The 10 Worst Air Forces In The World 2018

We Are The Mighty: The 10 worst Air Forces in the world 2018

When it comes to things like air superiority, if you don't have to think about it, you're probably winning. The ground pounders in the Armed Forces of the United States have it pretty good in that regard. They can be reasonably sure that if they're going into a combat situation, death will likely not be coming from above.

The Army and Marine Corps know they can count on airmen to have the best food and the worst PT tests, but as long as those airmen can lift bombs and bullets onto aircraft and get the stuff to the fight, everyone is blessed from on high. Everyone allied with the United States, that is.

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WNU Editor: I concur with this list.

Watch Fighter Jets Zoom Through “Star Wars Canyon” In Death Valley, California

Popular Mechanics: Watch Fighter Jets Zoom Through “Star Wars Canyon”

Located in Death Valley, California, Star Wars Canyon is one of the best places in the world to see fighter planes flying at low level.

No, this isn't the desert world of Tatooine. It just looks like it.

The now-famous "Star Wars Canyon" in Death Valley, Calif., is so named for its resemblance to Luke Skywalker's home. Among aviation enthusiasts, though, the place is best known as the best place in the Western U.S., if not the whole of the North America, to watch fighter jets and even transport aircraft practice flying low and fast.

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WNU Editor: Watching videos like this one never gets old.

A Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Jet Gets Hit By Lightning While Flying Through The Clouds (Video)

VIDEO: Lightning bolt strikes a #Kuwaiti Air Force F/A-18 Hornet! pic.twitter.com/oBldSa1Tcf

— محمد بن خالد (@MbKS15) December 28, 2018

Business Insider: Watch a Kuwaiti F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet get hit by lightning while flying through clouds

The following video is pretty impressive. It shows an F/A-18C being hit by a lightning bolt.

Along with the flash of light, you can clearly hear a loud bang inside the cockpit, taking the pilot by surprise. Shock aside, the aircraft was probably not really damaged by the bolt.

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WNU Editor: That is something that you do not see everyday.

This Ukrainian Su-25 Fighter Jet Nearly Hits The Landing Strip Doing An Ultra-Low Flying Stunt

RT: WATCH Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jets nearly hit landing strip in ultra-low flying stunt

A video circulating online captured the dramatic moment a pair of Su-25 warplanes almost touched the ground as they buzzed over an airfield in Ukraine, while flying at a dangerously low altitude.

Several people can be seen running away from the landing strip right before the pilots in their Su-25MS1 jets execute the daring move, while a number of large transport planes and a helicopter are parked across the airfield.

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WNU Editor: This is how stupid accidents happen.

Ukrainian Military Jet Makes Incredibly Low Pass Just FEET Above The Ground

Daily Mail: Where did that come from? Ukrainian military jet makes incredibly low pass just FEET above the ground as fearless man lies down underneath it to film

* Jet thought to be Su-24M attack aircraft flies perilously close to men on runway
* Plane comes out of nowhere to skim just feet above man laying on tarmac
* Believed footage was captured at Staro airbase in Ukraine where fleet is based

This is the astonishing moment that a military fighter jet flies just feet above a man's head.

The plane, thought to be a Ukrainian Su-24M Fencer Bomber, comes out of nowhere to perilously skim over the top of the person recording.

Another man can also be seen ducking and covering his ears with his hands to protect against the blasting noise.

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WNU Editor: There is close, and then there is really really really close.

This Is How RAF Crews With Inferior Jets Were Able To Repeatedly 'Kill' Navy F-14s And F/A-18s In Training

Tyler Rogoway, The Warzone/The Drive: How Sly RAF Tornado Crews Repeatedly Killed U.S. Navy F-14s And F/A-18s In Training

The Tornado ADV couldn't turn and burn with high-performance fighters of the era, but it could still clean their clocks using creative tactics.

When most people think of a the Panavia Tornado today the interdiction/strike (IDS) or electronic countermeasures/reconnaissance (ECR) variants come to mind. But the air defense variant (ADV) of the swing-wing Cold War era combat jet lived an entirely different life than its non air-to-air focused cousins. These jets were interceptors optimized primarily to efficiently hunt down and destroy Soviet bombers over long ranges, and their maneuverability was notoriously lacking when compared to fighters of the same era. But after some major developmental hurdles, the jet's straight line performance, Foxhunter radars, and Skyflash missiles proved to be a deadly combination, especially when paired with a very well trained aircrew.

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WNU Editor: Yup .... sometimes it is the man with the right training and experienced rather than having the most advanced aircraft that comes up on top.

Trying To Get The U.S., French, And British Air Forces To Work Together

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, a British Royal Air Force Typhoon, and a French air force Rafale fly in formation Dec. 7 as part of a the Trilateral Exercise held at Langley Air Force Base, Va. The exercise simulates a contested, degraded and operationally limited environment where U.S. and partner pilots and ground crews can test their readiness. (Photo by Senior Airman Kayla Newman/ Air Force)

Washington Post: What happens when the most advanced fighter jets in the U.S., France and Britain prepare for war

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. — The rumble started early Tuesday, as one fighter jet after another ascended from a runway here near the Atlantic Ocean and into a bright, clear sky. The mission: Prepare for war against potential adversaries like Russia, which is now patrolling the same skies as the United States over Syria and flexing its muscles in eastern Europe.

The first-ever Trilateral Exercise between the United States, France and Britain has been in planning for several years, but began Dec. 2 over coastal Virginia with a decidedly real-world feel. The U.S Air Force’s F-22 Raptor, the British Royal Air Force Typhoon and the French air force Dassault Rafale have flown dozens of missions each day since the operation started.

Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles and T-38 Talons are flying against them as so-called “Red Air,” providing a notional adversary in training. Tanker planes and an E-3 Sentry, a command-and-control plane commonly known as the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) provide support.

Update: TriLateralEx 2015 Final Report: F-22s, Typhoons and Rafales prepare for Future Air Warfare (The Aviationist).

WNU Editor: You would think that being member states of NATO there would already be a means to coordinate operations .... but apparently not.

Viper Pilots Doing The 10 Month F-16 B Course

Business Insider/Aviationist: 10 months F-16 pilot training in one stunning video

This is an interesting +11 minutes video filmed by pilots attending the F-16 B Course with the 309th Fighting Squadron atLuke Air Force Base, near Tucson, in Arizona.

Shot with GoPro cameras, the clip will bring you aboard the Viper during air combat maneuvering, aerial refueling, night flying, formation flying, live firing at the range and much more.

Enjoy.

Looking For A Successor To The F-22

F-22 Raptors sit on the flight line at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii Feb. 12, 2007. The F-22Õs and more than 250 Airmen from the 27th Fighter Squadron at Langley Air Force Base, Va., are bound for Kadena Air Base, Japan, for the aircraftÕs first overseas operational deployment. Wikipedia

Top Air Force General Doesn't Know If F-22 Successor Will Even Fly -- Washington Examiner

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh doesn't know if the successor to the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's fifth generation fighter, will fly.

"I don't even know that it's an airplane," Welsh told reporters Wednesday morning. "I wouldn't try and characterize it or describe it. I have no idea yet what it's going to look like, even is, whether it flies, or whether it's a combination of things — just don't know."

Welsh said that Air Force officials have to begin thinking about "what does air superiority look like 30 years from now" because the government doesn't react quickly enough to be prepared with the necessary technology if the research doesn't begin very far in advance.

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My Comment: I thought the F-35 was going to be not only the successor to the F-22 .... but even better. I guess not.

Smaller Air Forces Around The World Cannot Afford Today's Jet Fighters

Credit: Eurofighter

Air Forces Acquiring Fewer Fighters As Prices Rise -- Aviation Week

Leaders of smaller air forces are worried that they could be priced out of flying fighter aircraft by rising acquisition and operational costs, and countries that once fielded large forces are recognizing that they cannot cover all their historic missions as they switch to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

That program's leaders admit that the F-35's projected operational costs are not affordable—while promising to bring them down—but one major U.S. contractor has broken ranks and challenged the value of the Pentagon's huge investment in radar cross-section (RCS) reduction, the JSF's dominant technology.

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My Comment: What you pay is what you get .... more so now when it comes to purchasing jet fighters than anything else.

The Big Money Behind Europe's U.S. Warplane Trash-Talk

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

From Popular Mechanics:

European airplane makers brag about their success against U.S. aircraft during recent war games, but the jibes sound more like sales pitches than bragging rights.

When there is more than $10 billion in weapons sales at stake, marketing can trump diplomacy during NATO air combat training.

NATO pilots routinely participate in war games with its members, during which flights of "red team" airplanes play the opposition and square off against NATO pilots in realistic encounters. Recently, a squadron of pilots of the Spanish air force flew Eurofighter Typhoons, a multirole airplane with good dogfighting abilities, in mock combat against U.S. Air Force F-15s in the skies around Gando Air Base, Gran Canaria.

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My Comment: As I am always fond of saying .... it's all about the money.

The U.S. Air Force Of Tomorrow

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Kyle Alhers performs his morning routine on an F/A-18C Hornet aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Gulf of Oman, Oct. 14, 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Gary Prill

Reverse! Air Force Wants More Flyboys, Fewer Jets
-- The Danger Room

Not too long ago, the Air Force was looking to cut 40,000 people from the service, to pay for more planes. Now: Reverse thrust! The Air Force brass wants to add an extra 13,000 flyboys by 2010. To help pay for the new troops, they'll retire more than 300 fighter jets early.

In all, the service plans to retire 137 F-15s, 177 F-16s and nine A-10s, according to internal Pentagon documents obtained by Inside Defense . That's more than 10 percent of the existing fleets. And it means that the F-15s will be retiring seven years early; the F-16s' service times will be cut short by six years; and the A-10s will head to the boneyard 11 years ahead of schedule.

To make up for the retired planes, the Air Force allegedly wants to ramp up production of the controversial F-35 Joint Strike Fighter stealth jet. "If true, the U.S. Air Force is taking a huge gamble here. The Lockheed Martin F-35A is not scheduled to enter service until at least two years after the aircraft it replaces would service, and there's still big uncertainty that Lockheed can stick to the F-35 program's flight test and development schedule," Stephen Trimble says.

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My Comment: This is probably one of the many lesser reasons why the heads for the Air Force were fired a few months ago.