B-2 bombers return to Guam

reply to post by OmegaLogos


Are you serious? The SCS doesn't belong to China just because China is in the name. Just like the whole Indian ocean doesn't belong to India despite the name. The SCS belongs to all of the nations that border it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


You know, we wouldn't even have to worry about limited B-2's if Clinton had just let the Military buy the original 132, not just 21. Limiting B-2 production was one of the worst Military decisions by a president in the last fifty years, as bad as limited the F-22 to only 187 aircraft.

Wonder how many missiles would the Chinese have to use to bring the first one down ?


All the prowess that the B-2 proven so far were all against enemies that didn't have the abilities to shoot back.
Try China and you might not like it.

reply to post by mypan


You think all the armchair generals know everything that a B-2 can do? There are a number of capabilities that it has that have never been advertised that will make it a much harder target than you think. Yes, we'll lose some, but that was always a given. It was designed to penetrate the most heavily defended airspace in the world, and has been upgraded several times over the course of its life to date. And you think the Chinese are going to swat them like flies?

As for not shooting back, I'm impressed that the Serbs were able to not shoot back, but downed an F-117 during the campaign there. The F-117 and the B-2 have a similar RCS.

reply to post by Antonio1


What kills me is that they cancel them because of the cost, but if they buy more of them, as planned, the price drops way down. So it's a self fulfilling prophecy that they are too expensive to buy a lot of them.

I remember seeing one of the B-2's taking off from Whiteman AFB when I was under contract out that way it was awesome it was flying low and I thought WOW is that col or what huge and it does sneak up on you although it sounds like thunder once its overhead simply amazing I am still smiling thinking about it.

reply to post by geocom


This will make you laugh then. I don't know if it's still true or not, but for a long time, they were covered with tape. It looked just like duct tape, but wasn't. All the rivet lines, and panel join lines were covered with it, to keep the rivets from reflecting radar.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by LeLeu

 

The USS George Washington is home ported in Japan (my brother has flown over there to go out on her twice, with a third in the works to upgrade their computer networks).

Right now the carrier cupboard is very very bare. Most of the fleet is in for refit, and the few that are operational, besides Washington are in the ME, or heading that way. There was only one carrier in the Middle East recently, for the first time since like 1991 or so.

As for stealth aircraft, not yet. The first carrier borne stealth aircraft is supposed to be the F-35C (the B will be flown off amphib carriers such as the new America class, and the Wasp). There are some new designs in the pipeline, but they're still several years away from first flight, and quite a ways from operational.

As you probably know, America has announced its sending 60% of its navy in the South China Sea, including 5 or 6 aircraft carriers (I think it was 5 or 6).

reply to post by Krono


They'll be deploying from their home ports on the West Coast, and Japan. There are currently I believe 5 carriers in the Pacific, and 5 in Atlantic. When Ford comes into the fleet, she'll come to the Pacific.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Krono

 

They'll be deploying from their home ports on the West Coast, and Japan. There are currently I believe 5 carriers in the Pacific, and 5 in Atlantic. When Ford comes into the fleet, she'll come to the Pacific.

"China, you like what you see?"

wth do 5 US carrier groups do in the Atlantic anyway? Anti-Viking patrol?