Any guesses on how many....

[Azwed]

Fighters were over washington tonight.


My guess one squadron of F-16's for close in work.

One squadron of F-15's for intecreption and at least one AWACS for support.

 

[Sad Man]

Has washington been invaded or something? Why would you need awacs in Washington not to mention F15's and F16's!!

 

[Azwed]

Well lets see.

Bush is speaking to a joint session of congress. The VP is there along with most of the cabinet. All of congress is there. The joint chiefs are there. Probably most of the supreme court justices are there too.

That woudl be one hell of a target for a terrorist.

I mean that would be 95% of the federal governments top posts gone.

 

[ohiobbw]

True.

I was taught in my high school goverment class that there is always one person who does not go to the meetings (the person changes all of the time) so that if something would happen there would be someone to run the country.

 

[Sad Man]

Bush is speaking to a joint session of congress. The VP is there along with most of the cabinet. All of congress is there. The joint chiefs are there. Probably most of the supreme court justices are there too.

I wouldn't want the responsibility of running security for that!!!

 

[morninggirl5]

Actually Vice President Cheyney was not there tonight. The reason --- Security. As President of the Senate, he would have been seated behind the President with Rep. Hastert, the Speaker of the House. The other cabinet member who was absent was Tommy Thompson, Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff and the full Supreme Court were in attendance, so all three branches of our government were in one place at one time. Security was much tighter than usual for Presidential speeches to Congress.

 

[scylis]

at least a squadron of F-16s overhead for close in protection, at least a squadron each of F-15s and F-18s patroling outside the city for all-around coverage, and another squadron of F-14s for long range interception. AWACS, AE-6s, Vikings, Hawkeyes, and all the other support units lending a hand and keeping their electronic eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Navy planes on standby on the deck of the carrier that is in the area (forget which one), all Air Force and Marine squadrons close at hand ready to go at a moments notice, and all Army and Marine ground units close at hand on standby.

and Dick Cheney stashed away at a secured location well away from Capitol Hill.

 

[Azwed]

True.

I was taught in my high school goverment class that there is always one person who does not go to the meetings (the person changes all of the time) so that if something would happen there would be someone to run the country.

Yeah he/she is called the designated survivor. If any of you have read the Tom Clancy novel Debt of honor then you know what would have happend. In the book a 747 was rammed into the capital during a speech like this.

 

[YoungGun69]

Click here to see the tanks on the way to war.

the pics are huge so I cant post them here

 

[Azwed]

Those aren't tanks. They are Bradley armored personel carriers.

Sometimes called bradley fighting vehicles.

They can hold mechanized infantry and give supporting fire to tanks and light infantry. They are fairly powerful vehicles but the think I never understood is that their armor is aluminum. WTF aluminum armor.

HBO did a movie about the bradley back in 1998. I forget what it was called but it had Kelsey Kramer(sp) you know the guy from fraizer and the guy from robin hood men in tights in it. It was a good movie showed all the problems they had with the Bradley and how many billions of dollars it cost to develop it. Defense department bloat at its finest.

 

[Problem Child]

Those aren't tanks. They are Bradley armored personel carriers.

Sometimes called bradley fighting vehicles.

They can hold mechanized infantry and give supporting fire to tanks and light infantry. They are fairly powerful vehicles but the think I never understood is that their armor is aluminum. WTF aluminum armor.

HBO did a movie about the bradley back in 1998. I forget what it was called but it had Kelsey Kramer(sp) you know the guy from fraizer and the guy from robin hood men in tights in it. It was a good movie showed all the problems they had with the Bradley and how many billions of dollars it cost to develop it. Defense department bloat at its finest.

The reason for aluminum armor is that it's pretty tough to get an armored vehicle to travel at 50 mph over rough terrain if you make it out of steel. They need to keep up with M1 tanks, which are powered by 1500 hp gas turbine engine.

The Bradley did have it's problems during development, but is a pretty deadly weapon, and all of its earlier problems have been corrected. The aluminum armor is supplemented by interior kevlar liners and it is protected against everything except anti-tank weapons.

It's primary function is scouting and the delivery of infantry to the battle and support of those troops, and it isn't designed to go head to head with main battle tanks.

 

[Azwed]

Yeah I know all that it still just boggles my mind. I would feel naked as hell in an aluminum armored APC. Even with the laminated armor and the Kevlar there are still some armor piercing rounds that would punch through that. Not neccesarily fired by tanks either. Ahh but i digress Bradleys should not be out alone with out Abrahms support anyway, so that should not happen.

 

[Problem Child]

I used to scout in an M-113. Same aluminum armor, no 25mm chain gun, and a tow missile launcher that was much harder to use than the ones on the Bradleys, and all this without the protection of the turret. That's vulnerable.

The biggest disadvantage of the Bradley from a reconnaisance standpoint is that it's over ten feet tall, which makes it a good target.

 

[Azwed]

I used to scout in an M-113. Same aluminum armor, no 25mm chain gun, and a tow missile launcher that was much harder to use than the ones on the Bradleys, and all this without the protection of the turret. That's vulnerable.

The biggest disadvantage of the Bradley from a reconnaisance standpoint is that it's over ten feet tall, which makes it a good target.

Ackk that would really be naked. Yeah I always thought the Bradleys sat kind of high. They are taller then the Abrahams aren't they?

 

[Problem Child]

It's a good two feet taller than the M-1, basically because they tried to fit a small tank turret onto an armored personnel carrier chassis.

It's still a hell of an improvement over the old M-113 though.

 

[bluntforcemama]

Oh, all this talk of armored aluminum and chain guns is making me frisky.

 

[Basia]

I have a question, and it might, or is, a dumb one.

You know that stuff that they make the black boxes out of, well, why can't they make an entire plane or building out of it? I mean, it is indistructable, after all.

 

[Azwed]

They are not indestructable they are just very durable. I think they use a type of titanium alloy for the outer shell, then probably lots of flame proof material coating that. The real reason the recorders are so strong is because all the materials inside the box are solid state. There aren't any moving parts in there to get damaged when a plane crashes.

Titaniums is used in many planes, because it is light and very strong. It is also very very expensive so thats why it is not used more often.

Some of the huge heavy lifting transport craft have titanium floors. I am not sure if the Galaxy does, that is the largest transport aircraft the us airforce has, I know the russians largest transport planes do. I don't remember their designations but I do remember their nato code names. The mediums sized one is called the condor and the largest one is called the dream. It has 6 jet engines and is what they use to carry their space shuttle around.

The A-10 Thunderbold II, also known as the warthog since it is so damn ugly, has a titanium armored bathtub that surrounds the pilot. SInce the A-10 is a ground attack plane that flies very slow they bathtub is their to protect the pilot as much as possible.

I will see if I can find some pictures of them



Here is one of the Condor.

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/an124/images/an124_2.jpg

this one gives you an idea of the size

http://www.bearcraft-online.com/museum/photos/b.14.4.jpg

Here is one of the dream or what the russians call the
An-225 "Mria" Cossack

http://www.bearcraft-online.com/museum/photos/b.19.0.jpg


http://www.bearcraft-online.com/museum/photos/b.19.3.jpg

here are some good links if you are interested in russian aircraft

where i got the pictures.
http://www.bearcraft-online.com/museum/museum.htm?mid=19

want to take a flight in a mig????

http://www.moscowaircraft.com/

 

[Azwed]

Pictures of A-10

Here is one of of the CANNON or at least the business end of it


http://www.a-10.org/photos/05.jpg

here are two more in flight with fuel pods


here is one just sitting still.

ackk those photos would not come up here is the URL of the index.

http://www.aero-web.org/specs/fairrepu/a-10a.htm



I can just imagine how the meeting at fairchild went when they designed this plane.

Ok guys we have this 20 foot long rotary cannon what can we do with it.

Well Mike we could shove it up Bob's ass.

*loud nerdy laughter*
I don't think even Bob's ass is that big.

*more nerdy nasal like laughter*

Hold on I will check.*mike pulls out his slide rule*

Ok what should we do with it.

I know lets design a plane around it.

Ok that sounds good.