Comments by "Orbital_Inclination" (@Orbital_Inclination) on "Legendary 809 Naval Air Squadron returns to operate elite F-35s" video.

  1.  @admiralmallard7500  it's amazing how many people don't understand this fact, and assume we intend to run both carriers at the same time 24/7
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  2. Why? The entire UK F-35 force is under 1 Group RAF anyway, regardless of the Sqn. They all have a mix of RAF and FAA personnel.
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  3. The RAF and FAA have shared pilots since at least the days of Joint Force Harrier. Why would they keep them separated when they do the same job in the same aircraft?
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  4.  @johnallen7807  Every generation of jets gets more expensive to buy and maintain, so that means we get less airframes for the same funding.
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  5. The UK is getting 72 in total. This is alongside 100 or so Typhoons
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  6.  @georgemorley1029  at the time, cuts needed to be made due to shrinking budget and a need for funding of replacement aircraft, and the Tornado was far more useful in the current conflict in Afghanistan.
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  7.  @dallasyap3064  there is a strong arguement for the RN retaining its own air arm, as it does, due to a better understanding of the maritime environment. This is the same reason attack helicopters working closely with ground forces are controlled by the Army Air Corps. Also, from a budgetary point of view, handing off aircraft to the RN frees up RAF money to spend on other things. That being said, for a force as small as the F-35 force, pooling resources between the RN and RAF allows for far greater flexibility. Coming under a single command (1 Group, RAF) allows for more efficient organisation too.
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  8. Outdated? 😂 Honestly, it's amazing you can look at most of the world and their 4th gen (at most) fleets, and yet call one of the most advanced aircraft in the world outdated
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  9. ​​ @johnallen7807 you do understand that the situation is somewhat different to Waterloo? We had an empire to exploit back then to fund it, which we no longer possess. The NHS would be in a much better state if more people give up smoking, drinking, lost weight and went for a jog once in a while, but this is the situation we live in. Expectation has to match reality.
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  10. ​ @cluckingbells correct, although no weapons drops because we haven't needed them to yet
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  11.  @stephencook6188  that was nothing to do with the pilot though, so we can forgive them that one
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  12. No, they've been flying for years. The recent flight trials involving HMS POW were for a new lighting system to aid with rolling vertical landings
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  13. ​ @alangunningham5667 how is that relevant? The production lines can only work so fast, so the fact we don't have all the aircraft we've ordered yet is nothing to do with the capabilities of the aircraft, but of the fact the production line is busy fulfilling thousands of orders.
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  14.  @1IbramGaunt  Inter-service rivalries in a professional military should be limited to sports/social events and crew room banter, not the actual business of warfighting.
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  15. Still under 1 Group RAF control 😉
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  16. ​ @gcarter1973 that's the range of an AMRAAM, and Meteor is even further, so it's entirely possible it will be a 100 mile engagement
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  17. ​ @gcarter1973 100 miles, so not exactly the WVR turning fight you seem to be imagining 😂
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  18. Top speed is generally irrelevant as a stat, because any fighter travelling supersonic without supercruise will empty its fuel tanks before it manages anything useful.
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  19. The carriers were originally designed for STOVL aircraft, with space left in case of the need for future CATOBAR conversion. That space was then taken up later in the design process
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  20. ​ @johnallen7807 what individual freedoms have you lost as a result of LGBT people, women and ethnic minorities being able to express themselves without fear of prejudice?
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  21. The plan is to have one carrier available at any given time, with the other in maintenance. We don't have the personnel to man both simultaneously, and it was never the plan to.
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  22.  @tomsoki5738  only 28 Sea Harriers were available for use in the Falklands, so the RAF supplied 14 GR.3s. We already have around 40 F-35 available, so a comparable sized fleet of far superior aircraft.
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  23. A mixed fleet would increase costs (low parts commonality, so essentially like operating two different aircraft types, plus no UK weapons integrated onto A variant), reduce force capability (less carrier-capable aircraft) and limit their utility (can't refuel A variant).
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  24. ​​ @johnallen7807 I've served nearly a decade in the RAF and counting, so probably best to keep your assumptions to yourself. Any defence spending has to be grounded in reality, and that reality has changed somewhat since 1815.
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  25. The crest pretty clearly printed onto a temporary sticker for this ceremony
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  26. ​ @alangunningham5667 the RN is certainly intending to use them in ground attack, hence why they're equipped with Paveway IV and soon to be equipped with SPEAR 3
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  27.  @johnallen7807  LAC doesn't even exist as a rank anymore. I'm not really prepared to take lessons on air power requirements from a retired soldier with out of date knowledge.
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  28.  @johnallen7807  What do you think 'woke' means?
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  29. There are good reasons for letting the RN and Army operate certain types. It frees up budget for the RAF (one of the reasons the RAF was so keen to pass Merlin to the RN), and the different branches undergo different training, and therefore an Army pilot will have a greater understanding of ground forces than an RAF pilot, for example. That being said, all F-35 are under RAF control (1 Group), and every FAA/RAF Sqn is a mixture of personnel from both services.
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  30. ​ @kael13 we don't need a separate space force. UK Space Command is part of the RAF, alongside Air Command. Unlike the French, for example, who've rebranded to an Air and Space Force, we're keeping the traditional name of the RAF
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  31.  @gcarter1973  speed is irrelevant for turn performance. Also, the F-35 is designed predominantly as a BVR fighter
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  32. That would be pointlessly expensive and logistically intensive, given the lack of commonality in parts and airframe design between the two
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  33. Not as it currently stands. The UK fleet is entirely F-35B, and all under the control of 1 Group, RAF
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  34. All UK F-35 Sqns are under 1 Group RAF command, and have a mix of RAF/FAA personnel. No reason not to, when they do the same job under the same command.
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  35.  @henryvagincourt4502  Marham is right next to the North Sea. Literally take off any fly North for a few mins and you're over the water. Distance to water in the UK is fairly irrelevant anyway, because you can get across the country in 20-30 mins by air.
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  36. Plenty of single engine jet aircraft in the world, and modern engines are very resilient to debris
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  37. F-35 is a multinational programme with the UK providing significant design and manufacturing expertise, but the US picking up 80% of the bill. Economies of scale make this way cheaper than it would have been as a UK-only endeavour.
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