Get Off that F-16! we'll send the Drone instead..

Radio Control toys, whats once supposed to be a toys for all, in fact thats no wonder country like Sri Lanka ban on this toys because it can be apply for another unthinkable purpose by layman. Its no secret anymore thats what the military around the world up to, they secretly apply Radio Control technology as a strategic airborne device.

The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq. The jump in Iraq coincided with the build up of U.S. forces this summer as the military swelled its ranks to quell the violence in Baghdad. But Pentagon officials said that even as troops begin to slowly come home this year, the use of Predators, Global Hawks, Shadows and Ravens will not likely slow.

The increased military operations all across Iraq last summer triggered greater use of the drones and an escalating call for more of the systems — from the Pentagon's key hunter-killer, the Predator, to the surveillance Global Hawks and the smaller, cheaper Ravens.

In one recent example of what they can do, a Predator caught sight of three militants firing mortars at U.S. forces in November in Balad, Iraq. The drone fired an air-to-ground missile, killing the three, according to video footage the Air Force released.

The bulk of the unmanned flight hours belong to the Army's workhorse drone, the Raven, which weighs just four pounds and is used by smaller units, such as companies and battalions, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army has a total of 361 unmanned aircraft in Iraq alone — including Shadows, Hunters and Ravens. And in the first 10 months of 2007, they flew more than 300,000 hours.

According to a new Pentagon report, the Defense Department plans to develop an "increasingly sophisticated force of unmanned systems" over the next 25 years. The effort will confront some current shortfalls, including plans to improve how well the drones can quickly and precisely identify and locate targets.

That would also involve increasing the precision of the guided weapons that are on some of the unmanned aircraft. Those efforts are considered critical because it enables the military to hunt down and kill militants without putting troops at risk.

In addition, the Pentagon said it wants to improve the drones' reconnaissance and surveillance abilities, which are the top priorities of commanders in the field.

Bring in Russian Stealth Fighter Aircraft!

( MiG 1.44 a development program that originated in the 1980s, thats really never take off into a full service)

There is an eerie of what is going on behind the Russian veil. We've seen whats the America come out with. China, Japan and even Korea and Iran or probably other western country are trying hard to come out with some sort of stealth fighter of their own design for years to come although all this country for sure lacking experience and technology.

When the Russian come out with MiG-25 in 70s, to encountered it US come out with F-15. But then the MiG-25 is known for interceptor and reconnaissance role only with fastest Mach 3 record, surely not for dogfight as F-15 tend to do. In 1970s with the emerging of F-16 and F-18, the agile small fighter with fly by wire technology along with lerx (Leading Edge Root Extension) technology then MiG Bureau come out with MiG-29, also using lerx technology although we don't know whether they also using fly by wire technology ( now we know they did). Even, when most latest western fighter spotting a canard for agility then Su-30s family of aircraft started spotting canard for the same purpose (along with limited vectoring nozzle capability for added agility).

Russian aviation bureau is known to have conduct an abundance of research on all kind of aspect of stealth. This evident is strong with the concept sketches, wind tunnel model and mock up model, even certain bureau come out with a prototype of it. In fact in certain photo unveil a really fantastic designed, 2-D vectoring nozzle like F-22. A MiG prototype with air intake like European Typhoon, all this emerged as far back in 1970s. Some prototype in fact is really promising, like the MiG 1.44 prototype (above photo).

Its worth noted, its really sad to see them losing the race. When F-22, B-2 or even the old F-117 come out, there is a cold response from Russian Aircraft Bureau. There is no comparison aircraft come out to encountered any of them. Whats have they learned through their research seem just been wipe out from their mind and it means nothing!. All gone like a dust blown by the winds. At least, if the funds is their main problem (although they gain a lot export order to cover it!) then they should equipped a least one or two squadron with latest design stealth capability fighter, but the fact is there's none at all exist!.(Unless, there is one secretly entered their service)

Whats is really happening here? Why there's no new bomber or fighter with stealthy capability entering Russian service until now?. Why they'll still utilized an old work horses like Mig-29 variants and Su-27 variants that lacking all this capability?. All design dated back in 1970s!. Is it because stealth is not important? Or, are they come out with some kind of anti-stealth mechanism that render stealth an obsolete technology? There's no answer for all this questions. Only the Russian know the answer. If they can't closed the gap as soon as possible then surely they'll losing the technology race for good, I'm afraid. The US probably ahead of them for 10 years from now on or probably more!. So, Russian bring in your new Stealth Fighter!