Aviation Monthly |
Aviation Monthly |
13 Jan 2014, 4:32
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Group: Dev. Team Posts: 838 Joined: 7 June 2009 From: Southeastern USA Member No.: 47 |
Hey guys, this is the first installment on a magazine style review of the weapons and technology used in the ROTR world. I'll be doing most of the US aircraft first, I do plan on moving on to other faction's aircraft later on and perhaps expanding to ground vehicles, firearms, and warships. (Ever wanted to learn more about the Spirit of Freedom and it's sister ship?) Here's the first part:
Aviation Monthly: September 203x United States Airpower, Part I - Written by Amy Kelly As tensions rise in Eurasia over the recent skirmishes in Africa and economic stagnation in Russia, so too has the specter of another major war in Europe and the eventual American involvement. Despite the downfall of NATO after the ill-advised US retreat from Europe 15 years ago, the Bradford administration maintains a strong anti-Russian expansionist policy and indications hint at possible military and economic action in favor of the European Continental Alliance should hostilities break out. Ever since the Second World War, the United States military has relied extensively on air dominance to achieve battlefield superiority. As any member of the USAF or Naval Air Force can tell you, no US soldier or Marine on the ground has been killed by enemy aircraft since the Korean War. Even after the post GWOT cutbacks, the US military has maintained a strong Air Force and naval air capabilities, and seeks to further expand said capabilities in an ever more dangerous world. This article seeks to explore information about the aircraft used today by the various branches of the US armed forces. TRANSPORT/AIRLIFT: Though the majority of heavy airlifting by the USAF is done today by conventional aircraft such as the C-130J Super Hercules and C-17B Globemaster III, VTOL aircraft have become a more and more capable replacement for helicopters and light cargo transport. Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey: Although the V-22 Osprey had a troubled development phase, today it serves as the main medium lift aircraft used by the US Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy. Even though newer designs such as the V-25 Goshawk are planned to eventually phase out the Osprey, it still sees heavy use as a transport aircraft by American combat forces and will see heavy use in the foreseeable future. Bell-Boeing V-25 Goshawk: The V-25 Goshawk is one of the newest aircraft used by the US Armed forces, and is the end result of the JMR-Heavy Future Vertical Lift program. By the end of the last decade, the US Army desired a new VTOL transport to replace the aging CH-47 Chinook fleet, which had been wearing out through heavy use in the past two decades. Although the Army had declined to take part in the V-22 program, they looked with interest in the further development of tiltrotor aircraft. The V-25 Goshawk was the intermediate step between the light V-22 Osprey and the heavy V-34 Starlifter II. Compared to the CH-47 Chinook, the V-25 is capable of carrying more cargo faster, longer, and at a higher altitude. As an infantry carrier, it can transport a platoon of infantry or a single Cougar MRAP or HMMWV. In contrast to the Osprey, the Goshawk is a semi-tilt-wing with 250% more wing surface, roughly 60% of which tilts along with the engine nacelles, and a lifting body, significantly improving glide capability and allowing to remove the fancy - and heavy - transmission, converting the engines to straight-up carbon composite turbine turboprops with only standard reduction gearboxes remaining. Today, the US Army and US Navy are the main users of the V-25 Goshawk whilst the USMC and US Air Force are considering purchasing them to replace their aging Ospreys. Bell-Boeing V-34 Starlifter II: The first examples of the V-44 entered the late prototype testing phase during the end of the GLA War, but budget cutbacks slowed its entry into service until quite recently. By the end of the last decade, the US Army desired a new VTOL transport to replace the aging CH-47 Chinook fleet, which had been wearing out through heavy use in the past two decades. Although the Army had declined to take part in the V-22 program, they looked with interest in the further development of tiltrotor aircraft. As the end result of the Bell-Boeing Quad Tilt Rotor program, the V-34 is the direct replacement of the CH-47 Chinook and the CH-53 Super Stallion, and is planned to phase out the C-130J Super Hercules. The quad tilt rotor engines give it a cruising speed of over 350 knots and allow it to land in places the C-130 cannot. It is capable of carrying around 26,000 kilograms of cargo (or several M5A1 Schwarzkopf ”Crusader” light tanks or IFVs), or 110 paratroopers/150 infantry. Lockheed-Martin C-130J Super Hercules, Boeing C-17B Globemaster III, & Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy: When heavier lifting is required by the US military’s expeditionary forces, the fixed wing airfleet comes into play. Though the C-130J Super Hercules and C-5M Super Galaxy are old (yet proven and popular) designs, the more advanced Boeing C-17B Globemaster III is an increasingly common sight in the US Air Force as well as the air forces of other nations. The C-17 underwent a mid-life upgrade even before the newer export production run, including double-slotted flaps, an additional main landing gear on center fuselage, more powerful engines (F-117-PW-200 turbofans) and other systems for shorter landing and take-off distances, a LANTIRN AN/AAQ-13 pod and passive radar installed into the nose, and an optional bulkhead separating the troop bay from the cargo bay for passenger comfort. ~~~ I hope you enjoyed the first part, stay tuned for Part 2! This post has been edited by DerKrieger: 29 May 2014, 15:52 -------------------- "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."-- George S. Patton
Resquiescat in pace, CommanderJB 1991-2009 |
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14 Jan 2014, 19:38
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Group: Dev. Team Posts: 838 Joined: 7 June 2009 From: Southeastern USA Member No.: 47 |
By the way, if you are going to talk about the Raptor, I have revised my personal take on the matter to a certain degree to keep things simple: F-22B = The Raptor you build in-game, essentially a more affordable downgrade of the F-22A which is still the best fighter in the ROTR world F-22N = The Sea Raptor is the carrier version used by the Navy, but in terms of appearance and function, indistinguishable from the B-version in-game F-22A = What used to be referred to as the King Raptor in ZH plus some modular upgrades. As for the MOBs, I currently operate under the premise that the US only have a total of two of them, the Spirit of Freedom in the Atlantic and the Spirit of Independence in the Pacfic. They're both the size of several football fields and include three runways that can even be used by transport planes and strategic bombers when required. The USN would still use 'classic' super carriers, but also drone carriers, submersible ships and generally employ a lot of automation and AI support on their ships to reduce the size of the crews and pack more weaponry/protection in their place. I was operating under assumption that there were only two MOBs as well, one for the Atlantic and one for the Pacific. I've already written up the F-22 article, and it is rather similar. I thought the F-22 variant in use by ROTR was called the F-22C but it looks like it's been retconned to F-22B. I took the King Raptor to be an advanced model of F-22 with more advanced avionics, an rotary arms rack in the weapons bay, a point defense laser system, and carbon-nano tube armor. Some of the avionics upgrades were later fitted to the F-22B and the F-22B can mount the point defense laser system but it isn't standard as it was on the King Raptor. The King Raptor was in part conceived as a test bed for technologies for a 6th generation fighter aircraft which will be mentioned in the article. The Sea Raptor is an issue of controversy: an aerospace engineer friend of mine has told me in the past that converting the F-22 to a carrier based fighter would be so complicated and thus expensive (and would likely compromise the aircraft's performance) you'd might as well design an entirely new aircraft for the role. I was operating under the assumption that the US's carrier based combat aircraft are F/A-18E/F Block III Super Hornets, some sort of UAV based on MQ-47C Pegasi, and F-35C Lighting IIs (F-35Bs for the USMC's amphibious assault carriers). The aforementioned 6th generation fighter jet will also have a carrier based variant. -------------------- "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."-- George S. Patton
Resquiescat in pace, CommanderJB 1991-2009 |
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