[simpits-tech] OT - Interesting Day

[John Miguez]

Fourth miles!!  What wennies.  We use to over fly the target.  Could
look down at the AK-47 barrels and see the lands and grooving.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Al West [mailto:mail at prbox.com] 
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:41 AM
To: Simulator Cockpit tech list
Subject: Re: [simpits-tech] OT - Interesting Day

AARS is Advanced Airborne Reconnaissance System 
I think it actually refers to the unit as part of the Advanced
Reconnaissance 
Project (ARP) which inlcude things like datalink etc.

They are talking about gathering images from 40 miles off or so,
subsonic - a 
little better than Raptor (think Raptor might be a UK RAF unit only
although 
made by Raytheon and probably goes by a different name for US and ME 
markets).

Next generation systems being developed are saying they can gather
information 
from 100 miles off at supersonic speeds.  Guess this will be something 
targetted for Astra and FOAS.

Cheers,
Al



On Friday 04 June 2004 12:34, John Miguez wrote:
> Al,  What does AARS mean?  When I flew RECON we still had to lean out
> the side of the cockpit to take the pictures.  It was a bitch to hold
> that large format camera still long enough for the shutter to cycle.
;)
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Al West [mailto:mail at prbox.com]
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 7:10 PM
> To: Simulator Cockpit tech list
> Subject: Re: [simpits-tech] OT - Interesting Day
>
> It's possibly AARS by BAES (CNIR) - they were testing it on Block 50
> F16s last
> year.  Unless it was a Raytheon unit.
>
> On Thursday 03 June 2004 20:05, John Miguez wrote:
> > Thanks for the update Brian.  I would be interested in that Recon
pods
> > capabilities, seeing as I am an old Recon guy myself.
> >
> > John
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Brian Sikkema [mailto:hangr18 at hotmail.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 7:17 AM
> > To: simpits tech
> > Subject: [simpits-tech] OT - Interesting Day
> >
> > Hey all,
> >
> > Just thought I'd relate the day I had yesterday. I found out Tuesday
> > night that my buddy, the F-16 crew chief in Iraq, was coming home
> > yesterday afternoon. We knew he was due back this week, but
obviously
> > the details don't get released until the last possible minute.
> >
> > What an eye opener! We had all assumed when he was going that he
> > wouldn't be in much danger, being on an airbase and everything. He
>
> said
>
> > intel told them before they left that there were occasional rocket
> > attacks, but nothing ever came anywhere near the base. Well, so much
>
> for
>
> > military intelligence. They had over 100 rocket attacks at their
base
> > (Kirkuk) in the month of March alone, and not miles away, either. He
>
> had
>
> > one occasion where he had to pull shrapnel from his aircraft, and
> > several where he was pretty sure he was going to die. He said their
>
> base
>
> > was attacked more than the one in Baghdad. But not too surprising
when
> > you realize the Bathe party headquarters are in Kirkuk - he has
>
> pictures
>
> > of the arena there where public executions took place.
> >
> > But, everyone made it back safe and sound, and they did an
oustanding
> > job. They had a CAS and Recon mission, and were the most accurate
> > bombers of any of the units at their base - he said the navy unit
>
> there
>
> > was so bad they had to give them a week off! They also boast the
first
> > recon aircraft to ever drop a bomb. Their unit has a new type of
recon
> > pod, I forget what it's called, I think it started with a "T", but
>
> they
>
> > are the ONLY unit that has them. Before they got there we were
working
> > off photos from as late as 1998. Anywho, while they have the pod
> > attached it's technically a recon aircraft, and they had one get
>
> called
>
> > in for CAS, hence the history making mission.
> >
> > He also said that the Air Force demands that a unit meets 90% of
their
> > taskings. They met 112%. Far above and beyond what anyone else was
> > making. So even with some of the older aircraft, the 127th came
>
> through
>
> > in flying colors.
> >
> > He brought a bunch of stuff home, too. He gave me a flag that had
been
> > flown on a combat mission, a peice of shrapnel from when the US had
> > attacked his base on earlier operations (we're not sure if it's from
> > Iraqi Freedom or Desert Storm, though), and an Iraqi bayonet. All
very
> > cool! :)
> >
> > So there you have it, folks. A slightly secondhand but nonetheless
>
> real
>
> > look into Iraq.
> >
> > Brian
> > The ultimate responsibility of the pilot is to fulfill the dreams of
>
> the
>
> > countless millions of earthbound ancestors who could only stare
>
> skyward
>
> > and wish.
> >
> >
> > ---
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