Even though Dubya wasn’t at the White House today, a pilot decided to fly his two-seater Cessna into the No-Fly Zone in D.C. to buzz the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
The pilot and his plane are now being questioned by th– hey, why wasn’t this plane shot out of the sky? The facts are that the rogue pilot did not respond to D.C. ground control, was “zig-zagging” in the air when confronted by the military aircraft scrambled to intercept the plane, and everything pointed to this being an attack.
Allow me to take the hardline and be the first to say what many of you are thinking: “The U.S. military must shoot down any plane in the no-fly zone that doesn’t respond when hailed and does not immediately turn tail when confronted by fighter jets.” If the U.S. military isn’t allowed to do this because someone spineless pol is worried about a phony civil rights group bitching about the Patriot Act, Washington D.C. will eventually suffer another air attack.
I personally think this is not only a wake-up call, but a sales opportunity for aerospace company Lockheed-Martin. The next time some mullet-headed joker decides to buzz the Washington Monument, Lockheed can send up one of their cool new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter prototypes to blow it out of the sky:
If they were smart, Lockheed would video the whole thing and turn it into a slick TV commercial that ends with the bad guy’s plane exploding above Washington D.C. with an American flag in the background and a graphic that says: “DEAD TERRRORISTS. BROUGHT TO YOU BY LOCKHEED-MARTIN.”
Boeing stock would be worthless the day after that commercial aired…
first!
FIRST!
And DEAD ON!
dang.
First to link and trackback!
The F-22 Raptors are cooler. They have gold-plated cockpits.
Dead serious.
“DEAD TERRRORISTS. BROUGHT TO YOU BY LOCKHEED-MARTIN.”
Heh. Dead terrorists. The best kind.
Well put scott.
“DEAD TERRORISTS. BROUGHT TO YOU BY LOCKHEED-MARTIN.”
Indeed.
A “Peace Through Superior Firepower” picture moment if ever I saw one!
A “Peace Through Superior Firepower” picture moment if ever I saw one!
oops, forgot mine namen.
The F-22 is better fitted for that type of thing and equally cool.
Plus the F-35 is still in the development phase, while the F-22 was recently approved for full-rate production.
Langley gets the first F-22s off our production lines. I’m sure they would be willing to stage a presentation.
Why gold plated cockpits? Are hippies allergic to gold?
Langley? i know where i want to get stationed when im done being trained to play with munitions…and to think…the USAF is going to trust ME with explosives!
“Boeing stock would be worthless the day after that commercial aired…”
you mean it’s worth something now??
Naw, the F-35 will be WAY cooler than the F-22 if the Air Force follows through with their plans to use the extra energy in their model to power a DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON. It’s like S.M.I.T.E, but portable.
I’m with Thor. This particular job, intercepting a Cessna, would be a great demo of the VTOL version of the JSF, it could just hover there or fly at jogging speed and fire away.
I have nothing against the F/A-22 Raptor and I hope that we replace all of our F-15 Eagles with Raptors in the next few years, but I contend that Lockheed would get orders for the JSF andthe Raptor if the JSF prototype shot down a terrorist plane before it hit the Washington Monument.
Why gold plated cockpits? Are hippies allergic to gold?
No, but pilots are allergic to the high-energy radiation from active radar jammers. A thin layer of gold blocks that pretty well, while remaining relatively transparent. Take a look at the cockpit of an EA-6B sometime.
You don’t have to waste valuable ammo or risk civilian lives when you have a fighter jet versus a cessna.
“Jet wash” is more than sufficient.
F-35 cooler than the F/A-22? Bullcrap I say, bullcrap! Ask any group of Air Force fighter pilots which they’d rather fly, and and I’m willing to bet that 9 out of ten of them would say F/A-22.
BTW, the gold lining in the cockpit is also an excellent radar absorber.
The Air Force has no plans to install a directed energy weapon in the F-35A, B, or C. The only thing I can see an F-35 having ANY advantage in will be the Marine variant’s STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) capability, which is pretty damn cool. I’d love to fly something with that ability, but you couldn;t get me to switch to the Marine’s just for that…
I’m 99% sure I remember reading an article in Aviation Week about Lockheed’s efforts to install a 100 kW HEL (high-energy laser) on the JSF.
I don’t know if that magazine is online… anyone wanna look it up?
I dig the JSF, saw one on the ground from a distance at Norfolk during the commissioning of the USS Reagan, CVN-76. I saw the documentaries about the competition on TV and the thing is very capable. It is overkill for a Cessna, as just about any military fixed wing would be, like the man said the jet wash would do the trick. Shoot, you could just about lean out the door of a Blackhawk after eating jalapenos and knock the thing down with bad breath.
I had a t-shirt when I was in the Navy that had a picture of a Phantom (F-4), with the caption “McDonnell-Douglas, World’s Largest Distributer of MiG Parts”
Just a question why don’t we use SAM sites if memory services correctly we installed patriot Missle launchers in DC for a reason, a shoulder fire stinger would take out that tiny plane too.
Who’s worried about a Cessna 150? The last one that tried to hit the White House wound up as a little ball on the front lawn (no joke – during the Clinton years). I doubt you could even pack it full of enough explosives to be as effective as a car bomb.
The Marine version of the F-35 will also have one thing no other branch will have.
A bayonet lug under the chin. Nothing beats up close and personal.
The problem with the JSF is that it’s a joint-effort with other countries, so the technology in it is pretty much shared with them. The Raptor, although preceding the JSF, is technologically superior, and is something we’re most likely not going to share, except with the very closest of allies (UK, Aus., and Israel, probably)
Citizen Grim, you remind me of all those H.S. kids who have arguments over who is badder: SEALs, or Green Berets.
The JSF and the Raptor have two completely different missions (as do the SEALs and Green Berets). The Raptor is a Fighter-Attack role. The JSF is a multi-purpose plane.
The Raptor’s mission is more narrowly defined that the JSF. The JSF is more utilitarian in its mission. The Raptor doesn’t have to land on carrier’s or have VTOL capabilities. So to say its not as advanced is a gross oversimplification of the nature of the two aircrafts.
You know we would never give the coolest stuff to anyone but Israelis. They only blow up terrorists. As for the Cessna, it would break up when it hit the high energy force field around the white house. Oh wait, thats the electronic doggie fence.
I personally know someone who was on the JSF project. They sure are cool planes, and would be serious overkill for anything besides other fighter jets. If I were president I would keep one in the garage for a quick getaway, or shooting down the next terrorist that happens to come through the no-fly zone.
I can’t think of a better place for the MTHEL. Though it doesn’t look as cool as the jets, it can certainly keep a constant bead on the intruder and cook it in a flash at the 10 mi. ring. No questions.
If the ACLU complains, S.M.I.T.E. them already!
Real Scott,
I checked into it, and apparently they ARE working on mounting a DEW on the F-35. I was surprised! I have been up close an personal to the 747 they have a chemical laser mounted to, and that thing is pretty cool, I just didn’t think they had gotten them small enough to work on something like the F-35. But you are right, they certainly are. I think I would be okay with flying one of those if I don’t get the F/A-22 or F-15. Yeah, I could deal with it.