It's fashionable to ask if the aircraft carrier is obsolete: small uncrewed aircraft can operate from smaller ships or extremely-far land bases, long-ranged anti-ship missiles put them at risk, and they're extremely expensive to build and operate. My opinion is that the carrier is still valuable as long as it can re-focus the carrier strike group for range and endurance.

I've gotten a broad view of the various aircraft out there today, and have been involved in the design or manufacture of many too. All photos are mine or public domain.

A little silly today: a comparison of the "Danger Zone" introductions of the two Top Gun movies (1986 and 2022) and PLEASE, let the shots breathe! When I first saw Top Gun: Maverick (on Blu-Ray via a library rental), I had a moment where I had to confirm that I'd rented the correct movie. And then I wondered why the modernized opening credits didn't grab me as hard as the original's. I would love to credit the YouTube video that helped me realize why, but I can't find it anymore so I'll work with some similar ones that don't illustrate things quite as well. Side-by-side (both audios, original speeds): https://youtu.be/NGRzqkMyTHs   Minor Items Here are a few issues that I'm pretty sure are not the reason why I bounced off the new version, but can't have helped. Timing I'm sure that the cinematographers were working under tight restrictions on what they could film and when they could film it, but the lighting is so much more dramatic in...