F-117A retiring. A world mourns.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Dauphin
One word. Eurofighter!

LOL

[Dauphin]

No-one will take down an A380 with the Eurofighter to escort it, that's for sure.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Dauphin
No-one will take down an A380 with the Eurofighter to escort it, that's for sure.

It's hard to shoot down that which will never get off the ground.

[Elok]

What's a eurofighter? It sounds like some sort of overseas equivalent of the Osprey, America's ongoing attempt to build the most needlessly complicated transport possible. At least, I assume the Osprey is needlessly complicated; perhaps there is some reason why they need to have wings that swivel downward in midflight, though I doubt it. Is this Eurofighter equally stupid, or just a casualty of funding concerns?

EDIT: The wings swivel DOWN in midflight, Elok. Durr.

[Asher]

[q]What's a eurofighter? It sounds like some sort of overseas equivalent of the Osprey, America's ongoing attempt to build the most needlessly complicated transport possible. At least, I assume the Osprey is needlessly complicated; perhaps there is some reason why they need to have wings that swivel upward in midflight, though I doubt it./q]
Errr. Marine transport?

Take off from tons of small ships, land/drop troops on a beach...move way faster in the air than a helicopter?

[Elok]

Yes, but is there some compelling reason why they can't just have a rotor and wings with jet engines? Y'know, kind of like the autogyro, which has been around for decades now? I don't know anything about engineering, but the existence of autogyros implies to me that the idea is not unfeasible; just slowly kill off power on one while starting up the other, instead of swiveling the wings around.

While I admire their determination to make the exact same engines function as helicopter rotors and airplane propellers, and I admit "Transformers" was a pretty cool cartoon, you'd think after over a decade in problematic development they'd switch to something less nucking futs. But it seems, according to Wikipedia at least, that the Osprey will at last begin service in 2007. No doubt it will have a long and illustrious Marine-killing career. But I guess it makes the analogy invalid. Oh well, I suppose I'll go look up "eurofighter."

[Kuciwalker]

Yes, but is there some compelling reason why they can't just have a rotor and wings with jet engines? Y'know, kind of like the autogyro, which has been around for decades now? I don't know anything about engineering, but the existence of autogyros implies to me that the idea is not unfeasible; just slowly kill off power on one while starting up the other, instead of swiveling the wings around.

I'm pretty sure that the rotor kills performance at high speeds.

[Asher]

Eurofighter is the laughably bad airplane as the result of European Bureaucracy, Management, and Engineering. Imagine if the UN designed an airplane, that's what it'd be like.

[Elok]

And I suppose a retractable rotor isn't feasible? Or less so than rotating wings? And just having a shunt for the engines like the Harrier is out? Or some other sort of non-helicopter means of upward propulsion?

What's baffling to me is that this thing has all sorts of problems imposed by its weird design--it's actually incapable of a normal takeoff or landing, for example. Yet the damned thing has stuck around for longer than the B-2 Bomber did. It has actually been in development for as long as the F-117A's entire career!

[Lord Avalon]

A retractable rotor would take away cargo space, plus if normal rotors aren't already high-maintenance enough, one that can fold up and retract in flight would be even worse.

Jets probably aren't feasible - I would think the fuel consumption would be too high. Plus disembarking troops while blasting jet exhaust downward is not a good mix.

Research antigrav technology!

[Kuciwalker]

And I suppose a retractable rotor isn't feasible?

I'm having difficult picturing how that would work at all.

[Odin]

It's been in service for 25 years already?

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Colon™
What an ugly plane.

QFT

[Arrian]

It's so ugly it's cool, see. Certain things go right past ugly and come back 'round into beautiful.

-Arrian

[Asher]

French airplanes.

French style.