to read on.
As you were.
Will anyone without top level clearance please promise not to read on.
As you were.
brocola
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It seems some F35s might have also been involved in the Voyager & Typhoon day trips to Poland.
RAF F-35 Lightnings join NATO mission
The RAF’s newest 5th Generation Fighter jets have joined NATO’s Enhanced Vigilance Patrols for the first time, on the 3rd March 22. The Lightnings from RAF Marham joined the Typhoon FGR4 jets tak
www.raf.mod.uk
The biggest weakness IMO with the RAF F35 is range. Our carrier based versions can only fly out around 400 miles from the carrier before having to return and as yet we have no means of refuelling them at sea. I did read they were working on conformal tanks a few years ago but that has since gone all quite.It seems some F35s might have also been involved in the Voyager & Typhoon day trips to Poland.
RAF F-35 Lightnings join NATO mission
The RAF’s newest 5th Generation Fighter jets have joined NATO’s Enhanced Vigilance Patrols for the first time, on the 3rd March 22. The Lightnings from RAF Marham joined the Typhoon FGR4 jets tak
brocola
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I didn’t realise the B was so limited. 400 miles, 400 out and back won’t do much good and doesn’t leave much time for getting ‘emotional’ with threats.
Digging deeper, the cat launched US Navy C version seems to have about 40% more fuel capacity (slightly bigger and none of the VTOL gubbins). It seems MOD might be considering drone tankers similar to the U.S. MQ-25
UK considering carrier based drones for aerial refuelling
The Royal Navy is looking at the use of "organic UAS Air to Air Refuelling".
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This chap .,I believe . Tul Bahadur Pun, later given the right to abode in the UK in 2000 after an appeal.
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According to Wikki the combat radius of the F35 B on internal fuel is 505nmi. According to the RAF's own web page its more than 450 nmi. This of course all depends on loitering time and more importantly how near the carrier is willing to be to the strike package/zone risk etc. and 400 miles is far too close according to the military experts who discuss these types of topics, which are freely available on U-Tube.I didn’t realise the B was so limited. 400 miles, 400 out and back won’t do much good and doesn’t leave much time for getting ‘emotional’ with threats.
Digging deeper, the cat launched US Navy C version seems to have about 40% more fuel capacity (slightly bigger and none of the VTOL gubbins). It seems MOD might be considering drone tankers similar to the U.S. MQ-25
UK considering carrier based drones for aerial refuelling
The Royal Navy is looking at the use of "organic UAS Air to Air Refuelling".
Millennium 7 being a very informative channel IMO. The problem faced by UK carriers is getting a heavy fuel tanker airborne without any take off assistance and this was a big bone of contention when our new carriers were being built and today limits our carriers to the F35. (Which must be said is an absolute game changer of an aircraft).
Silver-Fox
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Does that make the plane a bit of a white elephant if you can’t take the carrier close to the battle scene.
Just a thought.
Not Really, its a drawback that will be overcome. Assisted take off and landing would have given us the option of buying the F35C which gives a bigger combat radius and we would have been able to launch and land refuelling planes too. The new block 4 F35 is supposed to be even more amazing than the existing F35. If your really into this sort of stuff watch this.
Silver-Fox
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brocola
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From the gospel of Wikipedia, it looks like the Super Hornet is similarly hampered with range, but as Philandmena alludes to, US seem to be able to overcome it with cat launch carriers and carrier launched tankers (currently tanker equipped F/A18s, eventually MQ25s)
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brocola
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As a complete but enthusiastic amateur in this field, I would have thought ‘must have catapult launch carriers’ was one of the observations from Falklands. But budget rules I suppose 
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What is that?
brocola
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U2 spy plane with a massive sensor pod egg on its back. They fly out of Fairford most days, but rarely show up on FR24
en.m.wikipedia.org
Lockheed U-2 - Wikipedia
What the Global Hawk does.
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At first I was shocked at the $123 million price tag but then again, how do you put a value on some of the intelligence it is sending back.
brocola
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RAF Voyager out of Akrotiri towing 2 Typhoons back from Jordan?
OP
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Hey brocola any info on the range of FORTE's reconnaissance range at the moment from your 'source'? I find it a bit worrying it's spending so much time up and down the Poland border with Ukraine and Belarus. I appreciate it wont want to stray over Ukraine like it has been before the troops entered but I can't help but think that something else is brewing in Belarus.
brocola
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Haha my confidential “sources” (Wikipedia, twitter and Google) 
I think it’s about 300ish miles, depending on which sensors are being used. There are a few factors which impact the range:
- at 50-6000ft, curvature of the earth gives you about 280 miles line of sight
- weather obviously is a huge restricting factor with optical sensors
- electronic emissions sensors (radar, radio, cellphones etc) aren’t as affected by weather, plus if you’re lucky, I think you can capture emissions that bounce a bit past the horizon.
Without getting too far off topic, I’m assuming they’re checking Mr Belarus is staying in his box. Not great track record in that camp for sticking to their promises.
The other unknown is the South West of Ukraine, which I’m assuming& hoping some “invisible” sensor platforms have their eyes on. Especially given the fears of amphibious landings near Odessa, installing more Russian “peacekeepers” into Transnistra region or even going the whole hog into Moldova (which will likely rub Romania up the wrong way big time)
We saw a little slice of the NATO concerns the other morning, with a Rivet Joint, E3 AWACS and Combat Sentry all over Romania at the same time, but haven’t noticed them down that area much since, except for FORTE, the tankers refuelling fighters and the B52s today.
I think it’s about 300ish miles, depending on which sensors are being used. There are a few factors which impact the range:
- at 50-6000ft, curvature of the earth gives you about 280 miles line of sight
- weather obviously is a huge restricting factor with optical sensors
- electronic emissions sensors (radar, radio, cellphones etc) aren’t as affected by weather, plus if you’re lucky, I think you can capture emissions that bounce a bit past the horizon.
Without getting too far off topic, I’m assuming they’re checking Mr Belarus is staying in his box. Not great track record in that camp for sticking to their promises.
The other unknown is the South West of Ukraine, which I’m assuming& hoping some “invisible” sensor platforms have their eyes on. Especially given the fears of amphibious landings near Odessa, installing more Russian “peacekeepers” into Transnistra region or even going the whole hog into Moldova (which will likely rub Romania up the wrong way big time)
We saw a little slice of the NATO concerns the other morning, with a Rivet Joint, E3 AWACS and Combat Sentry all over Romania at the same time, but haven’t noticed them down that area much since, except for FORTE, the tankers refuelling fighters and the B52s today.
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brocola
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And just in case anyone is concerned, I don’t have any links to anyone in the military, everything I post is already public knowledge on the internet. I’m an IT geek and flight simmer who grew up on RAF bases during the back end of the Cold War, so for me it’s similar to trainspotting (I guess?). Although right now, it’s harrowing that this is affecting real people, husbands, wives and children on both sides.
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brocola
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And the weirdest thing is that it took a motorhome forum to get me into watching planes on FR24. What’s that about? 
Silver-Fox
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And the weirdest thing is that it took a motorhome forum to get me into watching planes on FR24. What’s that about?
That’s just weird
brocola
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Couple of weirdo call signs
I think this might be a US P8 Poseidon checking for subs - they seem to hang around at 20k ft at roughly 300ish knots
I think this might be a US P8 Poseidon checking for subs - they seem to hang around at 20k ft at roughly 300ish knots
brocola
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No idea what this one is. At 550ish knots, way too fast for a Global Hawk and I think a P8.
Update: def Russian Federation - Antonov AN-24KPA. Think it’s a surveillance aircraft.
Update: def Russian Federation - Antonov AN-24KPA. Think it’s a surveillance aircraft.
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I really do hope it's a case of "seen as we can't risk flying in Ukranian airspace we be as well keeping an eye on Belarus" but it does seem to be spending a rather large amount of time there. For what it's worth I don't think we can shrug off a no fly zone for too much longer. Putin is getting too strong a grip in there at the moment.Haha my confidential “sources” (Wikipedia, twitter and Google)
I think it’s about 300ish miles, depending on which sensors are being used. There are a few factors which impact the range:
- at 50-6000ft, curvature of the earth gives you about 280 miles line of sight
- weather obviously is a huge restricting factor with optical sensors
- electronic emissions sensors (radar, radio, cellphones etc) aren’t as affected by weather, plus if you’re lucky, I think you can capture emissions that bounce a bit past the horizon.
Without getting too far off topic, I’m assuming they’re checking Mr Belarus is staying in his box. Not great track record in that camp for sticking to their promises.
The other unknown is the South West of Ukraine, which I’m assuming& hoping some “invisible” sensor platforms have their eyes on. Especially given the fears of amphibious landings near Odessa, installing more Russian “peacekeepers” into Transnistra region or even going the whole hog into Moldova (which will likely rub Romania up the wrong way big time)
We saw a little slice of the NATO concerns the other morning, with a Rivet Joint, E3 AWACS and Combat Sentry all over Romania at the same time, but haven’t noticed them down that area much since, except for FORTE, the tankers refuelling fighters and the B52s today.
Back on topic I will be keeping an eye out for this bad boy....
Flight path looks like it should be coming right over me shortly, I'm just outside Aberdeen.
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