Forum: Air Force Life

Hey Sixer,

My comments at that time were based on the fact that the week before, DRS had asked me for the precise locations of the AOA probes in the nose radome; they had already sold the boresight kit to USAF but had not yet put together an AOA kit, or created potting fixtures! It wasn't until a year later that they actually demonstrated that capability on a jet at Homestead. Unfortunately, now, it looks like DRS won't be playing anymore.

I sometimes find it difficult to voice my opinions and separate my Lockheed hat from my US taxpayer hat. As a taxpayer, the laser equipment makes no sense; the original Battlelab assessment at Mountain Home showed that with the remaining service life of the F-16, USAF would never recoup their investment on laser boresight equipment. And DRS had one more trick up their sleeve: they, and only they, could calibrate the equipment, at $60K a pop. That wasn't mentioned in the cost figures. I think somebody told me that the laser equipment is now gathering dust, with no money budgeted for calibration (I could be wrong on this one).

In the end, it was a shame USAF did not get what they wanted from the laser equipment. Operationally, it was a great advantage to be able to boresight without removing the centerline tank or pod, but DRS always based their estimates on a "confidence check only" scenario. One of their selling points, for example, was a reduced mobility footprint - until you added the potting fixtures, which made it just about equal in size and weight to the optical system.

It is funny to me that now USAF has rejected the laser equipment and is now in favor of boresight equipment with "commonality", i.e., can be used on more than one aircraft. I know very well that the DRS equipment has been used on F-16, A-10, and F-15. How many more jets does it have to work with?

In the end the losers are the troops who have to deal with outdated, broken-down equipment to get their jobs done. I always said that for the money you spent on one set of laser boresight equipment you could fix every broken piece of optical equipment out there and keep us going for another ten years.

Finally, next time you hear me spouting off like that, just tell me to shut the %#$ up. Sometimes I need somebody to do that. I am sure we would have had a great conversation about boresighting in general.

Best Regards,

F-16.net Sponsor

Joe---
Ohhhh, nooooo!! I wasn't about to shut you up. I was enjoying the show too much! You may remember me that day as I was quite vocal in my enthusiasm for the new system. I still think it's a good idea that probably needs to be applied to the newer jets like the F-22 and F-35. I have to admit that I was unaware of that company's relative ignorance of the F-16 and its boresighting foibles. I remember now that they had no AOA fixtures that day. I have nothing against optical boresighting at all. I was just lobbying for a simpler, more foolproof way of finding out how well-boredighted the jet was. God knows, I made more than my share of boo-boos determining whether INS/FCR images read "backwards" or was it the HUD????? Finally I figured it out and had no trouble after that. Had a helluva time explaining it to some of my coworkers, though!!

For some reason, I ended up being my unit's boresighting guru for both the A-7 and the Viper. Between the two, I'd much rather boresight a Viper. Hell--at least with the Viper you have half a chance or better of not having to adjust things. Not so with the SLUF.

Tell you what--I forget the name of the machine shop in Albuquerque that repairs optical fixtures, but they saved our bacon several times while I was at Sandston. Thanks to the folks at the 150th for letting me know about that!! Especially Art Garcia. We'd have been dead in the water were it not for him. He and I were on the phone BS'ing about life in general whan I just happened to mention we'd just had the INS fixture go down and couldn't get a replacement. He said to call this machine shop; I did, and $800 later, voila! it was fixed.

In a lot of ways I miss the good ole days playing with the world's most advanced toys, but in a lot of ways I'm glad I'm done with the military.

SixerViper Out

Enthusiast Joined: Jan 28, 2006 - 10:52 AM Posts: 57

Now that I work the KC-10,,,,I miss the 16 world!!!!!

Hey JoeSambor,
I know exactlly what your talking about. I remember my last night in. I was living in the dorms at Nellis. I could see and hear the flightline. Just knowing that i was not gonna see or hear that again made me a bit misty eyed. So I just stood there listening, trying to soak it all in one last time. I remember that like it was yesterday too. Very sad moment for me.

Tim wrote:

I was just curious? Whats everYones most memorable moment, whether it be on the line, in the back shop, off duty or whatever...

I guess I could start. my most memorable moment was sitting at my first assignment(PEASE) I was sitting in training and picked up AIR FORCE TIMES rag and was glancing through it. I found an article about a A-10 pilot that was killed doing an air show at RAF CHICKSANDS. I kept reading and thought to myself "Poor guy" but kept reading about how the guy was looked as some kind of hero for riding it into a nearby field, instead of the crowd. I get up and go to my next class, someone comes into the room and says I have an urgent call from home. I take the call and its my dad, he says my uncle was killed earlier this week doing an airshow in England.

A day I'll never forget, the day I lost my uncle.. COL THOMAS B. THOMPSON

Tim wrote:

I was just curious? Whats everYones most memorable moment, whether it be on the line, in the back shop, off duty or whatever...

I guess I could start. my most memorable moment was sitting at my first assignment(PEASE) I was sitting in training and picked up AIR FORCE TIMES rag and was glancing through it. I found an article about a A-10 pilot that was killed doing an air show at RAF CHICKSANDS. I kept reading and thought to myself "Poor guy" but kept reading about how the guy was looked as some kind of hero for riding it into a nearby field, instead of the crowd. I get up and go to my next class, someone comes into the room and says I have an urgent call from home. I take the call and its my dad, he says my uncle was killed earlier this week doing an airshow in England.

A day I'll never forget, the day I lost my uncle.. COL THOMAS B. THOMPSON

Wow, what a small world

My condolences to you

That incident happened just before I got to RAF Bentwaters in 1980 … they named perimeter road after him, and he was a hero for wrestling the jet away from the crowd.

I think FOD in the “White Area” bought that jet down.

Salute

checksixx,
I got a copy of that article along with many others, thanx for posting it. Thumb

I looked up to that man since I was a kid.

VarkVet,
Really is a small world huh?
The Air Force also named the A-10 gunnery trophy after him too. And, (If I'm not mistaken) They named a street after him at Davis-Montham.
Also Thanx for the kind words. It truly is appreciated. Thumb

When I was at Bagram fall 06'- winter 07' we were doing a bunker drill at dusk. Everyone was checking in over the radios then someone chimed in with a real world scramble. 2 of our A-10s came up and did a hard right bank just off the deck as opposed to their regular climb out on runway heading. Shortly after that I saw them punching out flare ontop of a nearby mountain. Then something exploded and burned behind the ridge. I got ontop of the bunker and started yelling at the top of my lungs "GET SOME MOTHERF*#@ERS!!!!" The the chief told me to get back in the bunker.

On a side note; I love the USAF and knew I was career before I came in. I'm Ammo and had cross training dead set into my mind. After I got to Bagram and seen our strike footage hearing those guys on the ground scared to death taking fire calling in our CAS A-10s by name and seeing our guys hit bad guys in the trees with 30mm less than 50 yards from our guys. I'd pay to stay Ammo. It made all the day to day BS back home seem so small in comparision to the pay off I watched in those videos over there. Those 5 months solidified every doubt I had about cross training. I'm proud to have put my small part into the big picture.

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.

Forum: Air Force Life

Most memorable moments?