Armed fighter jets

[Alpo]

There's a Air Force Base just down the road. All the time there are fighter planes taking off and landing. Are they armed?

 

Was just watching a Castle episode where somebody hacked into a drone and fired a missile at a car to kill the guy. And I was sitting there thinking "why would a drone flying over New York City be armed?" Flying over the sandbox armed - that would make sense. But over our country?

 

Then I thought about all the military aircraft flying all over this country all the time. Are they armed? We got soldiers around all the time and they're not armed. Even if they're carrying guns, 90% of the time there's no ammunition in them. So would the fighter jets be armed?

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

It’s tv, it is what the writers need it to be. If they need it to be nuclear armed, it will be.

 

more realistically, most missions are training missions, they are not armed unless that is the reason for training, such as China Lake is the target. So it really depends on the reason for flying the drone over nyc.  I would not be surprised to find such a drone flying over nyc or Washington with an air to air missile ready to go.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Depends on the mission.

Not uncommon. 

OLG 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

They can neither confirm nor deny...

 

As OLG wrote,  it depends. 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Are we really sure those soldiers with guns are unarmed?

 

Do we really know if those fighter jets are unarmed?

 

..........Widder

 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

Most of the time, military aircraft are unarmed, unless, as Marshal Mo Hair said, they are on a training mission. There are not many ranges for that kind of training near big cities. 

Barry Goldwater Range, here in Arizona comes to mind.

When you see them on a day to day basis, they're just poking holes in the sky so that the pilots can maintain their flight status, (and get flight pay). 

[Kulshan 20262]

Those jets are armed with cameras, they "shoot" trucks out on the high desert in central Oregon.  I have been the "target" more than once.  Part of the price of freedom.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

   ........... of course they've got arms ........... how else are they gonna flap their wings to fly ??   

 

 

 

[largo casey #19191]

Are they gonna have enough fuel for much longer.There's not much drilling going on

                                                                                                                                                                Largo

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

5 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

   ........... of course they've got arms ........... how else are they gonna flap their wings to fly ??   

 

 

 

I thought that was the helicopters.

 

Ain't that the ones that beat the air into submission?

[Alpo]

6 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

 

   ........... of course they've got arms ........... how else are they gonna flap their wings to fly ??   

 

 

 

I dreamed I was flying last night. Not just soaring through the air like Superman. Flapping my arms like they were wings. I was doing it in the living room, which is about 12 by 16 feet. and with me being right at 6 foot tall with a 6-foot wingspan, that was kind of difficult. but then my brother opened the back door and I flew out in the yard.

[Chantry]

11 hours ago, Alpo said:

There's a Air Force Base just down the road. All the time there are fighter planes taking off and landing. Are they armed?

 

Was just watching a Castle episode where somebody hacked into a drone and fired a missile at a car to kill the guy. And I was sitting there thinking "why would a drone flying over New York City be armed?" Flying over the sandbox armed - that would make sense. But over our country?

 

Then I thought about all the military aircraft flying all over this country all the time. Are they armed? We got soldiers around all the time and they're not armed. Even if they're carrying guns, 90% of the time there's no ammunition in them. So would the fighter jets be armed?

 

Since 9/11 there have been armed fighters on alert around various high value targets in the United States.  At times they will be launched to investigate an aircraft that is not behaving as it should, this is almost always pilot error for the "suspicious" plane.

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

9/11 kinda changed things as far as ready aircraft are concerned. A lot of flights are just for training/air time. However, ready launch planes are now the rule not the exception.

[Trailrider #896]

When 9-11 occurred a flight of fighters were informed of the possibility of an airliner headed for the capitol or the White House.  They had been on a training mission, but had either expended whatever ordnance they'd had, or hadn't any to start with.  The flight commander (a colonel, IIRC) instructed his wing troops to ram the airliner, if necessary!  It never came to that as the passengers aboard the airliner courageously took matters in their own hands and brought the plane down with the loss of all onboard!   

 

A couple of days after 9-11, I was outside my house.  All aircraft were ordered grounded and it was deathly quiet!  Then I heard the jets!  Over the house flew two F-16's from Buckley AFB, East of Denver.  They were so low, I could see the yellow markings on the AIM-9M air-to-air missiles under their wings!  They were NOT flying wingtip-to-wingtip, as one would normally expect, but in a "combat spread", enabling each to protect the other, if necessary!  I felt like cheering! 

 

No doubt, as Buck said, there are interceptors on alert around potentially critical target areas. 

[Sedalia Dave]

I can neither confirm or deny.

 

That answer keeps out adversaries guessing.

[Chief Rick]

Area 51 isn't the only place the Air Force keeps secrets about.

 

That's all I've got to say about that!

[Roger Ball]

There aren't any over-land ranges that I know of where live air-to-air ordnance can be employed (to include an aircraft's gun). All approved ranges for missile shoots and the like are over water. Thus, unless you live on the coast, you're not likely to see aircraft with live air-to-air ordnance. And if you do see one with live air-to-air ordnance on a training mission, the pilot's intent is to not return with it.

 

Air-to-surface ranges are common around fighter-attack bases. Different ranges can handle different types of ordnance. Some are 'light inert' only, while others are rated for 2,000lb bombs. Twentynine Palms, CA is the best range I can think of- we shoot and drop everything there. Dumb bombs, laser-guided, GPS-guided, rockets, strafing- you name it. El Centro, CA has some ranges, as does Yuma, AZ, and Dare County, NC. I don't know much about where the USAF ranges are.

 

The vast, vast majority of flights are totally unarmed. Modern aircraft are capable of simulating attack profiles and weapon system interfaces without carrying any actual ordnance.

 

I have no knowledge of 'alert' postures, but whatever aircraft are standing those alerts, it would be senseless for them to NOT be loaded with at least some air-to-air engagement capability.