Long live the Viper...

Bushmaster78FS

Bushmaster78FS

Well-Known Member
More than likely if you are crew or an athlete or a reporter or know a senator very close etc etc I wish I could get a ride as well but heard approval comes from pretty high up...
 
Cptnchia

Cptnchia

Dissatisfied Customer
Which model though? The Mark II or Mark VII?

Mark II
Viper_MK2_by_MclatchyT.jpg


Mark VII
viper.jpg



Oh wait, you didn't mean Colonial Vipers?
 
MikeD

MikeD

Administrator
Staff member
Bushmaster78FS said:
Given how much I am in love with the F-16
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I didn't know your taste was that bad.......

What do you like about it, it's large payload? Or it's amazing on-station time?

When I was a FAC, I could count on F-16s to give me little in station time or accuracy. But to be fair, that was back with dumb munitions mostly. Now, they have LGBs and GPS guided munitions to take care of that issue. At least they can claim they carry more than a Harrier.

"We came, we saw, we bingo'd out". :)
 
Hacker15e

Hacker15e

Blue Eyed Murder in a Size 46L Uniform
Bushmaster78FS said:
F-16 doesn't really resemble the Galactica's Vipers, I wonder who first came up with the nick...
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General Dynamics...and it had to do with the 'snake' naming convention at the time (recall that the YF-16 was in the Lightweight Fighter competition against the Northrop YF-17 Cobra).

In addition, the GD folks thought that the 16's 'space age' FBW and avionics were a bit like Starbuck's ride.
 
Mark815

Mark815

Well-Known Member
I don't mean to get political in this thread, but what's the point of spending billions of dollars on new jets like the F35 and F22 if we're going to just continue to pour money into our current fleet? I really don't understand the thought process. If these airframes are still good, why not just continue upgrading and stop wasting money on the F35?
 
dasleben

dasleben

That's just, like, your opinion, man
My stepdad used to work on F-16s as a civilian working for GE. What amazed me most about the thing was when the motor was taken out of it, half the airplane was gone. That airplane is basically an engine with wings and a cockpit attached to it.

Of course, while I was growing up he worked at Miramar in the days of the F-14. Being able to go in and see F-14s up close, and even sit in the cockpit from time to time, was amazing as a 10 year old. All hail the F-14! I still remember the distinctive smell of the JP-5(?). And the sound...oh man...

f14.jpg


Looking at my career so far, the only disappointment I have is not being able to fly fighters.
 
bunk22

bunk22

Well-Known Member
MikeD said:
I didn't know your taste was that bad.......

What do you like about it, it's large payload? Or it's amazing on-station time?

When I was a FAC, I could count on F-16s to give me little in station time or accuracy. But to be fair, that was back with dumb munitions mostly. Now, they have LGBs and GPS guided munitions to take care of that issue. At least they can claim they carry more than a Harrier.

"We came, we saw, we bingo'd out". :)
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I imagine the Hornet was worse! Though I love the looks of the Viper, hot little plane! I've always wondered what it would be to fly a high performance jet of any kind. I fly a jet but it's at best a medium performance, low to medium performance jet actually. Leaves a lot to be desired.
 
ryan1234

ryan1234

Desensitized Member
MikeD said:
I didn't know your taste was that bad.......

What do you like about it, it's large payload? Or it's amazing on-station time?

When I was a FAC, I could count on F-16s to give me little in station time or accuracy. But to be fair, that was back with dumb munitions mostly. Now, they have LGBs and GPS guided munitions to take care of that issue. At least they can claim they carry more than a Harrier.

"We came, we saw, we bingo'd out". :)
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Well, in all fairness I didn't think the original Sprey / Boyd-ian concept really had anything to do with dropping bombs. The same way the beloved A-10 was conceptualized.... straight to the point, fairly inexpensive and easy to produce... right?
 
///AMG

///AMG

Well-Known Member
bunk22 said:
I imagine the Hornet was worse! Though I love the looks of the Viper, hot little plane! I've always wondered what it would be to fly a high performance jet of any kind. I fly a jet but it's at best a medium performance, low to medium performance jet actually. Leaves a lot to be desired.
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From what I've seen thus far (and not talking about the CAS arena here), we have about the same endurance as a Viper with centerline, or an Eagle with two drops. Aside from the F-15 dudes having to burn the tanks dry before fighting, it seems like everyone pretty much has to bingo around the same time, though those actual fuel numbers differ.......IIRC it was like a 5.0 for the -15C's, a 4.0 for us, and like a 2.5 for the Vipers when we were at Tyndall. I'm sure the Eagle *could* stay on station longer than either of us little guys if we are talking about non-tactical airspeeds though.
 
Hacker15e

Hacker15e

Blue Eyed Murder in a Size 46L Uniform
Mark815 said:
If these airframes are still good, why not just continue upgrading and stop wasting money on the F35?
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We did not buy enough F-35s to replace all the other legacy fighters needed to maintain our overall capability.

The elephant in the room, though, is that the legacy airframes (not just the Viper) are all becoming more obsolete every day. There aren't enough avionics upgrades in the world to make up for airframes that are simply outclassed and overworked compared to other red and gray frontline fighters. IMHO, they're adequate at best until the next decade.
 
Hacker15e

Hacker15e

Blue Eyed Murder in a Size 46L Uniform
dasleben said:
That airplane is basically an engine with wings and a cockpit attached to it.
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The original design was a pretty faithful manifestation of the Boyd theory. That made it a fierce dogfighter -- the A models are probably still the best in the world short of anything with vectored thrust.
 
MikeD

MikeD

Administrator
Staff member
dasleben said:
My stepdad used to work on F-16s as a civilian working for GE. What amazed me most about the thing was when the motor was taken out of it, half the airplane was gone. That airplane is basically an engine with wings and a cockpit attached to it.
Click to expand...

The best engine with wings and stuff attached is the F-104.

ryan1234 said:
Well, in all fairness I didn't think the original Sprey / Boyd-ian concept really had anything to do with dropping bombs. The same way the beloved A-10 was conceptualized.... straight to the point, fairly inexpensive and easy to produce... right?
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Originally, yes. Now the A-10 is nothing more than a slow F-16, what with the glass upgrades, consent to release, JDAMs and LGBs, etc.

Hacker15e said:
The original design was a pretty faithful manifestation of the Boyd theory. That made it a fierce dogfighter -- the A models are probably still the best in the world short of anything with vectored thrust.
Click to expand...

Got to fly in a Block 10 B model back in the day. The original Blocks that were nothing more than a centerline bag, two heaters and a gun. That thing was maneuverable as hell. You look at the Block 60s now with the CFTs, and they don't even look like an F-16 anymore.
 
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