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Brutal_HO

The Mad Irishman
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Brutal_HO

The Mad Irishman
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In the summer of 1988, I was along on a joint maneuver (US Army / USAF) in West Germany. We popped a smoke grenade in a field and out of nowhere two A-10’s rose over a hill and completely unloaded on us (practice rounds). It was absolutely terrifying and exhilarating. On that day, I also got to ride in one of the very first HMMWV’s released to the military for general service. It was a good day for sure.

Cool. I rotated out of Germany in 1984. I ETS out in late '87 from Ft. Riley (1st ID) and seem to recall HMMWVs rolling in before leaving. For a GP we had one of them damn useless CUCVs. Best truck ever was the 70's Dodge W200 CCLB 4x4 "radio van" we had in DE. Got a speeding ticket on the Autobahn while pulling a trailer balls to the wall at 90MPH.
 

Rick3478

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Well, they are burning jet fuel anyway. As far as guns making it "leaky".... An F-16 has a M61A1 20mm Gatlin cannon that rips out somewhere around 6k rounds a minute. I think it would do more than poke holes.

The F-16's "official" ceiling seems to be around 50,000 feet, and what it will really do may be a bit more, but we are told the "china balloon" was flying at 60,000, so that may be a range and accuracy challenge in itself.

Also, the minimum speed of a fighter jet, especially at altitude, is orders of magnitude greater than a balloon's aerial drift, so the on-target time window, if any, would be very short.

And those bullets do fall to the ground, so you have to be careful where you use them.

I don't assume our pilots are idiots. If they had any guns that were better than an unlikely long shot, I think they'd have used them.
 

Rick3478

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$439,000 Sidewinder missile to take down a $12 balloon.

Sounds like a great use of taxpayer funds…….

Yeah, I suppose you'll have that happen from time to time - something the "experts" didn't see coming exposes a gap in coverage that looks obvious in retrospect. Given how much more stuff this generation and the next is putting into the skies, it seems to me that we might need at least a small quantity of high-altitude-capable "tug" or salvage drones. If if becomes necessary for them to be armed, this could even be the beginning of the blimp wars. :cool:
 

Jako

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Trooper4

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Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

FDNY lost 343 that day, currently over 300 deaths post 911.
I have ALWAYS thought that government entities, whether city, county, state or federal, have our best interests, including health, education, and security, as their top priority and best interests over their own political well being.
!!!!NOT!!!!
Now that I have that bull$h!^ out of the way, lets have some sirius fun.
 

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