Multiple Kill Vehicle dies lonely death at the hand of bureaucracy
Remember that truly insane insanity that was the Missile Defense Agency's MKV-L (Multiple Kill Vehicle)? The one we saw back in December after it had completed its first round of test flights? Well, the project -- which sought to cobble together a bunch of missiles using a single booster, producing the ultimate killfest -- has sadly been shelved by a recent spate of projected Pentagon cutbacks for the 2010 US Defence budget. Crazy murderbot, we hardly knew ye, you candle in the wind. Video of it in action after the break.



















*sad face*
Sad face indeed... I actually thought the whole hovering-with-rockets thing it does is very majestic and interesting to watch.
sad boosh
that was one of the most awesome things i have ever seen. too bad its shelved D:
Quite sad to see this thing go to fund some pretty useless projects... Maybe japan will finish it and call it a "fin funnel dx super semiautonimous kill bot", or at least something cooler than a matroska file extrension.
Here's to hopping someone out there will give us a reason to smile by continuing the research into a final product.
Yeah, I have to jump on the bandwagon here. That thing is sweet! It's just fascinating to watch.
looks like something from 'ratchet and clank'...
this, along with no more extravagant F-22s, is very VERY un-american.
Obama is a Commie
USA
USA
USA
Lol. Actually from what I understand this was canceled due to parallel projects.
Oh and as far as the 22s, that was always just planned as more of an expensive testbed for other tech. Mostly they wanted to see how it would all interact on a single airframe, it was never meant as a total replacement, otherwise no one would have approved of the 35 project. Besides, 35s are much more attractive budgetary wise, it's a platform that provides nearly the same kind of force multiplier for about half the cost.
no, you're just stupid
that was @ brian
I have a list of tw-no, three hundred and fi-sixteen known communists that are currently working for the Obama administration. I just can't show it to you yet. But I do have it. I also have people willing to testify against them. And no I can't give you their names either.
If nobody got it, I was kidding.
Geez, insult Obama and people get SERIOS!
Brian, democrats spend more money on defense than your buddies. Take the budget for this year alone, more than 4% up versus last year despite our current financial condition not including special projects. And btw, F 22's are 20 / 15 years old. Cutting back on them will only make more money available for the next gen FX-35's ( Gates stated this a couple of weeks ago in his testimony ) . Wouldn't that make you happy?
Just saw you had replied, totally my bad. I retract my statement sort of?
Yes, it is so American to waste tax payers money on shit we do not need, WTF dude??
Obvious troll is obvious.
Final Time, I realize (and support) making the less-expensive f-35 strike-bombers would create more jobs. I was playing a conservative.
I am independant.
let's not forget that the F-22s have 4 CUPHOLDERS!
luke, did you watch the video? of COURSE we need this!
Ok first of all, sad to see this go.
So for those of you who think we must dump the F-22 to make way for the F-35 Let me tell you something about the F-35.
1. Lower payload than the F-22
2. Less Manueverable than the F-22
3. This will be a joint project that many UN countries INCLUDING Iran can purchase from us.
4. NO STEALTH
5. Lots of Top Secret info that you can't know about :D
The only advantage is that it is a common airframe that will be easy and cheap to build and maintain. The reason we need to have a good number of F-22's is that a country with the F-35 would be decimated by the F-22. The F-22 is essential to the United States Air Supperiority in future wars. If a plane is hands down the single most superior air frame with the closest to it's superiority being a plane 1/4 of it's capability (F-35) isn't it seen as an investment? You don't buy that expensive computer because it can do nearly the same job as that 299 netbook. You do it because you won't have to upgrade later!
Capt. USAF
Intelligence Officer
Brian do the world a favor and get H1N1.
To TGGGD86
Iran cannot get a F-35 not now, not tomorrow. They can barely afford an old mig from the soviets. I don't know how you configure your shopping cart when you check out, but I end up with a pretty good plane. Stealth only works in the middle east with shitty radars, and most targets can be reached from a good distance. How many F 22's have we got so far anyways? I don't even know. In any case I don't think we need too many more "right at this moment" and this is coming from the guy who would decorate his wall with F 22 wallpaper if he could.
@TGGGD86
The F-35 is stealth...
Your are a fool. And you discredit yourself.
Side-note, I support the F-22. Shear awesomeness.
@TGGGD86
Thank you, sir. Well put.
The F-22 is an air-superiority fighter that the US uses to gain an advantage over the air forces of other countries, and, while it is expensive, it is also extremely advanced and superior to the F-35 in numerous ways. The F-22 Raptor is an aircraft all about being better, faster, more maneuverable, and harder-hitting than other aircraft, giving US pilots the upper hand in airborne conflicts. All in all, the F-22 is one of the most advanced weapons in the US arsenal, and an essential part of the same. The F-35 program is an important one, but the F-22 will remain a huge part of The United States' air fleet for years to come, and we can only speculate now on whether the US would have done better to continue production of the aircraft.
@TGGGD86
Well put Captain. Though you'll forgive my inevitable cynicism of your credentials since this is the internet.
@Dirk
You do realize that the youngest airframe we are maintaining as an air superiority fighter is about 30 years old? We do need the F-22s. We can't keep hitting the reset button on these designs and stuffing them with more advanced avionics. At some point you have to go back to the drawing board and design an airframe around the latest and greatest shit you have. That's the way every fighter is built, mission specific and around the hardware, not the other way around. PS, it would be much more efficient to get a tattoo of an F-22. ANd yes I have seen it on someone before.
@GSpruce
I'd back up a second there my friend. First off neither of you are totally correct. You have to understand that TGGGD86 is coming from the Air Force side of the house, so he is obviously very partial to their multi-billion dollar baby. What is a more accurate statement is that the F-35 has a much smaller radar cross section than previous projects in the same range, BUT it is no where NEAR that of the F-22. The F-22 was built to look like a swallow on radar (And of course the classified intel on that would be whether it's an African or European swallow), the F-35 is still going to show up but by the time you see it, it shouldn't matter. Hell in some instances you would want to be seen (why else do we keep budgeting in all these damn ARMs for the Navy?) and I doubt USAF is going to use their precious shiny new birds play wild weasel over Dirkdirkastan.
@TGGGD86
Hey, if you are an intelligence officer you must be one of the guys who found the evidence for WMDs in Iraq and how Bin Laden and Saddam were BFFs.
1) F-35 has stealth
2) Did Iran join NATO? Cause last I checked the only countries that can get their hands on a F-35 are NATO countries + a few close non-NATO allies. I mean, if you have that super intelligence showing how Iran is allowed to get them, I would love to see it.
Fucking liars on the internet.
Oh geez...
The F-22 may be more manueverable and have a higher payload, but it is solely an AIR SUPERIORITY fighter, WITH NO GROUND OR MARITIME CAPABILITY. There's very little it can do outside that sphere of influence. And honestly, the last time I can recall any air superiority missions in effect were in the Balkans in the NINETIES. Now unless you boys are telling me that we should be prepping for a war with the People's Liberation Army or the Russian Air Force (and why should we?), I think the role of the F-22 seems to be more a morale placard/white elephant for the USAF than a significant addition to the fleet. As it stands, the active F-22s has had no involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan. I repeat: NO INVOLVEMENT in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Furthermore, in spite of all its superiority to the F-35, the F-22 is AT BEST equal to the Eurofighter Typhoon (I can look up the tests for this), and that one's a multi-role. And yes, there's a lot of nice tech, but it is still VERY expensive tech. If this were 2003 or 1998, then the costs may be a little more justifiable, but nearly 140 million per plane...I'm sorry, but considering how much bloat has occured in the military in the post-9/11 (and we STILL haven't pacified Afghanistan or have gotten Bin Laden), we have to take cutbacks in the defense budget. We can't be like the German Empire pre-WWI and expect to survive. It's gotta be one or the other, and the other not only seems less expensive, but much more practical. (This is not to say that military be the only part of the budget that needs some serious cutting done. But for all the chatter about the other aspects of the budget, this one gets too little talk, especially considering it's nearly as much as the other big bloats of the budget, and the total budget is more than the combined defense budgets of the next four ranked countries).
As per the whole "TOP SECRET" argument, I have one question: How much does Shenyang and Chengdu know (or Sukhoi and Mikoyan, for that matter)? I mean, given how the USAF's "cyberwarfare" unit seems unable to effectively contain that whole Chinese hacker problem, I wouldn't be surprised if the PLAAF and the like know as much about the F-22 as they do about the F-35 (read: LOTS).
The internet bequeaths an offering unto all you nerds:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/planes/q0163.shtml
"Supperiority" - TGGGD86
One order of Freedom Fries and American Muscles! Yum!
Gahhhh.... Spell-check RUINED the little joke and I didn't notice... Sob... That was supposed to say 'Mussels,' 'MUSSELS' I tell you!
*falls asleep crying*
i in no way condone the use of weapons or firearms but i really really want to play with one of these.
; ]-
AH yes, you can feel it. Give in to the Darkside!
Lies. That's what they want us to think.
:(
R.I.P.
So good at killing, it killed itself before it was born.
/SALUTES
I for one welcome our robot overlords
psst..... dude.... wrong moment
flail
I for one welcome the endless use of TV cartoon quotes on gadget-based blogs.
Never knew who to cling to when the rain set in... :(
The MKV is a lie.
It never even got a chance to kill anyone.
Goodbye gratuitous death cylinder. You may never get a chance to char the skin of your victims, but i like to think that you have charred everyone's hearts.
A truly moving eulogy.
@ Gad Get
agreed.
"A truly moving eulogy."
It's moving because no one killed it.
It wasn't supposed to kill people, it was supposed to kill things that kill people, hence SAVING people. What exactly do you "Missile Defense" means? And no, I don't know how a hovering rocket cylinder translates into destroying missiles, but apparently some engineer felt this was a valuable testbed.
Yeah yeah, killed it.
As far as you know.
Fringe will return in 90 seconds.