Royal Navy an USMC F35B on combat missions.

[Astro14]

Yeah…and we had just gotten GPS…so, we were not only predictable, we were exactingly so…

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

http://www.ausairpower.net/APJ-Lambeth-Mirror.html

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-04.html

These are a good start

Both are good articles, but the first is an absolute gem.

Desert Storm took place near the peak of Air Force EW prowess. By the time of Kosavo, the Air Force had dismantled much of it's EW capability. A lot of this was done so that money could be freed up for F-22 acquisition. Ignorant planners had promoted the concept that "we have stealth, we don't need EW".
Besides the retirement of the EF-111, the AF had retired the last of it's true Wild Weasels, the F-4G. The F-16s that replaced them were excellent fighters, but had a small fraction of the ability to quickly react to SAMs, locate and destroy them. Had the F-4Gs been around, it would added another level of complication to the air defense picture.
While less HARM missiles would have been wasted and more radars damaged, I can't say it would have definitely saved those two aircraft, though. Being predictable, and ignoring past lessons learned about flying above an overcast in a SAM environment has it's consequences.

 

[UncleDave]

Yeah…and we had just gotten GPS…so, we were not only predictable, we were exactingly so…

After a few episodes of batman coming on at 4PM even a 3rd grader can figure out when its coming on next.

jeez sorry man, our leadership really failed you and us. I grew up in an Air Force family and this hurts to hear.

 

[Jetronic]

not to forget that at least that one sam unit was very disciplined and knowledgeable about their capabilities. Something that wont be universally so, and I seriously doubt it was like that during Desert Storm

 

[y_p_w]

eh 10K now? - even so sure.

3K rounds a minute is expensive on a per second basis... so on a hit that 10K delivers 50 munitions any one of which is either a kill or disable. Our boys a pretty damm good shots but sure they'll miss.

1 second can deliver a real wallop to a line of targets on a road heading out of town disabling many, not to mention loiter around for a while doing it over and over.

There is a reaosn mini guns are actually legal- millionaires dont rob banks.

I was estimating around $150 per round and 4000 rounds per minute. Reminds me of an SNL sketch of an off duty James Bond having to spend his own money, called “Bullets Aren’t Cheap”.

 

[Tikka]

http://www.ausairpower.net/APJ-Lambeth-Mirror.html

http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-04.html

These are a good start

Hi.
Thank you for the links. I enjoyed them.

 

[Tikka]

There were some crappy aspects of being on that end of the stick, perhaps.

But it was also the pointy end of the diplomatic spear, and I wouldn’t change a thing about my life or career choices.

Hi
I hope you did not take my remark as an insult. It was certainly not intended that way.

 

[UncleDave]

I was estimating around $150 per round and 4000 rounds per minute. Reminds me of an SNL sketch of an off duty James Bond having to spend his own money, called “Bullets Aren’t Cheap”.

I only recalled 3K, 4K is even nastier....

 

[y_p_w]

I only recalled 3K, 4K is even nastier....

I believe the speed can be set since it’s all just externally powered, but I rounded up from the 3900 I saw in several sources.

General Dynamics (I believe it was originally developed by General Electric) says 4200.

https://www.gd-ots.com/armaments/aircraft-guns-gun-systems/gau8a/​

Rate of fire Up to 4,200 shots per minute​

 

[edyvw]

I was there, flying over Bosnia, in the summer of 1995.

Because I was there, I’m reticent to comment too much, not knowing what remains classified.…

However, I was not a fan of the JFACC plan for airspace in that campaign. It used a series of defined waypoints to get traffic in and out of the combat airspace. Those waypoints were static. The same from day to day. I later sat next to the JFACC himself when he was senior mentor in an Air Command and Control senior officer class I was attending.

My opinion: that using the same waypoints over and over allowed the adversary to better position air defense assets and to predict the transit times from bases like Aviano, simplifying their targeting (remember Scott O’Grady?) was not popular with the retired general…

I remember seeing F14’s regularly. So maybe we met before
I would say that Bosnia was different thing. Executing no fly zone with occasional air attacks for 3+ years brings predictability etc. Also, Bosnian Serbs were nowhere near as capable as Serbia regardless that everything was supplied from there including troops and weapons. But, there were huge issues with morale, disorganization, alcoholism, crime etc. Not sure how much that influenced OAF campaign in 1999 to underestimate what Serbia can or cannot do. Tactically OAF had mixed results, and even strategically it is questionable and since that is the Balkans, jury is still out.
Dave Zelko went to Serbia later to meet the guy who commanded SA3 battery.
As for Scott O’Grady, I was in PhD program with guy who flew sortie before him. It would be understatement to say he didn’t have high opinion about him.