Free Republic

1024 x 775, 1500 x 1137, 2000 x 1515, 3200 x 2424. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-201402.htm

Iran's Great Salt Desert (Dasht-e Kavir) photographed from the NASA Landsat 5 satellite on October 15, 2011. 1500 x 1000, 2000 x 1333, 3000 x 2000, 4000 x 2667, 4931 x 3287. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-201312.htm

Dozens of air shows that draw tens of thousands of people and generate millions of dollars for local economies have been cancelled this year after the military grounded its jet and demonstration teams because of automatic federal budget cuts. For years, the biggest draws at air shows have been the military's two elite jet teams, the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds, and their intricate stunts. The armed services also have provided F-16, F-18 and F-22 fighter jets and the U.S. Army Parachute Team, known as the Golden Knights. All the teams were grounded as of...

The Photographer Ken Hackman, United States Air Force   Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large) 

The nation's best military fliers have had their wings clipped, thanks to the forced spending cuts imposed on the federal government this year. The U.S. Navy on Tuesday announced it was canceling all the air shows its Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron had scheduled for the rest of the year. The Navy action follows the Air Force's April 1 announcement that its Thunderbirds team would not perform again this year.

The Photographer Senior Airman Courtney Witt, United States Air Force   Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (medium, large, huge) 

Col. Kevin Robbins still remembers the first time he saw the F-22 Raptor. He was driving near the flightline of then Langley Air Force Base when he heard a load roar and saw a plane streak across his field of vision and start performing several aerial maneuvers. He stopped the car, got out and stared in amazement. An F-15 Eagle pilot himself, the colonel couldn't believe what he was seeing. "This plane was doing things that shouldn't be possible in a jet," he said. "I just kept thinking that if anyone tried that in any other plane, he'd be dead."...

U.S. Territory of Guam photographed from the NASA Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite on December 30, 2011. Map 1 and Map 2. 2013 x 3020, 2680 x 4020, 3346 x 5020, 4014 x 6021. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-201304.htm

A USAF B-52 Stratofortress from Barksdale AFB, Louisiana prepares to land at Nellis AFB, Nevada on January 24, 2013 during Red Flag 13-2. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20051129.htm (medium, large, huge) The Photographer Caitlin Kenney, 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs, United States Air Force  

<p>The deposit confiscation scheme has long been in the making. U.S. depositors could be next...</p>

David Nelson, Lockheed Martin F-35 chief test pilot, flew AF-4 during High Angle of Attack testing December 5, 2012, over Edwards Air Force Base, California. This was the first intentional departure of the F-35A. Via http://www.af.mil/photos/media_view.asp?id=820146 (1960 x 2744 pixels) The Photographer Tom Reynolds / Lockheed Martin  

On the right the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) passes the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Red Sea's Strait of Bab el-Mandeb on June 21, 2011. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large) The Photographer Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (MC2) Brooks B. Patton Jr., United States Navy  

U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber sitting on the flight line at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, USA. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-200905.htm (medium, large) The Photographer  Staff Sgt. Eric T. Sheler, United States Air Force  

What else can the U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor stealth fighter jet do?

Hopefully, you will never find yourself in air-to-air combat with a Lockheed Martin F-22, particularly if you happen to be flying any other fighter besides an F-22. The Raptor still boasts a 30:1 kill ratio in mock dogfights (the only kind of dogfight, alas, the F-22 has ever known). Notice, however, the ":1" part of the ratio expression. That's the proof: The F-22 can be shot down. But how?

1024 x 680 pixels . . . 3188 x 2117 pixels . . . via http://www.flickr.com/photos/chagood/6747365813/  

Maverick is becoming an F-35 test pilot. It's true. Tom Burbage, the Lockheed Martin F-35 programme manager, showed up at a National Aeronautics Association luncheon today and dropped a bombshell of a Hollywood scoop. Sure, there was talk about schedules and budgets, partners and politics, software blocks and carrier hooks. But we'll get to that later.

The US Air Force is re-assessing its numbers of so-called fifth-generation fighters, although it is still not backing off its commitment to buy 1,763 Lockheed Martin F-35As over the next 35 years. The USAF now plans to operate about 185 Lockheed F-22As along with the F-35A fleet, amounting to a combined force of nearly 1,950 fighters with the stealth, manouevrability and advanced sensors that meet the service's definition for fifth-generation capability. However, as cost increases and the budget reductions lowered planned orders of F-22As from 750 to less than 200 over the last 20 years, some have rasised questions about...

Air Force leaders still do not know for sure why the F-22 Raptor keeps suffocating its pilots after the service completed a fleet-wide study of its aircraft oxygen generation systems. Air Force engineers didn't find a "smoking gun" during the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board's quick-look study, said Lt. Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for Operations, Plans and Requirements. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley ordered the study after the service grounded its F-22 fleet when multiple pilots experienced "hypoxia-like" symptoms in flight.

The fall of the Soviet Union ended the European epoch, the period in which European power dominated the world. It left the United States as the only global power, something for which it was culturally and institutionally unprepared. Since the end of World War II, the United States had defined its foreign policy in terms of its confrontation with the Soviet Union. Virtually everything it did around the world in some fashion related to this confrontation. The fall of the Soviet Union simultaneously freed the United States from a dangerous confrontation and eliminated the focus of its foreign policy.