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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2735 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for April 11, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Aerospace subthread.

Anyone want to speculate on the following:

  • Who will win the Navy Next Generation Air Dominance F/A-XX program award?
  • Why is the Navy NGAD program pronounced NJAD?
  • Who's idea was it to name both the Air Force and Navy programs NGAD, despite being separate programs?
  • Will the plane be designated F/A-45 to go with the F-47? Surely unrelated to any other 45th and 47th.

My guesses:

  • Northrop Grumman, It would be crazy to put all our eggs in the Boeing basket at this point.
  • My had cannon is that Air force doctrine is that GIF is pronounced with a hard g, while the Navy pronounces it with a j.
  • Seems like it might be vestigial from DARPA, apparently there was never a meeting where everyone sat down and agreed the situation was ridiculous.
  • I'll make a book at even odds for bets of any size of worthless, fake, imaginary, and untracked internet points.

Wait, what. US has 2 6th generation programs ongoing at the same time?

Yes, the first is called NGAD not to be confused with the second program called NGAD.

There is, as far as I know, a single 1st person real life video showing ejection from a military plane. Or probably any plane.

Impeccable direction, as you'd expect from Almighty himself. Looks like 15 seconds between stabilizer gone and pilot touching the ground.

This is it.

It's a must watch.

Of course the POV cam is Russian... We must close the dashcam video gap!

What's worth discussing is ..what happened to the plane? This was geolocated inside Russia, near Belgorod iirc. The plane's engine is on fire. The stabilizer is neatly cut. There are no power pylons around it seems. So why is it neatly cut? I mean, it seems like an anti-aircraft missile hit, but the neat stabilizer cut is very odd.

//spoiler tags don't seem to work for me anymore.

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