Message posted by remotelocation on April 17, 2012 at 14:27:59 PST:
Yep, they fly around the area. That doesn't mean they're sitting armed alert. Read some of the U-2/A-12 stories that are becoming declassified and you'll see there is a whole lot of flying going on in the area. The available overhead can't show me definitive missiles on the tips of the Vipers - missile rails look the same with that resolution. They're removed from the weapons bunkers, they're not sitting to the runway and anyone who wanted to attack the base from the air could likely be overhead long before the jets got the wheels up. It doesn't look like any armed alert pad I've seen anywhere in N. America. Think how close Red Flag jets get to the base, or even commercial airliners. No way those jets could respond in time. I imagine they're jets that are either connected to the test programs there (flying chase, testing new equipment), or they are associated with the test squadrons. (Test pilots have to keep current, UAV pilots still fly real jets to keep proficient).
In Reply to: Re: 2003 Iraqi Freedom War (Requesting Peter Merlin) posted by wheresjanet on April 16, 2012 at 21:22:40 PST:
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