B2 bombers deployed in UK

grumpysculler · 10 Jun 2014 at 12:28

Sliver said:
Drones are useful, but they can never replace a dedicated strike fighter/bomber in a war zone.

Strike is one of the missions where UAVs are likely to replace manned platforms.

Intercept and CAP are far harder to take the man out of the cockpit, strike missions are very well suited to unmanned platforms (the technology for this is just emerging on both sides of the Atlantic).

Sliver said:
There is no maybe. Also not just stealth. Avionics and weaponry too.

Lol. The US is so far ahead that they buy some of their avionics from the UK. The primes are US to keep the politicians happy, but the technology is UK is several cases.

Spursingham · 10 Jun 2014 at 12:31

gettothechopper said:
are you magnolia?

Who's Magnolia?

Stretch · 10 Jun 2014 at 13:31

bitslice said:
So Putin takes back a small country that has a majority of Russians in it anyway, I'm not particulary upset or worried by this.

Obama plays at brinkmanship using nuclear weapons, this I'm worried about.

The situation has been handled pretty well by the US and EU. The pressure has been almost entirely diplomatic/economic and it appears to have largely worked without antagonising the entire Russian population.

You might not be worried, but you live in the UK, 100s of miles away from the Russian boarder, is a stable country with a significant military.

The current military build up is there to reassure NATO members in the east, who are worried about Russian aggression, and rightly so.

Sliver · 10 Jun 2014 at 14:02

grumpysculler said:
Lol. The US is so far ahead that they buy some of their avionics from the UK. The primes are US to keep the politicians happy, but the technology is UK is several cases.

So you're saying the US is behind or equal to the UK in avionics/aircraft/weaponry ? Seriously, don't post if you have no idea what you're talking about. I served in the R.A.F. and had the opportunity to work with US Air Force on a detachment, and I feel I know what I'm talking about.

Xordium · 10 Jun 2014 at 14:39

Stretch said:
The current military build up is there to reassure NATO members in the east, who are worried about Russian aggression, and rightly so.

Russian aggression. Really? That is just back to Cold War thinking. There is a big difference between regaining access to peninsula with a mainly Russian demographic that just happens to house the base for Black Sea fleet and them marching across the whole of Europe. The only time there ever did that is after they were attacked in WW2. They had ample opportunity to do that in the 70s and 80s when they had a massive superiority and yet they never did.

murah · 10 Jun 2014 at 14:53

2 x UK based nuclear capable B2 bombers. fantastic Coldwar 2.0 inc

Terminal_Boy · 10 Jun 2014 at 14:53

grumpysculler said:
Lol. The US is so far ahead that they buy some of their avionics from the UK. The primes are US to keep the politicians happy, but the technology is UK is several cases.

Maybe the US Department of Defence procurement team is smart enough to know that it's cheaper to buy a few proven products from British avionics manufacturers to meet an urgent operational need rather than spend years and a fat bag of cash developing their own solution.

Outcast · 10 Jun 2014 at 15:06

Bit of a useless factoid for yaz...

Back around the turn of the millennium I was working for Castle Cement...
We were pumping 1000 tonnes of raw cement per 24 hours for a non stop operation to renew the runway at Fairford.

This went on for TWO YEARS, 24 hours a day.

What's the mix to make cement ?

Viz the scene... Huge silos that we were blowing raw cement into.. HUMONGOUS cement mixer type batching plant.. Perpetually mixing.

No cement mixer lorries... Too small. Instead they used vast convoys of 30 tonne tipper trucks to pour the cement in.. ie: "Just tip it there and we'll do the rest" (Runway)

as said.. 24 hours a day for two years.

There's more than a runway at Fairford !! (nudge nudge)

grumpysculler · 10 Jun 2014 at 15:18

Sliver said:
So you're saying the US is behind or equal to the UK in avionics/aircraft/weaponry ?

No, I said that in some areas our industrial capability is similar to theirs and they are not decades ahead, although some of their in service aircraft are.

Seriously, don't post if you have no idea what you're talking about.

This is GD. Posting when you don't know what you are talking about is encouraged.

I do know what I am talking about. I referred to industrial capability and explicitly not in service aircraft.

Westyfield2 · 10 Jun 2014 at 19:51

The B2 is just amazing, loved it when they had one at RIAT Fairford :cool:

.

Tefal · 10 Jun 2014 at 19:55

Haggisman said:
Whilst I do appreciate these are magnificent feats of engineering, and extremely impressive aircraft, I do have to wonder whether "cool" is entirely the correct response to a) having nuclear capable bombers deployed here, and more importantly b) the circumstances which mean deploying them is seen as the right thing to do!

Although I guess a nuclear winter would be "cool" in a sense...

everything down to a eurofighter is a nuclear capable bomber these days.

including all our bombers

Tefal · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:00

murah said:
2 x UK based nuclear capable B2 bombers. fantastic Coldwar 2.0 inc

they don't have nukes they're just conventional bombers that have a higher survival chance for operating in the Ukraine.

bitslice · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:04

Thompson_NCL said:
We didn't bribe Ukraine to do anything, no idea where you're getting that from.

cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/buntim11.pdf

"The United States made a commitment [in 1968] to the effect generally that countries that subscribe to the NPT that were subjected to nuclear threats would have a friend in court, if you will, in the United States in the sense that we would bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council."

Sounds like a bribe?

sunama · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:12

Was the B2 first unveiled in 1988?

If you really want to see an uber new air craft, the unmanned drones are where a lot of r+d is being invested.

The B2 Bomber looks remarkably like the German built Horten Ho 229, which was built out of wood in the early 40s.

Fuggan · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:13

What a plane:

areksnumbr1sxylady · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:15

If we go to war with Russia, those planes wouldnt even have time to scramble.

Tefal · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:18

areksnumbr1sxylady said:
If we go to war with Russia, those planes wouldnt even have time to scramble.

depends how alert they are and more importantly who starts the war

Kosmiche · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:24

Why is military aircraft always on the cusp of technological advancement yet passenger aircraft is 30-40 years old?

Yes there was the Dreamliner but there doesn't seem to be any advancement in general whatsoever. Boeing 747 is still the most used civilian jet afaik?

bitslice · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:26

Eames said:
Yes there was the Dreamliner but there doesn't seem to be any advancement in general whatsoever. Boeing 747 is still the most used civilian jet afaik?

We went straight from boring old square windows to nice new round windows, what more do you want??? :confused:

It's reactionary thinking like that which brought in cupholders,
and cupholders have resulted in more crashes than UFO's

Tefal · 10 Jun 2014 at 20:28

Eames said:
Why is military aircraft always on the cusp of technological advancement yet passenger aircraft is 30-40 years old?

Yes there was the Dreamliner but there doesn't seem to be any advancement in general whatsoever. Boeing 747 is still the most used civilian jet afaik?

350xwb is considerably better than the dream liner, and doesn't catch fire.

but the carbon fiber is ****ing terrible to work with doing my 350 awareness course atm, the stuff makes you itch like hell and hen you blow your nose it comes out black unless you keep our gas mask on al lthe time (so much for tool tip dust elimination)