Comments by "Gort" (@gort8203) on "Matsimus" channel.

  1. The video uses outdated terminology and concepts. USAF hasn't used the term strategic bomber for a long time. They have long range deep strike aircraft, and short range strike aircraft. All aircraft can fly strategic or tactical missions depending on the circumstances. Even in Vietnam the B-52 flew tactical interdiction and strikes in support of troops while F-105 flew strategic strikes against military infrastructure around Hanoi. Asking if strategic bombers are still practical is a misleading question. The real question is are long range strike bombers still practical. The answer to that is that they provide an essential capability.
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  2. How is this a "game changer"? The B-61 had been around forever. Fighters including the F-15 have been able to deliver it forever. This is merely an upgrade or refinement of an existing weapon, so what is the big "game change"? You make it sound like this is going to shift the balance of power.
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  3. You are correct, but you can expect to be tarred and feathered by this crowd. Everybody thinks modern war is all about fighting goat herding insurgents in a permissive environment. There will be no strafing of armored vehicles in a war against near peer mechanized maneuver formations. That environment will not be like the video games.
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  4. He probably just reading from Wikipedia and he may not understand such terms himself.
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  5. Thomas Borgsmidt I'm curious as to the sources for some of your claims. I know Matsimus simply read the Wikipedia article on the airplane into his video, but you're saying things about the airplane I've never head before. Things such as its original mission being to transport ICBMs, and that the range requirement was meant to be able to transport IRBMs to Turkey in one hop. Is there a source for this info you can share? The implication is almost that the US Army requirement for airlift of outsize cargo was a cover story.
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  6. They don't "pull up hard" on takeoff, they rotate to climb attitude just like an airliner. The camera angle and telephoto lens accentuate the climb angle. They may be doing a full thrust takeoff to spiral up with a steep climb for MANDAPS avoidance. It is a little more wear on the engines but does not stress the airframe.
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  7. Because that would have been really dumb.
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  8. The M-1 has put on more weight with each upgrade, but the C-5B could carry 290,000 lbs of cargo which should accommodate two M-1s. Of course with that much cargo weight you can't lift enough fuel off the runway to get them very far without refueling.
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  9. Some rice bowls will be broken, but this is a positive move that will make the Marine Corps more relevant and important in future joint warfare. They will specialize in a uniquely littoral role that the US Army doesn't want, rather than compete with the US Army as a deep maneuver force. This is longer WWII. The United States can no longer afford duplication of service roles and missions.
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  10. The C-5M Super galaxy recently got new GE engines, and you want to replace them already? The new engines provide a significant improvement in the performance and efficiency of the airplane.
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  11.  @chrislaf89  You would have to power the C-5 with fairy dust to make it competitive in terms of cost per ton of cargo. Even with the new engines it is a maintenance intensive airplane that doesn't go relatively far on a pound of fuel. It carries around a lot of empty weight in systems such as cargo doors, ramps, APUs, and kneeling gear that are required to load and unload cargo under austere conditions without ground support. It might make a profit in terms of cost per cubic foot of outsized precious cargo if you could charge an exorbitant rate. The purpose of the airplane was to lift things that will not fit in other airplanes, knowing that cost per ton would be high, but worth it in terms of the strategic ability to move things nothing else could move. You should see how many CH-47 Chinooks the thing can haul.
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  12. It had a good bombing system but it was not the first combat aircraft with a Doppler Navigation System. Might have been the first with an INS.
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  13. Every transport plane has to trade payload against fuel load on every flight. For a normal flight you fill the tanks with enough fuel to safely reach the destination, and then add cargo weight until you reach the maximum weight you can lift off the runway under current conditions. The Air Force doesn't have enough tankers to refuel normal everyday flights. Tankers are used for priority missions that need to fly priority loads nonstop in support of contingency operations.
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