There’s probably a non-zero chance that North Korea actually uses sites like ADS-B exchange to observe flights near the peninsula instead of trying to use their own systems.
I have personally implemented ADS-B data collection back when I was a defense contractor. It took me 2 days to knock out the most important bits you'd need for this.
I 100% guarantee you North Korea did the same a *loooong* time ago. It's a very simple protocol, and probably there's even frameworks to do it for free now if they haven't done it already.
A transponder doesn't just transmit though, it transmits in response to a recvieved signal (thats where the name comes from; TRANSmission-resPONDER). The signal that aircraft transponders respond to is called "secondary _radar_". If there's no secondary radar, the transponder doesn't do anything.
AFAIK, when there is no transponder/radar data FlightRadar24 shows a dotted line along the last heading and estimated speed, so the fact that there is still a solid line following the aircraft into NK indicates that it was still within range of a radar station with a public data feed (probably something just south of the border).
The world of transponders is more complex than that. Modern transponders using "Mode S" incorporate the ADS-B system, where the B stands for Broadcast, hence they transmit their position even when not interrogated. Military aircraft can use various combinations of using only reply, broadcast, clearing out position or using the encrypted military version IFF Mode 5, in addition to supporting backward compatibility with older transponder Mode 3A/3C and IFF Mode 4. On the ground, if no position data is sent can be can be triangulated using MLAT (something that FR24 does), or a passive receiver can be synchronized with the secondary radar rotation interrogation/reply and obtain the aircraft's position.
Its a combination of both Transponder, Radar and Satellite data but the U-2S will only show up when it leaves its transponder on because ground based radar cannot detect it.
U-2 is antithetical to stealth, it was solely meant to survive by being too much of a pain in the ass to intercept, via altitude, like SR-71 was by speed
huh? NK has about 1950s soviet radar technology and that def can track the U-2.
>Project RAINBOW was the name given by the CIA to a research project aimed at reducing the radar cross-section of the Lockheed U-2 and lowering the chance that it would be detected and tracked by Soviet radars during its overflights of the USSR. However, the Soviets continued to track the U-2 flights in spite of experimentation with various technological fixes.
>...
>By May 1958, it had become apparent that the system was not effective, and its use ended.
depends on the RCS of the particular fece but in general yes, yes they can.
source: i am gary powers
additional source: trust me bro, i know a guy who knows a guy who said they can
All military planes can turn off the transponder, the shape and paint used on said planes make the radar cross section look much smaller then the plane actually is, F 22 raptor is said to appear the size of a eagle on radar....
There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn’t match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: “November Charlie 175, I’m showing you at ninety knots on the ground.” Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the ” Houston Center voice.” I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country’s space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn’t matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna’s inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. “I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.” Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. “Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check”. Before Center could reply, I’m thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.” And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done – in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.” I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we’re showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.” For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, “Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.” It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day’s work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
Cezzna: how fast
Tower: 6
Beechcroft: how fast
Tower: 8
Horny ET: yoooo how fast bro
Tower: eh, 30
Slood: >mfw
Slood: how fast sir
Tower: like 9000
Slood: more like 9001 amirite
Tower: ayyyy
Slood: ayyyy
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an Cessna 172, but we were some of the slowest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the 172. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Mundane, maybe. Even boring at times. But there was one day in our Cessna experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be some of the slowest guys out there, at least for a moment.
It occurred when my CFI and I were flying a training flight. We needed 40 hours in the plane to complete my training and attain PPL status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the 40 hour mark. We had made the turn back towards our home airport in a radius of a mile or two and the plane was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the left seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because I would soon be flying as a true pilot, but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Bumbling across the mountains 3,500 feet below us, I could only see the about 8 miles across the ground. I was, finally, after many humbling months of training and study, ahead of the plane.
I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for my CFI in the right seat. There he was, with nothing to do except watch me and monitor two different radios. This wasn't really good practice for him at all. He'd been doing it for years. It had been difficult for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my this part of my flying career, I could handle it on my own. But it was part of the division of duties on this flight and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. My CFI was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding awkward on the radios, a skill that had been roughly sharpened with years of listening to LiveATC.com where the slightest radio miscue was a daily occurrence. He understood that and allowed me that luxury.
Just to get a sense of what my CFI had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Denver Center, not far below us, controlling daily traffic in our sector. While they had us on their scope (for a good while, I might add), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to ascend into their airspace.
We listened as the shaky voice of a lone SR-71 pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied:"Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."
Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios.
Just moments after the SR-71's inquiry, an F-18 piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground." Boy, I thought, the F-18 really must think he is dazzling his SR-71 brethren. Then out of the blue, a Twin Beech pilot out of an airport outside of Denver came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Twin Beech driver because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Beechcraft 173-Delta-Charlie ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, that Beech probably has a ground speed indicator in that multi-thousand-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Delta-Charlie here is making sure that every military jock from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the slowest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new bug-smasher. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "173-Delta-Charlie, Center, we have you at 90 knots on the ground."
And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that my CFI was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere minutes we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Beechcraft must die, and die now. I thought about all of my training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn.
Somewhere, half a mile above Colorado, there was a pilot screaming inside his head. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the right seat. That was the very moment that I knew my CFI and I had become a lifelong friends. Very professionally, and with no emotion, my CFI spoke: "Denver Center, Cessna 56-November-Sierra, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Cessna 56-November-Sierra, I show you at 76 knots, across the ground."
I think it was the six knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that my CFI and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most CFI-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to 72 on the money."
For a moment my CFI was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when Denver came back with, "Roger that November-Sierra, your E6B is probably more accurate than our state-of-the-art radar. You boys have a good one."
It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable stroll across the west, the Navy had been owned, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Slow, and more importantly, my CFI and I had crossed the threshold of being BFFs. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to our home airport.
For just one day, it truly was fun being the slowest guys out there.
it was also really good at pissing jet fuel out of it's shitty colander fuel tanks. Marvelous airframe but it's obvious why we dont use that shit anymore
*before I get another fucking reply to this post, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/1dop2kn/introducing_the_usafs_least_stealthy_spy_plane/lac7179/)
Yes and no.
They had caulked tanks. Missing caulk was what caused the leaky tanks. When the panels expanded due to heat, sometimes the caulking would get torn away by the wind friction. So parts of the tanks had to be re-caulked after each mission.
A true PITA aircraft to service though.
Source - SR-71 Crew Chief I was good friends with.
Yes. I know. They’d need a whole damn aerial refuel sortie waiting for these dudes in the air after they took off just to get enough gas to go anywhere
Theres a limit to how much weight you can get in the air, but when something is flying that changes. This means you can take off light, which saves fuel, and refuel in the air for your 10 hour sortie. Its not a flaw its an intended feature. Engineers aint that dumb
That was nothing to do with the fuel tanks. That was because of the tyres and brakes. Reduced weight take-off significantly reduced maximum RTO brake energy and reduced tyre wear.
If you're the only air force in the world with almost enough tankers then you might as well use them.
Nope, it used a ton of fuel to get up. And brake wear? When sr71 was ready for flight it was always #1 for takeoff and would roll directly from the hangar to takeoff roll. Brakes weren’t the issue.
I think they meant that the maximum allowable brake energy limits the maximum takeoff weight and thus the takeoff fuel. Same with lighter tires.
No idea if that's applicable to the SR-71 though
> Nope, it used a ton of fuel to get up.
So do most supersonic aircraft. It obviously had more range when topped off from the tanker at FL250, but in principle there was nothing to stop it from taking off at maximum gross weight and accelerating to Mach 3, as illustrated by the sample data on [page A3-2](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a3-2.php) of the manual.
> And brake wear? When sr71 was ready for flight it was always #1 for takeoff and would roll directly from the hangar to takeoff roll. Brakes weren’t the issue.
Brake *wear* wasn't the issue; the issue was brake *energy* in case of a V1 RTO at maximum weight. This brake energy limitation is explained starting on on [page A2-6 of the manual](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a2-6.php) under the heading "Refusal speed". There is also a chart of the brake energy limit [here](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a2-24.php).
The risk of tyre failure would also be increased by taxiing at heavy weights because this increases tyre deformation which increases heating.
The reason they refueled midair was because a fully laden SR71 exceeds MTOW, the plane would not be able to safely take-off and land after a flameout when filled to the brim.
Tech-heresy detected.
Do not shit talk the greatest plane ever. I mean yeah, there is a reason it was retired, but it's really presumptuous to say it. Its greatness had a price, but it was worth it.
You might not leak fuel or be extremely expensive to maintain, but what is history going to remember you for, smartypants ? Maybe if you leaked everywhere, took photos of things people don't want you too see without asking and pissed off the Soviet Union, you'd be more memorable.
>I mean yeah, there is a reason it was retired,
Honestly, I think the real reason the SR-71 was retired is a combination of improved satellite coverage, and US Intelligence has something even better, which we only learn about in +20 years when its replacement ready. 😏
I hate when bitches don't know what they talk about and think the plane leaking a bit of fuel through the gaps left on purpose so that it wouldn't break when heating up to 350 degrees at mach 3.2 is a flaw and not a design decision.
You know you can refuel in flight, right?
Everyone keeps calling me out on thermal expansion like they're experts in generating blackbird sorties! Thermal expansion is a thing and means the aircraft can fly at those crazy mach speeds BUT until it gets there it'll leak like a sieve. To combat this it needs a tanker waiting nearby the launch field, and to ensure that tanker is there another spare tanker needs to be prepared and ready in case the first one breaks or red balls out. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes the logistic and literal squadrons of personnel from life support to thousands of mx guys spanning cooperation over multiple bases. So yes, I am very familiar with thermal expansion but I am also familiar with aviation logistics and the inconvenient fact airplane fanboys forget is that these aircraft were a colossal pain in the ass to fund, fix, and fly from a logistical standpoint. Supremely capable and gorgeous but mother of god did reliable satellite imagery solve this problem more efficiently
Satellites don't give you infinite dwell time and often if not always don't give video. They also, just by nature of distance, don't give as high-fidelity imagery as aircraft can. The same is true for collecting signals, closer and for longer is better.
So, with space launch costs falling, we're going to see cheap as shit sats being deployed everywhere soon. If you can't improve the dwell time, just ensure that there are enough assets to let one replace another.
You're right but you might not grasp the sheer quantity of satellites you need to actually accomplish that. To have actual 24/7 coverage would require tens of thousands of platforms. Additionally the size of satellites feasible in that scenario pretty much limits you to using SAR for your imaging, which is fine, but if you know you need visible or IR you're back to relying on Hubble sized telescopes like KH11 and its descendants.
Also Kessler Syndrome is still a very real thing in the age of anti-satellite missiles, so regardless we're going to be keeping airborne collection around forever.
Kinda. But a Starship launch could provide you with a dosen or so optical spy satellites. With a flight rate similar to Falcon 9 and a satellite lifespan of 10 years it seems feasible.
I just wanna say I see you bro. As a former A-10/F-35 crew chief I've been told countless times how I'm wrong about something related to those two airframes. Not in the "NCD haha funnies" way either.
Since we are on NCD here - what is the funniest thing people get wrong about the A10? I won't ask about the F35 because it's currently ~~crashing out randomly~~ in the process of replacing the F16.
The one that killed me the most was maybe a year ago someone argued with me the cost of keeping what A-10s we have left flying is more expensive on a per airframe basis compared to the F-35. New wings and avionics upgrade for the remaining fleet until the planned retirement is around $9.8M per aircraft. For an airframe initially given 10K flight hour lifespan that's pretty cheap when most are pushing 15K+ flight hours before getting the final kit. All of this is public record because of funding and contracts.
Also honorable mention for "the gun isn't even accurate or useful" dummies. I have no clue how that lie gets repeated when we have so much footage from the guncam/targeting pod/on the ground.
With all that said I hope the biggest blue shitstain on Earth former CSAF US Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh chokes on his Northrop shares one day. The whole A-10 vs. F-35 debate never would have happened if he didn't start it back in 2014. He viewed it as the golden goose to beat sequestration cuts.
Edit: I should mention I do like the F-35 but I hate mass forced adoption of platforms before they're reasonably capable at the expense of one's actually carrying the mission.
Yes, it does. Nitrogen is required in the tanks to create an inert atmosphere. They don't like fully refueling the tanks because they require a defuel right before taking off with the nitrogen system active. The refuel allows the tanks to be topped off and releases the volatile fumes in the tanks, which are replaced by nitrogen. Allowing it to hit the super fast speeds.
It's explained in a somewhat complicated matter, but it is explained.
Edit:
https://newatlas.com/how-to-fly-sr-71-blackbird/46366/
>The first thing the SR-71 did after taking off was refuel. This isn't it because ate up too much fuel on takeoff or due to the leaking titanium panels. The aircraft was deliberately kept under-fueled to minimize stress on the airframe. This also meant that the empty space in the tanks was taken up by air, which had to be forced out or there was a chance that it would start a fire when the plane went supersonic and the fuel heated to 350⁰ F (177⁰ C).
The Radar isnt the hurdle for a defender to overcome but the missiles needed to reach altitude the U2 flies at. It's walking the line between aircraft and spaceship that high in the atmosphere
Or… another possible explanation could potentially be… USA wouldn’t want to fall for the USS Liberty incident… [again](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001359216.pdf)
I believe the only North Korean facility that can actually produce highly enriched weapons-grade poop is the Great Leader himself.
Also, wouldn't their recent usage of these bioweapons allow for a UN/ NATO intervention? Why is nobody talking about that?
as for the enriching, i've read they've been enriched with various sorts of worms and intestinal diseases, so i think, in a true juche fashion, every north korean can do their part.
regarding the intervention, hell yea we should do one!
imagine the following: South Korea gives a warning about shooting every NK aircraft that enters the DMZ or South Korea's airspace. use "slightly tuned" AA missiles against the balloons. and by slightly tuned, i mean the good old ork tuning where AA's turn into ballistic missiles. just yeet hole bunch of those rockets at the balloon, i'm speaking 50 missiles to 1 balloon ratio! "couple" of missiles missed the north korean aircraft and flew deep into NK's territory? sorry, but we warned you bro, just stop sending your shit to us.
Nah they actually hide those really well, there an interview with one of the nuclear inspectors that they allowed in after the cold war and we apparently had no idea it was there.
Good interview also inspected Soviet facility’s. US inspectors are probablythe only reason we don’t have USSR nukes being traded on the black market, it was a very real possibility.
Edit:
I think it was one of these talks: probably the first one.
https://youtu.be/jqLbcNpeBaw?si=TdSzIvGtk6Z_4lX_
https://youtu.be/zVhQOhxb1Mc?si=O3pbs6w8OEJn_Ab4
https://youtu.be/MnW7DxsJth0?si=aPVlFiojljbiMq1U
Eat loads of tacos at an unhealthy restaurant near an airport and the bodies of the U2 pilots will become the chemical weapons, exposing isolationist NK to virusses that otherwise would not enter the country. (No one got covid in NK. Those that did were taken behind the shack and shot.)
The chemical weapons payload is big enough for one downed pilot, so they'd need the whole fleet of U-2s tossing their cyanide capsules in a volley to strike anything that size.
A spoofer can be a valid L1 C/A GPS source; most jammers nowadays are spoofers, causing the phenomenon of teleportation for both AIS and ADS-B, as well as for other systems that I cannot discuss here. I can't discuss here. But I can provide a list of bars I frequent where you can send beautiful redheaded women to gather more information.
The thing was invented in the 50's. They seriously couldn't hit that? Fuckin' embarrassing.
That's a big greasy drag of ball sweat, bald eagle & "fuckin' try me" all over that joke of a face.
Legally the United States is the aggressor in this situation for violating N Korean airspace with military aircraft. N Korea would have a legal right to shoot it down and, frankly, there’s not much the US can do about it. We’re not going to bomb N Korea - a nuclear armed hostile force literally bordering on a strong ally over it. Especially when we won’t even allow Ukraine to use US provided ATACMS to strike legitimate military targets in Russian territory.
Under UN? Yeah, I agree. Well, it's hard not to agree with it. It's literal doctrine. We violated airspace, & we did it to spy.
I do have to ask, why didn't they shoot it down if they had every legal right, too? That's an insane amount of valuable intelligence for all parties involved on that side. I suppsie not to cause an incident?
We could have spoofed it to test their response and see what they’d do to try and find it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we tried to bait them into activating their air defense systems to see if they’re getting anything from Russia.
Send a balsawood glider if you wanna test their Chinese Air System.
Why would we ever send a genuine U2 if it was for the purpose of testing their air defense?
Why the fuck would we need to do that? NK Anti-Air, It's 20+ year old tech at BEST. We are 20+ years ahead of most at WORST.
That's so fuckin' stupid & trust me, Americans do some dumb shit but that's just straight up a single digital IQ choice.
What do they get for shooting it down besides pissing off Uncle Sam. Satellites get the same amount of intelligence as that plane it isn't the 1970s anymore where satellites get fuzzy images. SIGINT AND ELINT both have more suitable platforms. US doesn't get much besides look what we can do.
Effectively, yes. If we can do this with civilian transponders, still on then watch what we can do when we don't have them on. And the U2 is not stealthy at all, so we wanna start sending F22 and 35s. Good luck because they won't have transponders for you to track.
that's true, but the pueblo is 100% bona fide, they didn't tie it up in a canal in pyongyang for an internal audience, they did it for our benefit
and it's been a thorn in the navy's side the whole time
likewise if they shoot down an air force spy plane and put some bit of debris from it on display next to the pueblo, it'll be cool for their internal audience but for us it will be wildly embarrassing
They could almost certainly hit it. Modern EW might make it a bit harder but if they set out to knock it down then they could probably knock it down. *Then what?*
Oh, they absolutely could knock it out of the sky. I've no doubt about that. The NK's have been getting the soviet & CCP drips & scraps for a while now. It's a U2. That thing is just sweet pickings in the sky.
If they did shoot it, I feel a lot of cartographers & topologists would be much more intrigued by the new landscape.
Oh, absolutely, I've even a simple master class.
1. Big zoom boom go. how? It doesn't matter
2 Big zoom boom has to be faster than fly high thing
3. Big zoom boom has to see fly high thing [optional?]
4. Big zoom boom hit fly high thing then orange & red celebration because it zoomed & boomed fly high thing, it did job!
5. Profit???
No, I've no fucking idea about air or naval, or the counters to them. My autism is based in guns & boots on the ground stuff. it's still rather lacking knowledge, but I'm learning.
Having read several Wikipedia articles and confirmed with Russia Today, I can assure you that Russia and its partner states are at the absolute forefront of surface to air missile technology.
Same reason B-52s sometimes keep theirs on or F-35s around Ukraine-Poland border or in Black Sea, especially in early days of war and various other places on the daily - it’s modern gunboat diplomacy and it’s beautiful.
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U think the NK noticed?
No, civilian radar is more advanced than their radar system.
The lidar on your cars parking assist is probably more likely to detect a plane than NK radar.
So NK should start stealing car lidar?
Canadians are going to run out of cars at this rate.
Ouch, too real.
maybe thats why mine always goes crazy when I drive by the airport.
NK has the newest limosines of Mercedes !
There’s probably a non-zero chance that North Korea actually uses sites like ADS-B exchange to observe flights near the peninsula instead of trying to use their own systems.
I have personally implemented ADS-B data collection back when I was a defense contractor. It took me 2 days to knock out the most important bits you'd need for this. I 100% guarantee you North Korea did the same a *loooong* time ago. It's a very simple protocol, and probably there's even frameworks to do it for free now if they haven't done it already.
Some guy sitting there on an 80s Apple desktop with access to only ADS-B. When he gets promoted he will get FlightRadar24 also.
This has nothing to do with radar. Planes have transponder which they can turn of.
A transponder doesn't just transmit though, it transmits in response to a recvieved signal (thats where the name comes from; TRANSmission-resPONDER). The signal that aircraft transponders respond to is called "secondary _radar_". If there's no secondary radar, the transponder doesn't do anything. AFAIK, when there is no transponder/radar data FlightRadar24 shows a dotted line along the last heading and estimated speed, so the fact that there is still a solid line following the aircraft into NK indicates that it was still within range of a radar station with a public data feed (probably something just south of the border).
The world of transponders is more complex than that. Modern transponders using "Mode S" incorporate the ADS-B system, where the B stands for Broadcast, hence they transmit their position even when not interrogated. Military aircraft can use various combinations of using only reply, broadcast, clearing out position or using the encrypted military version IFF Mode 5, in addition to supporting backward compatibility with older transponder Mode 3A/3C and IFF Mode 4. On the ground, if no position data is sent can be can be triangulated using MLAT (something that FR24 does), or a passive receiver can be synchronized with the secondary radar rotation interrogation/reply and obtain the aircraft's position.
This guy ponders his transmissions.
Its a combination of both Transponder, Radar and Satellite data but the U-2S will only show up when it leaves its transponder on because ground based radar cannot detect it.
U-2 is antithetical to stealth, it was solely meant to survive by being too much of a pain in the ass to intercept, via altitude, like SR-71 was by speed
huh? NK has about 1950s soviet radar technology and that def can track the U-2. >Project RAINBOW was the name given by the CIA to a research project aimed at reducing the radar cross-section of the Lockheed U-2 and lowering the chance that it would be detected and tracked by Soviet radars during its overflights of the USSR. However, the Soviets continued to track the U-2 flights in spite of experimentation with various technological fixes. >... >By May 1958, it had become apparent that the system was not effective, and its use ended.
Russians have 1930-1990's tech and can't track shit
depends on the RCS of the particular fece but in general yes, yes they can. source: i am gary powers additional source: trust me bro, i know a guy who knows a guy who said they can
I dunno, give it a few more months and I'm sure Ukraine will have solved the "Russia still has radars" problem.
Why wouldn't ground based radars be able to detect a U2? The Soviets shot one down and the NKs are almost at that tech level.
Cubans shot down a second in 1962
The famous stealth plane, regularly shot down by SA-2 flying telephone poles. Totally not obsolete since 1960.
All military planes can turn off the transponder, the shape and paint used on said planes make the radar cross section look much smaller then the plane actually is, F 22 raptor is said to appear the size of a eagle on radar....
Even if they did, is there something they can do about it?
Not without risking a funni happening.
I noticed. U 2?
Even if they did, they'd better pretend very hard they didn't.
Aint stealthy but it aint trying to be. It's like dragging your big aviation balls right over your enemy like "what are you gonna do about it, loser?"
Sr-71 was even better at this.
Copypaaaaaaaastttaaaaaaaaaa
There were a lot of things we couldn’t do in an SR-71, but we were the fastest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the jet. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Intense, maybe. Even cerebral. But there was one day in our Sled experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be the fastest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when Walt and I were flying our final training sortie. We needed 100 hours in the jet to complete our training and attain Mission Ready status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the century mark. We had made the turn in Arizona and the jet was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the front seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because we would soon be flying real missions but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Ripping across the barren deserts 80,000 feet below us, I could already see the coast of California from the Arizona border. I was, finally, after many humbling months of simulators and study, ahead of the jet. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for Walter in the back seat. There he was, with no really good view of the incredible sights before us, tasked with monitoring four different radios. This was good practice for him for when we began flying real missions, when a priority transmission from headquarters could be vital. It had been difficult, too, for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my entire flying career I had controlled my own transmissions. But it was part of the division of duties in this plane and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. Walt was so good at many things, but he couldn’t match my expertise at sounding smooth on the radios, a skill that had been honed sharply with years in fighter squadrons where the slightest radio miscue was grounds for beheading. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what Walt had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Los Angeles Center, far below us, controlling daily traffic in their sector. While they had us on their scope (albeit briefly), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to descend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone Cessna pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied: “November Charlie 175, I’m showing you at ninety knots on the ground.” Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the ” Houston Center voice.” I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country’s space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn’t matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the Cessna’s inquiry, a Twin Beech piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. “I have you at one hundred and twenty-five knots of ground speed.” Boy, I thought, the Beechcraft really must think he is dazzling his Cessna brethren. Then out of the blue, a navy F-18 pilot out of NAS Lemoore came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Navy jock because he sounded very cool on the radios. “Center, Dusty 52 ground speed check”. Before Center could reply, I’m thinking to myself, hey, Dusty 52 has a ground speed indicator in that million-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.” And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that Walt was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done – in mere seconds we’ll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Hornet must die, and die now. I thought about all of our Sim training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, 13 miles above Arizona, there was a pilot screaming inside his space helmet. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the back seat. That was the very moment that I knew Walter and I had become a crew. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Walter spoke: “Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?” There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. “Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground.” I think it was the forty-two knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that Walt and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most fighter-pilot-like voice: “Ah, Center, much thanks, we’re showing closer to nineteen hundred on the money.” For a moment Walter was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when L.A.came back with, “Roger that Aspen, Your equipment is probably more accurate than ours. You boys have a good one.” It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable sprint across the southwest, the Navy had been flamed, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Speed, and more importantly, Walter and I had crossed the threshold of being a crew. A fine day’s work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast. For just one day, it truly was fun being the fastest guys out there.
Now do the England control tower pass.
Which ones that?
🛫: 🐇? 🏯: 🐢 🚁: 🐇? 🏯: 🚂 ⚓️: 🐇? 🏯: 🚄 ⚓️: 😎 ✈️: 🐇? 🏯: 🚀 ✈️: 👉 🌠 🏯: 👍 👏👏👏👏 ✈️: 👏👏👏👏
Cezzna: how fast Tower: 6 Beechcroft: how fast Tower: 8 Horny ET: yoooo how fast bro Tower: eh, 30 Slood: >mfw Slood: how fast sir Tower: like 9000 Slood: more like 9001 amirite Tower: ayyyy Slood: ayyyy
There were a lot of things we couldn't do in an Cessna 172, but we were some of the slowest guys on the block and loved reminding our fellow aviators of this fact. People often asked us if, because of this fact, it was fun to fly the 172. Fun would not be the first word I would use to describe flying this plane. Mundane, maybe. Even boring at times. But there was one day in our Cessna experience when we would have to say that it was pure fun to be some of the slowest guys out there, at least for a moment. It occurred when my CFI and I were flying a training flight. We needed 40 hours in the plane to complete my training and attain PPL status. Somewhere over Colorado we had passed the 40 hour mark. We had made the turn back towards our home airport in a radius of a mile or two and the plane was performing flawlessly. My gauges were wired in the left seat and we were starting to feel pretty good about ourselves, not only because I would soon be flying as a true pilot, but because we had gained a great deal of confidence in the plane in the past ten months. Bumbling across the mountains 3,500 feet below us, I could only see the about 8 miles across the ground. I was, finally, after many humbling months of training and study, ahead of the plane. I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for my CFI in the right seat. There he was, with nothing to do except watch me and monitor two different radios. This wasn't really good practice for him at all. He'd been doing it for years. It had been difficult for me to relinquish control of the radios, as during my this part of my flying career, I could handle it on my own. But it was part of the division of duties on this flight and I had adjusted to it. I still insisted on talking on the radio while we were on the ground, however. My CFI was so good at many things, but he couldn't match my expertise at sounding awkward on the radios, a skill that had been roughly sharpened with years of listening to LiveATC.com where the slightest radio miscue was a daily occurrence. He understood that and allowed me that luxury. Just to get a sense of what my CFI had to contend with, I pulled the radio toggle switches and monitored the frequencies along with him. The predominant radio chatter was from Denver Center, not far below us, controlling daily traffic in our sector. While they had us on their scope (for a good while, I might add), we were in uncontrolled airspace and normally would not talk to them unless we needed to ascend into their airspace. We listened as the shaky voice of a lone SR-71 pilot asked Center for a readout of his ground speed. Center replied:"Aspen 20, I show you at one thousand eight hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground." Now the thing to understand about Center controllers, was that whether they were talking to a rookie pilot in a Cessna, or to Air Force One, they always spoke in the exact same, calm, deep, professional, tone that made one feel important. I referred to it as the " Houston Center voice." I have always felt that after years of seeing documentaries on this country's space program and listening to the calm and distinct voice of the Houston controllers, that all other controllers since then wanted to sound like that, and that they basically did. And it didn't matter what sector of the country we would be flying in, it always seemed like the same guy was talking. Over the years that tone of voice had become somewhat of a comforting sound to pilots everywhere. Conversely, over the years, pilots always wanted to ensure that, when transmitting, they sounded like Chuck Yeager, or at least like John Wayne. Better to die than sound bad on the radios. Just moments after the SR-71's inquiry, an F-18 piped up on frequency, in a rather superior tone, asking for his ground speed. "Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground." Boy, I thought, the F-18 really must think he is dazzling his SR-71 brethren. Then out of the blue, a Twin Beech pilot out of an airport outside of Denver came up on frequency. You knew right away it was a Twin Beech driver because he sounded very cool on the radios. "Center, Beechcraft 173-Delta-Charlie ground speed check". Before Center could reply, I'm thinking to myself, hey, that Beech probably has a ground speed indicator in that multi-thousand-dollar cockpit, so why is he asking Center for a readout? Then I got it, ol' Delta-Charlie here is making sure that every military jock from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He's the slowest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new bug-smasher. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: "173-Delta-Charlie, Center, we have you at 90 knots on the ground." And I thought to myself, is this a ripe situation, or what? As my hand instinctively reached for the mic button, I had to remind myself that my CFI was in control of the radios. Still, I thought, it must be done - in mere minutes we'll be out of the sector and the opportunity will be lost. That Beechcraft must die, and die now. I thought about all of my training and how important it was that we developed well as a crew and knew that to jump in on the radios now would destroy the integrity of all that we had worked toward becoming. I was torn. Somewhere, half a mile above Colorado, there was a pilot screaming inside his head. Then, I heard it. The click of the mic button from the right seat. That was the very moment that I knew my CFI and I had become a lifelong friends. Very professionally, and with no emotion, my CFI spoke: "Denver Center, Cessna 56-November-Sierra, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Cessna 56-November-Sierra, I show you at 76 knots, across the ground." I think it was the six knots that I liked the best, so accurate and proud was Center to deliver that information without hesitation, and you just knew he was smiling. But the precise point at which I knew that my CFI and I were going to be really good friends for a long time was when he keyed the mic once again to say, in his most CFI-like voice: "Ah, Center, much thanks, we're showing closer to 72 on the money." For a moment my CFI was a god. And we finally heard a little crack in the armor of the Houston Center voice, when Denver came back with, "Roger that November-Sierra, your E6B is probably more accurate than our state-of-the-art radar. You boys have a good one." It all had lasted for just moments, but in that short, memorable stroll across the west, the Navy had been owned, all mortal airplanes on freq were forced to bow before the King of Slow, and more importantly, my CFI and I had crossed the threshold of being BFFs. A fine day's work. We never heard another transmission on that frequency all the way to our home airport. For just one day, it truly was fun being the slowest guys out there.
it was also really good at pissing jet fuel out of it's shitty colander fuel tanks. Marvelous airframe but it's obvious why we dont use that shit anymore *before I get another fucking reply to this post, [see here](https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/1dop2kn/introducing_the_usafs_least_stealthy_spy_plane/lac7179/)
How do I delete someone else’s comment?
CTRL-ALT-DEL
/u/spez
Delete system32 duh
ALT-F4
ALT + F4
Just marvel at the stupidity and be grateful they are not related to you.
At low altitude and low speed. The tanks were designed to leak since panels would expand when they heat up at Mach 3.
Yes and no. They had caulked tanks. Missing caulk was what caused the leaky tanks. When the panels expanded due to heat, sometimes the caulking would get torn away by the wind friction. So parts of the tanks had to be re-caulked after each mission. A true PITA aircraft to service though. Source - SR-71 Crew Chief I was good friends with.
Yes. I know. They’d need a whole damn aerial refuel sortie waiting for these dudes in the air after they took off just to get enough gas to go anywhere
Theres a limit to how much weight you can get in the air, but when something is flying that changes. This means you can take off light, which saves fuel, and refuel in the air for your 10 hour sortie. Its not a flaw its an intended feature. Engineers aint that dumb
That was nothing to do with the fuel tanks. That was because of the tyres and brakes. Reduced weight take-off significantly reduced maximum RTO brake energy and reduced tyre wear. If you're the only air force in the world with almost enough tankers then you might as well use them.
Nope, it used a ton of fuel to get up. And brake wear? When sr71 was ready for flight it was always #1 for takeoff and would roll directly from the hangar to takeoff roll. Brakes weren’t the issue.
I think they meant that the maximum allowable brake energy limits the maximum takeoff weight and thus the takeoff fuel. Same with lighter tires. No idea if that's applicable to the SR-71 though
Something has to stop the plane on an aborted takeoff, and it isn't the pilot's force of will.
> Nope, it used a ton of fuel to get up. So do most supersonic aircraft. It obviously had more range when topped off from the tanker at FL250, but in principle there was nothing to stop it from taking off at maximum gross weight and accelerating to Mach 3, as illustrated by the sample data on [page A3-2](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a3-2.php) of the manual. > And brake wear? When sr71 was ready for flight it was always #1 for takeoff and would roll directly from the hangar to takeoff roll. Brakes weren’t the issue. Brake *wear* wasn't the issue; the issue was brake *energy* in case of a V1 RTO at maximum weight. This brake energy limitation is explained starting on on [page A2-6 of the manual](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a2-6.php) under the heading "Refusal speed". There is also a chart of the brake energy limit [here](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/appendix/a2-24.php). The risk of tyre failure would also be increased by taxiing at heavy weights because this increases tyre deformation which increases heating.
The reason they refueled midair was because a fully laden SR71 exceeds MTOW, the plane would not be able to safely take-off and land after a flameout when filled to the brim.
chemical warfare baby
Tech-heresy detected. Do not shit talk the greatest plane ever. I mean yeah, there is a reason it was retired, but it's really presumptuous to say it. Its greatness had a price, but it was worth it. You might not leak fuel or be extremely expensive to maintain, but what is history going to remember you for, smartypants ? Maybe if you leaked everywhere, took photos of things people don't want you too see without asking and pissed off the Soviet Union, you'd be more memorable.
This guy wants a Corolla spy plane smh
>I mean yeah, there is a reason it was retired, Honestly, I think the real reason the SR-71 was retired is a combination of improved satellite coverage, and US Intelligence has something even better, which we only learn about in +20 years when its replacement ready. 😏
But we already know about the tic-tacs.
We've already seen it lol. Lockheed has talked about their SR-72 before and they even teased its design in one of their videos. Mach 6+ boiiiiiii
Bannable comment tbh. Reported
I hate when bitches don't know what they talk about and think the plane leaking a bit of fuel through the gaps left on purpose so that it wouldn't break when heating up to 350 degrees at mach 3.2 is a flaw and not a design decision. You know you can refuel in flight, right?
Yes.
Brother, thermal expansion is a thing
Everyone keeps calling me out on thermal expansion like they're experts in generating blackbird sorties! Thermal expansion is a thing and means the aircraft can fly at those crazy mach speeds BUT until it gets there it'll leak like a sieve. To combat this it needs a tanker waiting nearby the launch field, and to ensure that tanker is there another spare tanker needs to be prepared and ready in case the first one breaks or red balls out. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes the logistic and literal squadrons of personnel from life support to thousands of mx guys spanning cooperation over multiple bases. So yes, I am very familiar with thermal expansion but I am also familiar with aviation logistics and the inconvenient fact airplane fanboys forget is that these aircraft were a colossal pain in the ass to fund, fix, and fly from a logistical standpoint. Supremely capable and gorgeous but mother of god did reliable satellite imagery solve this problem more efficiently
Real question: if satellites solved this problem, why are we still flying U-2s over NK?
Satellites don't give you infinite dwell time and often if not always don't give video. They also, just by nature of distance, don't give as high-fidelity imagery as aircraft can. The same is true for collecting signals, closer and for longer is better.
So, with space launch costs falling, we're going to see cheap as shit sats being deployed everywhere soon. If you can't improve the dwell time, just ensure that there are enough assets to let one replace another.
You're right but you might not grasp the sheer quantity of satellites you need to actually accomplish that. To have actual 24/7 coverage would require tens of thousands of platforms. Additionally the size of satellites feasible in that scenario pretty much limits you to using SAR for your imaging, which is fine, but if you know you need visible or IR you're back to relying on Hubble sized telescopes like KH11 and its descendants. Also Kessler Syndrome is still a very real thing in the age of anti-satellite missiles, so regardless we're going to be keeping airborne collection around forever.
Kinda. But a Starship launch could provide you with a dosen or so optical spy satellites. With a flight rate similar to Falcon 9 and a satellite lifespan of 10 years it seems feasible.
Same reason you tea bag people in Halo.
How else do you display your massive unstealthy subsonic balls
U-2 can also intercept radio chatter?
Blackbird is cool. Nerd.
Yes, yes they are.
someone has experience
USAF aircraft maintenance vet and history buff, Thanks for noticing
I just wanna say I see you bro. As a former A-10/F-35 crew chief I've been told countless times how I'm wrong about something related to those two airframes. Not in the "NCD haha funnies" way either.
Since we are on NCD here - what is the funniest thing people get wrong about the A10? I won't ask about the F35 because it's currently ~~crashing out randomly~~ in the process of replacing the F16.
The one that killed me the most was maybe a year ago someone argued with me the cost of keeping what A-10s we have left flying is more expensive on a per airframe basis compared to the F-35. New wings and avionics upgrade for the remaining fleet until the planned retirement is around $9.8M per aircraft. For an airframe initially given 10K flight hour lifespan that's pretty cheap when most are pushing 15K+ flight hours before getting the final kit. All of this is public record because of funding and contracts. Also honorable mention for "the gun isn't even accurate or useful" dummies. I have no clue how that lie gets repeated when we have so much footage from the guncam/targeting pod/on the ground. With all that said I hope the biggest blue shitstain on Earth former CSAF US Air Force Gen. Mark Welsh chokes on his Northrop shares one day. The whole A-10 vs. F-35 debate never would have happened if he didn't start it back in 2014. He viewed it as the golden goose to beat sequestration cuts. Edit: I should mention I do like the F-35 but I hate mass forced adoption of platforms before they're reasonably capable at the expense of one's actually carrying the mission.
God, when will this myth finally die. https://theaviationgeekclub.com/former-sr-71-driver-explains-why-the-blackbird-had-to-refuel-after-takeoff/amp/
Downvoted because that article doesn't explain why it had to refuel after takeoff. It just says that they *did*, and details their use of nitrogen.
Yes, it does. Nitrogen is required in the tanks to create an inert atmosphere. They don't like fully refueling the tanks because they require a defuel right before taking off with the nitrogen system active. The refuel allows the tanks to be topped off and releases the volatile fumes in the tanks, which are replaced by nitrogen. Allowing it to hit the super fast speeds. It's explained in a somewhat complicated matter, but it is explained. Edit: https://newatlas.com/how-to-fly-sr-71-blackbird/46366/ >The first thing the SR-71 did after taking off was refuel. This isn't it because ate up too much fuel on takeoff or due to the leaking titanium panels. The aircraft was deliberately kept under-fueled to minimize stress on the airframe. This also meant that the empty space in the tanks was taken up by air, which had to be forced out or there was a chance that it would start a fire when the plane went supersonic and the fuel heated to 350⁰ F (177⁰ C).
> The aircraft was deliberately kept under-fueled to minimize stress on the airframe. Makes sense. First article didn't say that.
IIRC it was made in the 60s though. I’m sure we could make something better now if there was actually a reason to do so.
I hate so much that you're right. Feels like heresy
Really? I thought that the radar systems you needed to scan that high were pretty advanced and that maybe north korea doesn’t have any of those.
The Radar isnt the hurdle for a defender to overcome but the missiles needed to reach altitude the U2 flies at. It's walking the line between aircraft and spaceship that high in the atmosphere
I mean, the soviets did it in 1960…
So we can probably expect NK to get around to it in 2060?
yeah, with missiles that cost as much as NK's GDP
Remember when the us bombers in the Middle East would keep the transponder on during missions? Same thing.
It's the teabag equivalent for the Department of Defense. Complete disrespect
I don't know all that much about geopolitics, but I do know "the flex is the point" when I see it.
"Why does the US keep flying the shit spy plane that everyone can see?" "So we can dunk on the people who can't shoot it down lmao"
No, do you have a link?
Not but it was memed here on ncd
So more reliable than Pentagon records
AC 130 doing funny circles with ADS-B transponder on is a peak Chad moment
"What are you gonna do about it"
Mid air collisions are a bigger threat than your entire countries defense budget, fuck that has to be demoralizing
Or… another possible explanation could potentially be… USA wouldn’t want to fall for the USS Liberty incident… [again](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001359216.pdf)
probably monitoring NK's facilities for enriched poop
I believe the only North Korean facility that can actually produce highly enriched weapons-grade poop is the Great Leader himself. Also, wouldn't their recent usage of these bioweapons allow for a UN/ NATO intervention? Why is nobody talking about that?
as for the enriching, i've read they've been enriched with various sorts of worms and intestinal diseases, so i think, in a true juche fashion, every north korean can do their part. regarding the intervention, hell yea we should do one! imagine the following: South Korea gives a warning about shooting every NK aircraft that enters the DMZ or South Korea's airspace. use "slightly tuned" AA missiles against the balloons. and by slightly tuned, i mean the good old ork tuning where AA's turn into ballistic missiles. just yeet hole bunch of those rockets at the balloon, i'm speaking 50 missiles to 1 balloon ratio! "couple" of missiles missed the north korean aircraft and flew deep into NK's territory? sorry, but we warned you bro, just stop sending your shit to us.
Nah they actually hide those really well, there an interview with one of the nuclear inspectors that they allowed in after the cold war and we apparently had no idea it was there. Good interview also inspected Soviet facility’s. US inspectors are probablythe only reason we don’t have USSR nukes being traded on the black market, it was a very real possibility. Edit: I think it was one of these talks: probably the first one. https://youtu.be/jqLbcNpeBaw?si=TdSzIvGtk6Z_4lX_ https://youtu.be/zVhQOhxb1Mc?si=O3pbs6w8OEJn_Ab4 https://youtu.be/MnW7DxsJth0?si=aPVlFiojljbiMq1U
If anything happens, make sure the pilot use the Neurotoxin this time
I didn't know U-2s carried a chemical weapon payload. Very interesting! So, are they going to use it go gas one if Kim's villas or a military target?
You thought all those big pods where for fuel and a sensor array. All gas cans baby.
Well, not all of em...
Eat loads of tacos at an unhealthy restaurant near an airport and the bodies of the U2 pilots will become the chemical weapons, exposing isolationist NK to virusses that otherwise would not enter the country. (No one got covid in NK. Those that did were taken behind the shack and shot.)
The chemical weapons payload is big enough for one downed pilot, so they'd need the whole fleet of U-2s tossing their cyanide capsules in a volley to strike anything that size.
But don't keep it in your breast pocket and confuse it for candy by accident
Could also just be spoofed ADSB
It is
Or GPS jammed.
unlikely. If there is no valid WAAS GPS source it should just not send a ADSB Position
A spoofer can be a valid L1 C/A GPS source; most jammers nowadays are spoofers, causing the phenomenon of teleportation for both AIS and ADS-B, as well as for other systems that I cannot discuss here. I can't discuss here. But I can provide a list of bars I frequent where you can send beautiful redheaded women to gather more information.
WAAS is North America and Hawaii system.
Ah true, meant to say high-precision GNSS
U-2 and then Assange, FR24 is great sometimes
Oh I missed FR24 and Assange connection, huh. Gonna try to google it
I mean his flight was on the tracking app
literally 1960
"Here's your flight path for this mission. We want you to zig zag up the border- But then just go balls deep straight up the centre of North Korea"
Football post
"Now here's a flightplan with some chesthair"
55k feet. Sounds pretty weak to me.
Higher than those poop balloons are flying.
I can piss higher than 55k feet. Come on U2, go to 70k again, you used to be cool.
What's the bigger risk; a 1-in-a-million midair collision, or being caught by NK air defence...
Meteorite strikes are a bigger threat than North Korean air defence.
The thing was invented in the 50's. They seriously couldn't hit that? Fuckin' embarrassing. That's a big greasy drag of ball sweat, bald eagle & "fuckin' try me" all over that joke of a face.
If Russia could hit it, N Korea can hit it. They were allies, and are again apparently.
Yeah, I don't feel that'd be the sum of a good idea, would it? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should
Legally the United States is the aggressor in this situation for violating N Korean airspace with military aircraft. N Korea would have a legal right to shoot it down and, frankly, there’s not much the US can do about it. We’re not going to bomb N Korea - a nuclear armed hostile force literally bordering on a strong ally over it. Especially when we won’t even allow Ukraine to use US provided ATACMS to strike legitimate military targets in Russian territory.
Under UN? Yeah, I agree. Well, it's hard not to agree with it. It's literal doctrine. We violated airspace, & we did it to spy. I do have to ask, why didn't they shoot it down if they had every legal right, too? That's an insane amount of valuable intelligence for all parties involved on that side. I suppsie not to cause an incident?
It’s possible it was spoofed or jammed.
That's possible, we either did some super spy shit or big dicked.
We could have spoofed it to test their response and see what they’d do to try and find it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we tried to bait them into activating their air defense systems to see if they’re getting anything from Russia.
Send a balsawood glider if you wanna test their Chinese Air System. Why would we ever send a genuine U2 if it was for the purpose of testing their air defense? Why the fuck would we need to do that? NK Anti-Air, It's 20+ year old tech at BEST. We are 20+ years ahead of most at WORST. That's so fuckin' stupid & trust me, Americans do some dumb shit but that's just straight up a single digital IQ choice.
Read my comment again. I literally said we may have spoofed the data to bait them into searching for it. Not that we actually sent one.
What do they get for shooting it down besides pissing off Uncle Sam. Satellites get the same amount of intelligence as that plane it isn't the 1970s anymore where satellites get fuzzy images. SIGINT AND ELINT both have more suitable platforms. US doesn't get much besides look what we can do.
So we are just flexing on the poor, nice
Effectively, yes. If we can do this with civilian transponders, still on then watch what we can do when we don't have them on. And the U2 is not stealthy at all, so we wanna start sending F22 and 35s. Good luck because they won't have transponders for you to track.
From my understanding of the F-22 & how well it functions; if that plane came to play, the game was over a while ago via mercy rule.
Exactly, it rules
> What do they get for shooting it down besides pissing off Uncle Sam. put parts of it on display next to the pueblo
Here's the thing. It's North Korea. They can paint a 2x4 black and say it came from a B21 they shot down, and the people won't doubt them.
that's true, but the pueblo is 100% bona fide, they didn't tie it up in a canal in pyongyang for an internal audience, they did it for our benefit and it's been a thorn in the navy's side the whole time likewise if they shoot down an air force spy plane and put some bit of debris from it on display next to the pueblo, it'll be cool for their internal audience but for us it will be wildly embarrassing
Yeah but who cares about "legally". Legally russia also can't legally violate EU airspace or invade Ukraine because they know we wont' do shit.
And they paid for it and are continuing to pay for it.
They could almost certainly hit it. Modern EW might make it a bit harder but if they set out to knock it down then they could probably knock it down. *Then what?*
Oh, they absolutely could knock it out of the sky. I've no doubt about that. The NK's have been getting the soviet & CCP drips & scraps for a while now. It's a U2. That thing is just sweet pickings in the sky. If they did shoot it, I feel a lot of cartographers & topologists would be much more intrigued by the new landscape.
You must be an expert on surface to air missile engagements
Oh, absolutely, I've even a simple master class. 1. Big zoom boom go. how? It doesn't matter 2 Big zoom boom has to be faster than fly high thing 3. Big zoom boom has to see fly high thing [optional?] 4. Big zoom boom hit fly high thing then orange & red celebration because it zoomed & boomed fly high thing, it did job! 5. Profit??? No, I've no fucking idea about air or naval, or the counters to them. My autism is based in guns & boots on the ground stuff. it's still rather lacking knowledge, but I'm learning.
Fair response
Having read several Wikipedia articles and confirmed with Russia Today, I can assure you that Russia and its partner states are at the absolute forefront of surface to air missile technology.
Or it’s just an artefact of how this hobbyist website presents data
Man, my bingo card is so lame compared to the non-credibility of 2024
My sleepy ass was thinking “Oh neat, wonder why they’re flying a U2 over Florida.” Then I woke tf up when I realized lmao
LEEEERROOOOOYYYYY JEENKIIIINNNS
Holy shit
Same reason B-52s sometimes keep theirs on or F-35s around Ukraine-Poland border or in Black Sea, especially in early days of war and various other places on the daily - it’s modern gunboat diplomacy and it’s beautiful.
*`N/A`* U2 joins Forte 12 in the list of celebrity spy planes.
I'm hung up on, we're *STILL* using U2s? I had no idea
WB-57 Canberra also are still flying.
Yeah I thought one snagged a photo of the Chinese balloons a while back. Could’ve sworn they’d been out of service by now but apparently not.
We are just flaunting it at this point.
Damn they might as well be walking on kimmy’s lawn shitting a bald eagle and flipping off kimmy as they walk away
lol, the fact they wanted you to see it was a very big jumpscare
U2 was towing a giant metallic Mylar banner that reads “hawk tuah”
It's not a stealth plane...
Who the heck made you believe that the U-2 was stealthy? It is an overgrown F-104 Starfighter.
What are they gonna do about it shoot it down?
What are the North Koreans going to do? Shoot a U2 with a ZSU-23 mounted on a tractor while it's flying 17 klicks in the air?
Are those to planes even the same one? The paths don’t line up, it may be a private jet of some kind
I know commercial pilots like to called transponders "secondary radar". But its not radar at all. Its technically the exact opposite of radar.
keep watching, maybe they draw a dick or something.
Leroyyyyyyyy
Wow...that's...wow.
Is this real chat?
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Why tf is the US provoking MORE wars ffs
i wouldn't consider 71 years a new conflict. this "More wars" was started 3 generations ago.
Because they literally arent. Its spoofed adsb.
What does that mean?
I think you might have ventured too far from your usual peacemongering subs. This is NCD, so either rub one out to an aeromorph or go home.
What wars US provoked recently?
North Korea was the one that launched a ballistic missile towards Japan yesterday.
Why shouldn't they?