another interesting thing:
my dad and a few of his coworkers at GD brainstormed the precursor the the GPS guided bomb. And this was using components off the shelf (save for the gps transceiver that was "borrowed" from a reserve base due to one of the people being a reservist). They patched it up to a F-16 and were able to steer it to a place by inputting coordinates. This was in the '80's, BTW. The men in suits from the Pentagon saw this toy, snatched it up along with all research notes, and swore them to secrecy (until the GPS bomb came out to the public of course). Funny thing is this wasn't developed with a big contract, just an idea. My father, being a F111 jock just a few years earlier, knew all the "ins and outs" of the bomb tech in those days and the team put GPS and BOMB together. This same tech went into not just the bombs, but the tomahawk as well.

Another interesting note is that Military research has pretty much been dry for a long time, since Clinton took office. All the stuff in use now was developed or researched in the cold war...including predator drones and the like.

 

FYI: I was on the Tomahawk design team and that was back in the 70's! I don't doubt your story as I'm sure it happened. I just think dad might have stumbled onto something we we're already developing. There were a number of different cruise missle designs back then. As in many decisions, the Tomahawk won out. (It wasn't my first choice)

Politics enters into many of these types of designs, and not just government politics. Beta was superior to VHS, yet VHS became the world standard. History is replete with people making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons. Our govt. doesn't hold the patent on bad choices.

I wish I knew more about the 22 and 23 so I could join in that discussion, but the F-18 was my last project. (Also in the 70's)

I remember slightly similar arguments between the F-15 and F-16 proponents. Truth is, they were very different aircraft built for completely different types of missions.

Now... how 'bout some more cool pictures of planes???

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by steven975
another interesting thing:
my dad and a few of his coworkers at GD brainstormed the precursor the the GPS guided bomb.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by C-Bass

 

yes, i know the tomahawk was developed in the 70's, but the GPS guidance idea was not. that was later. They were not guided by GPS for quite a while. I didn't say my dad helped develop the tomahawk (he was in the service at that time), I said he and a team of coworkers (this was NOT even an official GD project!) developed the proof of concept that eventually led to the gps guided bomb and cruise missile.

 

I have to admit, the F-16 and F-15 are some great jets. Especially the F-15, its capabilities are all around in any weather ranging from the F-15A to the F-15E, and now the Super Hornet is somewhat is pretty new and fast.
Anyone else remember the F-14 (which is soon to go out of commission)? Wow what was the speed on it? mach 2.3? 6 Pheonix missiles (ability to hit targets 100 miles away) and also sidewinders, AARAAMS and 2 25mm guns i think. That bird was PACKED!

I dont really see a need for the F-22's or F-23 really because our planes are so technologically advanced, we dwarf most countries' airforces. Not that I dont like the F-22/23's, I just think we've spent a tad much money on em.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by steve c

 

steven, I think you may have misinterpreted my post. I wasn't disputing anything you said. It's just that I knew the GPS missile concept preceded the eighties.

You are correct about GPS and the cruise missile as well. The initial Tomahawk got close to it's target with a pretty basic inertial nav system. Once close, they homed in on their target very precisely using a photo matrix recognition system. (It was pretty cool stuff at the time and worked well as long as the target was fixed in its environment)

I watched the Bond movie "Never Say Never Again" the other night and it had the best visual representation of how the old cruise missiles worked. (Even though it was complete fiction)

Like the SR-71, it's amazing what those engineers could do before we had computers to do the analysis and number crunching for us. I was just a kid fresh out of the service who was lucky enough to be around to watch.

Along those lines... I strongly recommend the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" (now out on DVD) It told the astronauts story, but the behind the scenes guys as well. Those were exciting times when we were the envy of the world.



Talk about speed and horsepower!

 

Since someone mentioned the F 14 (another personal favorite...)




It looked even better with the wings swept back!

 

Your wish is my command.

I once had a woman who claimed to have been abducted by aliens tell me that anyone who wasn't a complete idiot could never mistake an airplane for a flying saucer. Take a look at these two pictures and see what you guys think.