Jack Bauer vs. Cthulhu

[sigma7]

If you loved the Disfunctional Family Circus (I know, this is a pale imitation), you'll like namelessdread -- "Family Circus" as written by H.P. Lovecraft. (Edit: Never mind. It just got deleted by the creator as I posted. Wow. Can't say it outlived its time.)

Maybe I should get my resume updated so I could be an analyst at CTU. After they finish their current day, there should be plenty of openings. Good holy cow. If I were Dessler or even Tony or, by now, Oddrey, I'd start Tazering or kneecapping the whole lot of 'em.

Oh, and I thought I knew exactly what "Anderson's" plot was, until the very last scene. Because... my original thought was that POTUS was airborne for an awful lengthy period of time -- so much so as to be conspicuous in and of itself. So maybe that's a plot point? Soon as I heard Marwan mention the AFB, my first thought was that he was going to shoot down Air Force One. Which, itself, has all sorts of complications, not the least of which is Anderson's choice of aircraft.

Anderson is shown in the episode's closing seconds piloting the F-117A Nighthawk stealth bomber. If you expected me to say "stealth fighter," well, that's one of those misnomers perpetuated by the need to distinguish the F-117A from the B-2 Spirit bomber. The F-117A is a bomber as well, just designed for a much different role and target than the B-2. Its anti-air capabilities are nil. It isn't capable of carrying air-to-air missiles. It has no onboard gun. The only way you're bringing down Air Force One with a Nighthawk is to pull a "By Dawn's Early Light" move and ram it. ...Which, I suppose, isn't out of the question, but an F-117A is not radar-invisible, rather has enough of a minimal radar profile to make detection problematic. If Serbian radar can track a Nighthawk long enough to bring one down, I rather think a radar net around the chief executive will be adequate to do the job on a rogue aircraft. And if your mission was to bring down Air Force One, there's almost dozen better air platforms with which to do it.

Of course, maybe Anderson's not after AFO at all and is looking to augur into CTU HQ (clearly landing's not on the agenda) or some other stationary, less-well-defended target. Maybe they've got this better thought out than I fear. But if Anderson's Nighthawk fires an air-to-air missile, to me it's going to be a mind-searing gaffe approaching the level of the dead girl in "Space Mutiny" reappearing in the party on the bridge. Sorry. I know I'm geeking out over a minor quibble, but I'm just glad to be geeking out over something suddenly.

Comments

[wenchamok.livejournal.com]

But the B-2 and the F-117A look the same (for the most part), right? I've seen one of 'em flying around Wichita before (brought EVERYTHING at Kellogg and Rock to a dead stop while everyone gawked out their car windows), and they're really odd looking. And I'm thinking he's gonna pull a 9/11 into the CTU HQ.

And yes, you should submit a resume to CTU. I'd love to see you and Chloe snark/bitch off each other....*snort*

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, kinda. The B-2 looks like it was designed by Bruce Wayne. The F-117A looks like a ebony origami abortion. The B-2 looks like it actually might fly. The F-117A looks like the gravest danger it poses is that someone might get impaled on it.

Of course, there are differences in size and tactics, too. The single-pilot F-117A is smaller and usually a more surgical delivery vector -- one bomb, one spot, high risk. The B-2, crewed by two, generally delivers a massive amount of ordnance from an obscene altitude and can fly anywhere in the world. Of course, it was originally intended to wipe cities from the map, but it's adapted nicely.

But if either of them got into the crosshairs of an enemy fighter, they're both just as dead. And aside from running into 'em, there's nothing either of them can do to prevent it.

The F-22 Raptor, in addition to being a beautiful aircraft, incorporates a lot of the innovations of stealth technology and design into a true fighter, so it's more than capable of wiping the floor with the best the rest of the world has to offer (assuming pilot familiarity/experience is not an issue). If I were the head writer, I'd scribble out "stealth fighter" and jotted "F-22" in its place. Or better yet, an A-10. I'd like to see 'em try to bring that sucker down.

Of course, my "auger in" theory hit a snag when I remembered (no spoilers, as I remembered he said this independent of the spoilery-post) Marwan saying that the President's timetable was tight....

And much as I enjoy working with socially-inept people, if I got half a second of Edgar-level pissiness they'd be handcuffed into the Happy Hutch and Tazered into next season.

I love hyperlinks.

[wenchamok.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it was the B-2 I've seen. And is that A-10 as OMGIT'SHUUUUUGGGGEEEE!!!!111!!!!!! as it looks like in that first photo?

[bishop282.livejournal.com]

They don't call it the Warthog for nothing.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Most of its pilots love it. Here (http://www.omen.com/f/killer_chick.html) and here (http://www.command-post.org/archives/004882.html) are some reports of "Killer Chick" bringing home a severely damaged A-10. It can take a beating an still fly.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

The B-2's pretty horkin' big. The F-117A is relatively petite. The A-10's somewhere in between (it's a one-seat cockpit, if that helps for reference). The cannon under the cockpit has seven 20mm barrels that spit out depleted uranium rounds that can chew up light armor and soft targets. It's not -- as Bish notes -- a very pretty aircraft, but it holds enough armament to turn a state into a parking lot and redundant control systems so you can get home with half your plane Swiss titanium cheese.

Okay, I gave up and looked it up. Wingspan: 57 feet. Length: 53 feet. It is wider than long. I thought so.

But the A-10's still one of my favorite aircraft. Not flashy or fast, but built to get the work done.