The Most Lethal Ultra-Advanced Plane That Required No Weapons
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ย. 2024
- With 7,000 surface-to-air missiles, 10,000 anti-aircraft artillery guns, and a massive fleet of Mirage F1s, Su-24s, MiG-25s, and MiG-29s, the Iraqi anti-aircraft defense network was practically impenetrable by conventional means.
However, US forces had at their disposal the EF-111A Raven, and it was anything but conventional.
As the most advanced electronics warfare warplane on earth, the Raven had the ability to do the impossible. Piercing the Iraqi border at Mach 2.2 speeds with the other fighters, the Raven could unleash a storm of electronic chaos, turning Iraq’s priceless AAA system into a paperweight for a brief time.
Armed with the cutting-edge AN/ALQ-99E jamming system, nestled in a pod that took the place of the F-111's traditional bomb bay, the Raven had the power to blind enemy radars and scramble communications across a broad spectrum, turning her into a force of nature.
But the Raven's arsenal didn't stop there. She was also kitted out with the Terminal Threat Warning System, an advanced suite providing real-time threat detection and situational awareness, through a massive receiver attached to the tail that gave the EF-111 its unmistakable profile and iconic look.
Unmatched in electronic warfare, the Raven burst into the first-ever operation of the Gulf War, a high-stakes gamble to destroy Sadam Hussein's precious AAA network.
Yet, for all of its might, the Raven had one weakness: it was not armed with a single conventional weapon.
In the heat of combat, an enemy Mirage F1 somehow intercepted one of the Ravens. About to be obliterated, the crew would have to resort to extraordinary measures and push their warbird to the absolute limits if they were to survive…
Can we say “one eleven, one eleven. O n e E l e v e n.” Love this bird though.
Funny how they get the name/pronunciation wrong 😅 lol we had these in Australia for longer than any other airforce, ours were constantly upgraded and lighting the fuel dump system with the wings at 70degrees they topped out at mach 2.5
totally agree. I was almost chewing the sleeve of my jumper at every utterance of that travesty. Fully back your comment and I Fully back this Channel. Just stumbled on it a few vids ago. now Binge watching.
As I was leaving RAF Upper Heyford in July 1983 the Spark Varks were starting to arrive sometime after that to become the 42nd Electronic Combat Squadron.
The EF-111 fleet was retired far too soon. Without a USAF replacement. The Navy’s EA-18G Growler is now escorts the strike package of warplanes.
It almost seems like the DOD wants the US at a disadvantage if war broke out.
It’s the first time a F/B 111 aardvark achieved a maneuvering combat kill, it’s the F14s chunky brother thicc but still sexy.
I like how they call it the spark vark
One eleven F111.Get it right.
It is amazing how so many Mirage F-1's look Like Mirage III's or 2000's. Sorry just poking fun. There was some footage of the actual type.
Realy I like this powerful fastest planes
Interesting Video. 👍🇺🇸 subbed.
Thanks for video
Cool plane!
AKA: Spark Vark.
Great story. I've got a hasegawa kit of the exact plane stashed away somewhere
I'm into models, too!
Nope, only got as far as “Sue 24 S, MiG 29 S”. If you’re going to insist on using a robot narrator, at least write the script so that it’s not obviously a robot narrator.
The EF-111 was replaced by Navy and Marine EA-6Bs, some of which were crewed by AF EWOs.
Wasn't replaced by the Prowlers. The Prowlers were in service at the same time. The USAF retired the Spark 'Vark and left the EW role to the USN\USMC Prowlers, which were 2x more effective than the 111. They did help man some USN squadrons, as you stated. The big limitation to the 111 was that the jamming systems were powered by the engines, so it could only use two jammers at a time. The Prowler ECM pods were self powered by their RATs, so all of the jamming systems could be used at the same time. The Spark was still a great plane and provided good ECM cover.
The EA-6B's also had USAF pilots, so the crews were not just ECMO USAF.
Not true, the statement, it could only power two transmitters. Yes, you couldn't power all of the exciter transmitters at full power, all the time, but operationally the ALQ-99E was a lot more subtle in operation, only sending enough power to do the job. Also, unlike the EA-6, we had steerable horns on our ten transmitter modules so we could direct the correct amount of power where needed and not waste it in a broadcast. We could also, if the load-out was configured, jam a much wider range than the plain EA-6B ALQ-99 ever could, all the way down to VHF freqs. Finally, as we did NOT have the EA-6B Pod RATT power, among other airframe inefficiencies slowing us down, we could easily keep up with the packages we had to escort, AND loiter for far longer than the EA-6B ever could. The EF's were first in-last out and never bingo, unless tasked for two mission packages in a row, and then one KC tank and back in the fight. The EF-111A was decommissioned not due to its ineffectiveness but due to it's cousins, the F-111E and F models being dumped, and the financial scale of maintaining just two squadrons of EF's became too much. The USAF also thought getting rid of the F-111 as a whole would save enough money to get the Congress to give them at least 2-300 more F-22's, not unlike what they are doing today with the A-10 vs F-35 debate.
I don’t believe this was an “agile” plane. It was agile in the hands of only the best pilots because it was an exceedingly difficult one to fly. Today we have computers to handle what those rare few could do with this amazing machine
No it was very might be the most “agile” for its size and it also could do it in dark it also had some fly by wire might be the first plane to get any Being relatively expensive to maintain amid post-Cold War budget cuts, the USAF elected to retire its F-111 fleet during the 1990s; the last F-111Fs were withdrawn in 1996 while the remaining EF-111s departed in 1998
@@jgold2813 The F-111 was not fly-by-wire, the backbone was filled with push-rods, feel frames and dampers, worked on them for 16 years. It WAS agile though, especially at altitude with the wings in optimum sweep. it was Not a dog-fighter, and on the deck, invincible.
Let's find out with a notification.
Wrong pic should be EA6B
The ALQ99 is a joke up till today. The amount of BIT failures is insane
Go back to ACBT (academy of click bait titles). This bird wasn't lethal. It enabled other birds that were.
Annnd 10s in that's a pass. These machine-synth narrations should be banned from TH-cam.