Citation Jets with Missles?

[weekendwarrior]

Thursday night I was watching MSNBC's countdown with Keith Oberman. He was talking about the recent incident where Governer Fletcher's plane was almost shot down due to flying in D.C. without a transponder. This is what he said in one segment of his broadcast:

"As the flight closes in on Washington, the alert goes up and a Blackhawk and citation jets were scrambled."

They showed a blackhawk and an F-15 on the screen at the time........

Gotta love the media.....helllooooo?? Research!!!

 

[EagleRJ]

That was probably just a typical media flub, but the Department of Homeland Security has talked about developing an armed domestic interceptor. They were interested in using modified Learjets or something like the ViperJet equipped with inexpensive missiles like the Stinger. I guess using F-16s and F-15s continuously for domestic CAP is costing the DoD $$$$$$$ for fuel and maintenance.

 

[sky37d]

I saw a thing on Discovery Wings where a citation was used for something involving the navy, and it had a missile under the wing. The missile hung, and did not fire, so they were landing with live ordinance.Coast guard uses Falcons for drug interdiction.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Easy guys, Customs flys H-60's, C550's, P-3's.

 

[BD King]

God forbid that we shoot down the governor of Kentucky...........I guess that the great state of Ky. cannot afford to have two transponders abourd. Let George Clooney pick up the tab..

 

[skiddriver]

That was probably just a typical media flub, but the Department of Homeland Security has talked about developing an armed domestic interceptor. They were interested in using modified Learjets or something like the ViperJet equipped with inexpensive missiles like the Stinger. I guess using F-16s and F-15s continuously for domestic CAP is costing the DoD $$$$$$$ for fuel and maintenance.

Unfortunately, stinger and other MANPADS have proven to be poor air launched missiles. Their two-stage launch motors, designed to keep from killing the ground-based operators, mean that they come off the rail too slowly to compensate for aircraft movement and relative wind effects.

Air launched missiles like a quick shot off the rail. The accompanying backblast is bad news for handheld launch. Modified launch motors could help, but then they would lose the economy of scale afforded by using the same round as the ground launched MANPADS.

Also, aircraft/ordnance separation during aerial launch is a science unto itself. Aerodynamic effects can cause the air dropped/launched ordnance to suck up into the launch vehicles airframe, with poor result. Hard to do on the cheap.