General's Bold Account Of US F-22, Iranian F-4 Engagement

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/23/2013 at 10:14 • Filed to: Planelopnik

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The Air Force, through Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh, has publicized an account (perhaps the first) involving the engagement of an F-22 Raptor and Iranian F-4s flying within 16 miles of an MQ-1 Predator drone as the UAV flew over international waters off the coast of Iran. Welsh delivered the account Tuesday, saying the event took place in March. According to Welsh, Air Force Reservist Lt. Col. Kevin "Showtime" Sutterfield closed on the F-4s while flying the Raptor. Per the account, Sutterfield flew the jet to well within visual range, unnoticed. He slipped the fighter under the wings of one of the Iranian jets "to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there." And then, according to Welsh, Sutterfield "pulled up on their left wing" and "called them and said 'you really ought to go home.'"

Welsh delivered the account before an audience of fellow service members at the Air Force Association's Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition, according to Military.com. The exact location of F-22s deployed in the region has not been released. The military has said instead that Raptors are based in Southwest Asia. Questions surrounding Welsh's account include whether or not other airborne operations vectored or supported the Raptor's approach, allowing it to avoid use of radar and safely maintain stealth while closing on the F-4s, distance between the jets while flying in close formation, and concerns for potential outcomes should the event have become complicated by acts of aggression or error. The Predator, meanwhile, is said to have been conducting reconnaissance while flying over international waters. Earlier Predator flights had attracted airborne response in the form of Iranian jets. Sutterfield's action in March successfully warned them off, said Welch.

via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

William Byrd > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:19

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God that's awesome. Talk about old meeting new.

Charlie : Eh, lieutenant, what were you doing there?

Goose : Communicating.

Maverick : Communicating. Keeping up foreign relations. You know, giving him the bird!

Goose : [Charlie looks puzzled, so Goose clarifies] You know, the finger

Charlie : Yes, I know the finger, Goose.

Goose : I-I'm sorry, I hate it when it does that, I'm sorry. Excuse me.

Z_Stig > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:22

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Interesting. The Iranian pilots had to have relieved themselves in the cockpit when he showed up out of nowhere.

Victorious Secret > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:23

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Here is the scary thing.

People give nothing but shit to the F22 platform because it doesn't perform.

Look here ladies and gents, it performed. It did exactly what it was supposed to. Use science to be a tactical ninja plane.

This isn't even locking on at a few miles, firing missiles and then bugging out before the enemy even know who the hell is painting them. This is sneaking up on, without anyone know, and yelling "SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS"

That is scary. I'd have shit my pants if I was that F-4 pilot.

McMike > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:23

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I never noticed how fucked up this text was?

MAVERICK

LT PETE MITCHELL

GTRZILLAR32-Now saving for Godzilla and a condo > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:24

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'Merica.

ttyymmnn > McMike 09/23/2013 at 10:27

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I never noticed that either. Certainly something that was done in post production, "We need those planes facing the other way!"

ttyymmnn > McMike 09/23/2013 at 10:32

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That's the way it appears in the film. If you watch the scene, the planes are generally heading right-to-left on the screen, so it was almost certainly a decision made in editing.

McMike > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:35

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Ah, there you go. Flipped horizontally.

McMike > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 10:39

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There are lots of movie goofs like that. Lack of footage is usually the case. I would like to be in the room when the editor says, "Fuckit, is the lesser of two evils.... FLOP IT! They'll never notice."

"Maverick" was truly inverted that day.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Victorious Secret 09/23/2013 at 10:40

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ttyymmnn > McMike 09/23/2013 at 10:46

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pauljones > Victorious Secret 09/23/2013 at 10:58

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I don't think that the shit that the Raptor gets is because it doesn't perform well; rather, I think it's more due to the fact that it was a very, very expensive project and a cold war remnant at that. It came to fruition at a time when people are getting tired of ballooning amounts of defense spending on something that may not, ultimately, be necessary. People are also tired of the Military Industrial Complex as a whole after the past decade or so; there is simply so much that goes on in the MIC that is disturbingly opaque, and so much of it is ruled by politicking and under-the-table deals that it's flat-out disgusting.

The Raptor is a fine jet - but was it worth the money? Was it the best option available to us? Many analysts actually think that the YF-23 was the better option, not simply because it was cheaper and stealthier, but also because it was a better match for the program requirements. And yet, somehow, Lockheed Martin walked away not only with the ATF contract, but with the JSF contract as well.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > McMike 09/23/2013 at 11:21

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The text is Inverted.

*COUGH*BULLSHIT*OUGH

It is actually inverted, AND mirrored

The whole plane is probably mirrored to get it facing the same direction, but who knows why they inverted the text on the plane...

It isn't as if the text is upside down when the plane is sitting right-side-up on the deck of the ship, or the tarmac. And that shot is so short, why bother making the text readable by inverting it in post, on those frames?

McMike > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 09/23/2013 at 11:25

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See TTYYMMNN's reply to mine. They just flipped the shot in editing to have the planes flying right to left.

The "E ICK" in maverick threw me off, too.. since they now appear right side up and forwards.

SubiSanchez > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 11:29

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He should've taken a nice Polaroid as proof of the incident then buzzed the tower

Wave Motion Gun > ttyymmnn 09/23/2013 at 11:35

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Suddenly realizing that you are completely vulnerable, to the point that not even your support from the ground could warn you of another aircraft closing on you and nobody else is even aware of it being there has to be one of those moments that makes one reconsider careers. I wonder if they still have the number to that truck driving school...

ttyymmnn > Wave Motion Gun 09/23/2013 at 11:53

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