R.I.P. F-14 Tomcat....

[Dr Mordrid]

Today's the last operational flight of the F-14 Tomcat, the top line carrier fighter since the 1970's;

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-22-F14-tomcat_x.htm

It's role will be filled and extended by the current F/A-18F Super Hornet, upcoming F-35 Lightning and possibly Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS).




DARPA/Northrop Grumman Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS), aka: X47B Pegasus

[Nowhere]

And with it goes away something that was apparently first microporcessor...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F14_CADC

(although apparently it wasn't used in later versions in F-14...)

[KvHagedorn]

Time to call Air Force Surplus.

[Jessterw]

Well, at least now Iran has a possible source of parts for their miniscule squadron of F-14's.

[Elie]

[Dr Mordrid]

Well, at least now Iran has a possible source of parts for their miniscule squadron of F-14's.

Actually not. Parts are being secured so they can't be diverted. Iran will have to do with Mirage and/or Migs, since France & Russia don't give a damn about supplying terrorist nations.

[jms]

... since France & Russia don't give a damn about supplying terrorist nations.

I know of other countries who do the same. Some of these blow up in your face later.

[Dr Mordrid]

You really think we can't disable the gear we export? You should ask Saddam about that

[jms]

You really think we can't disable the gear we export? You should ask Saddam about that

lol, your kidding? Examples please?

[Dr Mordrid]

In Gulf War 1 lots of Saddams ops computers mysteriously crashed just as the war started. Their printers had been 'equipped' with processors that added a few extra 'features' before they were shipped

FYI the Pentagon/DoD has a whole wing devoted to 'Information Warfare' and control of select exported hardware, military and some civilian, is part of that.

[jms]

In Gulf War 1 lots of Saddams ops computers mysteriously crashed just as the war started. Their printers had been 'equipped' with processors that added a few extra 'features' before they were shipped

FYI the Pentagon/DoD has a whole wing devoted to such 'Information Warfare' and control of exported hardware, military and some civilian, is part of that.

So you say that eg. our old F16's could be turned to bricks through some sort of software backdoor? omg

The Norwegian air-force is in the midst of upgrading their fleet and the Joint Strike Fighter is one of the hottest candidates in front of the Eurofighter and SAAB Gripen. Guess we should not buy the JSF then. Not because I think the US would turn them off ( as we're the best of friends ), but I see this as a very serious security issue. What if a terrorist hacker shuts it down?

btw the US must use this backdoor on their exported cars quite often, as they break down all the time hehe sorry couldn't resist.

[Dr Mordrid]

It's not as easy as you presume, and I doubt Norway is a threat. This kind of thing would be used in gear that could potentially end up in the wrong hands and is done in conjunction with other governments.

Also: the F-35 Lightning (JSF) is an international project, so you can bet everyone is on the same page.

As for US cars, these days a lot of the engines, transmissions, emission controls & electronics are imported from Japan, Europe, Korea etc. so....

This is especially the case with Daimler-Chrysler, but GM & Ford cars are approaching 45% imported content (mostly mechanical/electronic) too. This fall the trend expands with D-C starting production of a transmission that has all the Hybrid electric motors & controllers built in.

This was co-designed with BMW & GM and allows existing platforms to be converted to Hybrid by adding a 300 v. battery pack & the new tranny.

[Nowhere]

Docm apparently not everyone is one the same page...

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/03/16/014207.shtml

Not only the UK, somewhere in the cooments is also the situation with Australia

BTW, what's exactly the point about importet car components? It migh be understood in few ways...

[Dr Mordrid]

jms made a comment about our car components being 'switchable', and I reminded him that a huge percentage of our cars are actually made from imported parts. Throwing in the new hybrid tranny was sauce for the goose

Guess the Brits are squeemish, but my guess is that this will be settled. Too much money being made on both sides. Still, it confirms my point about a lot of our H/W being 'under control'.

The whole idea is to prevent something happening like what happened with Iran in 1978-79; the ayatollahs took over and got a bunch of state of the art US fighters sold to the Shaw.

While I'm sure the Brits won't be going that direction (well...there is this little immigration problem they have...hmmm) it's possible that one could be 'appropriated' from one of their overseas bases or during combat. Hell...our own planes have those controls for that very reason.

[Nowhere]

The thing is...I don't imagine how it can be settled in other way than to admitting Britts are really partners in this program, not some subcontractor/etc. But apparently someone in US doesn't want that.
Plus comments, in the ongoing linked discussion, that such lock-in is in line with somebody in US saying that they plan to "monopolise" arms industry.
I wonder how the issue, if it would still exist, will be treated here. After all getting F-16s now is intermediate step to getting on JSF bandwagon. I think it depends whether we're seen as partners or simply as allies (and I wonder to which one of these the "gifts" point (few hundred new humvees, few new Herculeses and two frigates))

And...why exactly the thing about imported car parts was in response to lack of reliability of US cars?...