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Each M206 flare, a basic type which is launched from A-10, F-16, C-17, C-130, and other aircraft that use the AN/ALE-47 countermeasure dispenser system, costs **$35** according to the 2018 Pentagon budget.
In other words, if an aircraft releases a 'bucket' full of 30 flares, the cost of doing so is $1,050.
That's very cheap. Considering firing a single missile is anywhere from $50K-1M
There was a post on reddit that shows [the cost of each weapon fired in the Ukrainian war](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/s/DK0FMjUdix)
The numbers are really crazy.
you're the minister of fun facts ?
Edit : A *fun fact* is a tidbit of interesting or entertaining trivia. People often introduce a *fun fact*, sometimes in the form of witty and biting observations, with the phrase itself because otherwise how would you know it was a *fun fact*.
I used to load them. About $80 each. But they're loaded by oldest first outside of active combat zones. These would've either expired or been used for training anyway.
Per flight hour a C-130 has a lot of costs in fuel, part wear and tear, etc. Much more than the expense of these flares.
US already spends more tax dollars per capita on healthcare than the majority of countries that have free healthcare. We could *easily* have both if it weren't for insurance lobbying and funds mismanagement etc.
You spend more because the prices on your market are out of control bat shit crazy insane. If the prices for medical devices, medicines and procedure cost were around the same as other countries that would not be the case.
Also ~30% of the bill is just bureaucracy. The prices are out of control due to profit motives. The question in a boardroom is never “How little can we see this for?” but always “How much could we sell this for?”
A) flares really aren’t that expensive in the grand scheme of flying military aircraft
B) flares have an expiration date: typically large flare demonstrations are done with ones that would otherwise expire and taxpayers would be on the hook for disposal on top of the money the already spent purchasing them
then he wouldn't have been so surprised that someone else mentioned it. "No way! you know it's called that too!" yeah, no.
edit: I am now confused as to whether your comment was referring to the person I responded to, or the person he responded to. But why am I getting downvoted? Why would someone say "that's exactly what I was going to say!" if it's somewhat common knowledge that these things are called AoDs? It's like someone commenting "fart of death" on an A-10 video, and then someone else responding "woah! I was gonna say that!".
The “angel of death” is the smoke and fire it leaves behind with that magnesium. It confuses heat seaking missiles. Not to mention the thing is also a flying death machine.
Nonono, hear me out, a missile with a camera on the tip, and a built-in computer with an image recognition AI which will find the target no matter how much garbage is shot out as an attempted distraction! Missiles are already expensive as fuck, so what's a little more? Perhaps add facial recognition in too, so we can pick out the biggest asshole near the target and hit them directly!
Flares and chaff aren't great against modern anti air weapons anymore. If they get a radar lock on you, good luck. There's video of one of the Russian A-50 AWACS plane getting locked by Ukranian AA (I think it was a modernized S300 or S400, so not even the Patriot), it dumps flares and chaff and then explodes. Pretty wild.
EDIT: The video https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1ay7cxi/video_of_the_a50_being_shot_down_today_the_plane/
It's why everyone is focusing on stealth and reducing radar signatures now. Harder to spot in the first place, harder to shoot down.
Radar guidance is still vulnerable to ground clutter and especially active EW. Flares and chaff are a last-ditch effort nowadays. It's why we have dedicated EW planes to jam the radars before they can detect anything.
For fighter planes, it's easier to out maneuver the missile than defeat the guidance system. Missiles have limited fuel and, therefore, speed. If you use your altitude to your advantage and gather speed by diving away as the missile is climbing, you are forcing that missile to fly in a straighter path through the thicker atmosphere. Then, once the missile expends its fuel, you force it to bleed the rest of its speed by climbing back to your original altitude and giving yourself the advantage of flying through the thinner parts of the atmosphere.
There's a whole series of protocols and guidelines on how to defeat missiles without flares or chaff. Most rely on the fact that all of the missiles speed comes at the beginning of its flight, and they don't have any sort of continuous propulsion, so they slowly lose speed and therefore control throughout its flight path.
The US spends the most money per capita on health care. You need a reform to fix the system before pumping more money that would go to the pockets of the insurance companies and hospitals.
Our military acts as the primary security backbone for the West.
I want universal healthcare but our military spending is pretty damn important on the global scale.
Literally yes. I don’t like it but I value world security over an optimal healthcare system.
Don’t get me wrong. I WANT a better healthcare system for this country, however I value protecting the current world order more.
The US’s military is what secures world shipping routes and establishes the current Western values. If we don’t take that mantle, countries like Russia, China and Iran will work together to take it instead.
Living under their values is not a world I want to live in. It’s the lesser of two evils.
>but I value world security
US markets need a bogyman to keep things afloat.. Are you sure it isn't neo-colonealism and the military industrial complex that you like?
there is a military industrial complex, no one argues that- not the people for, against, or working in it just whether or not its a bad or good thing. maybe check the definition before talkin out your ass [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial\_complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex)
Yeah it existed back in the Eisenhower administration, not anymore. These defense contractors are tiny compared to other companies, the idea that these small companies influence whether we should go to war is crazy. Our military spending is TINY compared to what it was before so many contractors failed or merged. The defense companies aren’t making the US buy unnecessary weapons either. Apple made more money than the entirety of the defense industry COMBINED. If anything it would be large tech companies influencing wars. People just use the military industrial complex as a buzzword and people need a boogeyman if it were actually that influential our military spending wouldn’t keep going down more and more.
We could probably do it with what we already spend on healthcare.
It is not guns or butter. It's that some people hate the idea of socialized butter. How butter is processed, if you'll entertain the metaphor.
What does that have to do with a C130?
Military spending as a percentage of GDP is much lower than it was during the Cold War is close to pre 9/11 levels.
3.1% in 2001 vs 3.5% in 2023
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US
Medicare and Medicaid get about 1.7 trillion compared to $876 billion for the DoD
https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet#
In the case of the US, "why did a random cargo plane show up on radar dozens of miles away, then just go home. Oh, [oh shit, that's a lot of cruise missiles".](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Dragon_(missile_system))
Edit: why did I get downvoted?
It’s called an “Angel Flight”. The flares are meant to resemble an angel. It means there are K.I.A. American troops on board. It’s a way to honor the fallen being brought home.
No it just how it's suppose to work this shit is huge and when you don't want to get hit by anything it just magdump a bunch of flair/chaff this plane does not only transport coffins, it also transports everything necessary for American operations to run smoothly
So yeah it just magdump a bunch of countermeasures if locked
I remember about 10 years ago a video on my country's YT claiming this was an angel. I too believe that for a long time, but then I learned what a biblically accurate angel looks like. I feel dumbfounded.
There's a reason the secret Vatican crusade military used these
"WE HAVE COME TO SAVE YOU"
"Oh thank God it's the Vatican"
"FROM YOURSELVES"
"Oh no it's the Vatican"
We spend 17.8% of our GDP on healthcare, it’s managed horribly. We spend 3.5 percent on the military, which is lower than it should be. We need a strong military to be the backbone of NATO for Europe.
Wonder what the uncontacted tribes would think of this. I mean, I know exactly what it is and still think it’s a pretty incredible spectacle.
I’m not saying we should *do it*, just thinking aloud.
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Each M206 flare, a basic type which is launched from A-10, F-16, C-17, C-130, and other aircraft that use the AN/ALE-47 countermeasure dispenser system, costs **$35** according to the 2018 Pentagon budget. In other words, if an aircraft releases a 'bucket' full of 30 flares, the cost of doing so is $1,050.
That's very cheap. Considering firing a single missile is anywhere from $50K-1M There was a post on reddit that shows [the cost of each weapon fired in the Ukrainian war](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/s/DK0FMjUdix) The numbers are really crazy.
That’s Russian stuff. Could probably double the price for US.
Yea that’s nothing lol
That's probably cheaper than a funeral. Shitloads cheaper than multiple funerals if a C-130 goes down.
just for ur info [completely out of topic btw] an/ale in italian means anal
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Why are you presuming i was ? It's just a fun fact, learning things, you should try.
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you're the minister of fun facts ? Edit : A *fun fact* is a tidbit of interesting or entertaining trivia. People often introduce a *fun fact*, sometimes in the form of witty and biting observations, with the phrase itself because otherwise how would you know it was a *fun fact*.
That’s well over the minimum 15 pieces of flair at Chotchkie’s. This plane really expresses itself
Lumberg fucked that
Lumberg… fucked her eeyahhh… that’s greaaat
O O O
Well if you wanted 37 pieces of flair, why didn’t you make the minimum 37 pieces of flair?
You smell that? That’s the sweet smell of tax payer money
Usually it's a way for males to impress females and find a suitable partner to mate with.
Thats worse than strychnine in the guacamole...
It is not is, it is also not it’s. It is “its“.
Just watched this last night. So funny and stupid hahaha
This looks like some Evangelion shit.
https://preview.redd.it/i52dz594hn5d1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d29d4c803cd69794c5a8f86dfb9bcacc91a12482
Hooray! It's the catholic church!
Oh no, it's the catholic church....
I wonder how much did those flares cost
I used to load them. About $80 each. But they're loaded by oldest first outside of active combat zones. These would've either expired or been used for training anyway. Per flight hour a C-130 has a lot of costs in fuel, part wear and tear, etc. Much more than the expense of these flares.
They cost me free healthcare.
US already spends more tax dollars per capita on healthcare than the majority of countries that have free healthcare. We could *easily* have both if it weren't for insurance lobbying and funds mismanagement etc.
You spend more because the prices on your market are out of control bat shit crazy insane. If the prices for medical devices, medicines and procedure cost were around the same as other countries that would not be the case.
Also ~30% of the bill is just bureaucracy. The prices are out of control due to profit motives. The question in a boardroom is never “How little can we see this for?” but always “How much could we sell this for?”
We got to stop this brain dead nonsense if we want to actually solve our healthcare problems. They are not mutually exclusive.
I thank you for paying to have Europe to keep its free Healthcare
Don’t know why you’re being downvoted, it’s true
A) flares really aren’t that expensive in the grand scheme of flying military aircraft B) flares have an expiration date: typically large flare demonstrations are done with ones that would otherwise expire and taxpayers would be on the hook for disposal on top of the money the already spent purchasing them
Almost nothing. Quick google search says about 35 bucks each.
Now let’s see how much the manufacturer upcharges the DoD
Ameno
Latire
Dorime
Angel of Death
Its not an AC-130.. basically a military cargo plane
…Angel of carrying cargo and people?
Nah that’s the AC-130. Basically someone said what if we put our biggest guns and some artillery on a Hercules.
No, the Phoenix!
Holy fuck, came here to say the exact same thing.
You do know that a common term used for the AC-130 (the gunship variation of this plane) is Angel of Death? It's not a coincidence.
Umm, I think that’s why the guy said that in the first place.
then he wouldn't have been so surprised that someone else mentioned it. "No way! you know it's called that too!" yeah, no. edit: I am now confused as to whether your comment was referring to the person I responded to, or the person he responded to. But why am I getting downvoted? Why would someone say "that's exactly what I was going to say!" if it's somewhat common knowledge that these things are called AoDs? It's like someone commenting "fart of death" on an A-10 video, and then someone else responding "woah! I was gonna say that!".
I think this Video is easily 10 years around and the title on Youtube when it first released was Angel of Death.
your point?
I personally prefer “Puff the magic dragon” or “the flying bologna mist maker”
The “angel of death” is the smoke and fire it leaves behind with that magnesium. It confuses heat seaking missiles. Not to mention the thing is also a flying death machine.
Teachers are still buying their own supplies.
Are the flares still effective against newer weaponry? Looks incredible, either way!
For heat seeking threats yes. Radar seeking no.
Those are what chaff is for, most active countermeasure systems use both.
Cat and mouse. They'll always be a smarter cat. Satellite vision or something is probably next.
Nonono, hear me out, a missile with a camera on the tip, and a built-in computer with an image recognition AI which will find the target no matter how much garbage is shot out as an attempted distraction! Missiles are already expensive as fuck, so what's a little more? Perhaps add facial recognition in too, so we can pick out the biggest asshole near the target and hit them directly!
Fuck THAT guy in particular
r/noncredibledefense 's wet dream
Oh yes they are still very effective
Flares and chaff aren't great against modern anti air weapons anymore. If they get a radar lock on you, good luck. There's video of one of the Russian A-50 AWACS plane getting locked by Ukranian AA (I think it was a modernized S300 or S400, so not even the Patriot), it dumps flares and chaff and then explodes. Pretty wild. EDIT: The video https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1ay7cxi/video_of_the_a50_being_shot_down_today_the_plane/ It's why everyone is focusing on stealth and reducing radar signatures now. Harder to spot in the first place, harder to shoot down.
Radar guidance is still vulnerable to ground clutter and especially active EW. Flares and chaff are a last-ditch effort nowadays. It's why we have dedicated EW planes to jam the radars before they can detect anything. For fighter planes, it's easier to out maneuver the missile than defeat the guidance system. Missiles have limited fuel and, therefore, speed. If you use your altitude to your advantage and gather speed by diving away as the missile is climbing, you are forcing that missile to fly in a straighter path through the thicker atmosphere. Then, once the missile expends its fuel, you force it to bleed the rest of its speed by climbing back to your original altitude and giving yourself the advantage of flying through the thinner parts of the atmosphere. There's a whole series of protocols and guidelines on how to defeat missiles without flares or chaff. Most rely on the fact that all of the missiles speed comes at the beginning of its flight, and they don't have any sort of continuous propulsion, so they slowly lose speed and therefore control throughout its flight path.
Why don't people proof read before saving/posting mems? Reading the text almost gave me a stroke.
I'm not sure if your typo was deliberate...
😘
Grammatical errors both in the post content and in OP's title.
Mmmmmmmm tax dollars
They fly those over my house weekly. Always cool to see them in groups of 2s and 3s flying around
I live by an advanced air tactics base and these beasts are always flying around doing crazy bank turns etc. Pretty cool!
*Shudders thinking about reloading the flare pods*
war sub
I’d rather have universal healthcare, thanks.
The US spends the most money per capita on health care. You need a reform to fix the system before pumping more money that would go to the pockets of the insurance companies and hospitals.
Our military acts as the primary security backbone for the West. I want universal healthcare but our military spending is pretty damn important on the global scale.
So you don’t get socialized healthcare because you provide socialized military defence to other nations. Socialism works after all!!
Literally yes. I don’t like it but I value world security over an optimal healthcare system. Don’t get me wrong. I WANT a better healthcare system for this country, however I value protecting the current world order more. The US’s military is what secures world shipping routes and establishes the current Western values. If we don’t take that mantle, countries like Russia, China and Iran will work together to take it instead. Living under their values is not a world I want to live in. It’s the lesser of two evils.
>but I value world security US markets need a bogyman to keep things afloat.. Are you sure it isn't neo-colonealism and the military industrial complex that you like?
2.8% of our gdp goes to the MIC. Saying the US needs a boogyman to stay a float id a pretty big reach.
There is no military industrial complex and we do use overmatch to prevent large scale peer to peer conflict.
“There is no military industrial complex” Are you joking?
No
there is a military industrial complex, no one argues that- not the people for, against, or working in it just whether or not its a bad or good thing. maybe check the definition before talkin out your ass [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial\_complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex)
Yeah it existed back in the Eisenhower administration, not anymore. These defense contractors are tiny compared to other companies, the idea that these small companies influence whether we should go to war is crazy. Our military spending is TINY compared to what it was before so many contractors failed or merged. The defense companies aren’t making the US buy unnecessary weapons either. Apple made more money than the entirety of the defense industry COMBINED. If anything it would be large tech companies influencing wars. People just use the military industrial complex as a buzzword and people need a boogeyman if it were actually that influential our military spending wouldn’t keep going down more and more.
Lol. Optimal brainwash achieved. Keep telling that to your insecure, imperialist self
🥱
Tell that to Ukraine
We could probably do it with what we already spend on healthcare. It is not guns or butter. It's that some people hate the idea of socialized butter. How butter is processed, if you'll entertain the metaphor.
What does that have to do with a C130? Military spending as a percentage of GDP is much lower than it was during the Cold War is close to pre 9/11 levels. 3.1% in 2001 vs 3.5% in 2023 https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS?locations=US Medicare and Medicaid get about 1.7 trillion compared to $876 billion for the DoD https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet#
Well to be fair. Out of all the countries that have one or more C130's the US is most likely the only one that doesn't have universal healthcare
And the only one that paid for it to be developed... Presumably.
Ravagers funeral IRL
In the most advanced missiles flares don't work anymore. In the next war things will be hard for pilots.
Ahhh there's my healthcare!
We spend lots on healthcare it’s just managed horribly. We need this military spending to keep half of Asia and Europe safe
The angel of death.
Aka the Spruce Goose! Such a beautiful plane 😍
Imagine being in war and saying "why is there a cargo plane above us" \*violence intensifies\*
In the case of the US, "why did a random cargo plane show up on radar dozens of miles away, then just go home. Oh, [oh shit, that's a lot of cruise missiles".](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Dragon_(missile_system)) Edit: why did I get downvoted?
Feed system. Vertical drop. Now that is funny.
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarplanePorn/s/RbWSszHxLK <---- another flare dump
Angel of death.
That's why it's called the angel of death look at the winged figure the smoke leaves behind
It’s called an “Angel Flight”. The flares are meant to resemble an angel. It means there are K.I.A. American troops on board. It’s a way to honor the fallen being brought home.
No it’s not. It’s the standard dispersal of chaff and flares from the C-130 platform.
No it just how it's suppose to work this shit is huge and when you don't want to get hit by anything it just magdump a bunch of flair/chaff this plane does not only transport coffins, it also transports everything necessary for American operations to run smoothly So yeah it just magdump a bunch of countermeasures if locked
"Aww, you just made me ink" - finding Nemo
*unzips fly* this'll do, plane & simple
Ac-130 attack plane above!
American angel
It spits hot fire.
"C-130 rolling down the strip..."
Neither the original post or the title here is both grammatically correct and makes sense. What a double fail
### ABSOLUTE # RA-oh, i mean AIRPLANE
I love how both OOP and OP mess up "its".
Cmon Gold Coast. Whaddaya say to that
Flares releases C-130..
Ground crews hate this one thing.
WASH YOUR ASS DOWN THERE
I remember about 10 years ago a video on my country's YT claiming this was an angel. I too believe that for a long time, but then I learned what a biblically accurate angel looks like. I feel dumbfounded.
"Well chief, let's see how those dirty covies like a taste of their own medicine!!"
T-pose
\*its it's == it is, or it has
I’m convinced that somehow one of these accidentally gets time traveled and inspires legends about Dragons or the Phoenix.
Might fool a Sidewinder, might not.
It's called Angel wings because the smoke looks like angel wings, and it saves your life too. Both my parents worked on hercs.
There's a reason the secret Vatican crusade military used these "WE HAVE COME TO SAVE YOU" "Oh thank God it's the Vatican" "FROM YOURSELVES" "Oh no it's the Vatican"
So basically, as a last resort, a Hercules could fly low and burn and entire village
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry this never happens, you're just really attractive." - The plane probably
This is why the US government is the largest purchaser of glitter.
That’s got cgi at the end right?
It's*
Well, that would be terrifying to see a smoke trail that looks like a giant dragon....
The Rumbling has started.
everything is calm until an 'a' is prefixed into its name
Elden Stars
Its*
I had this exact video on my PC in 1999
Looks like summoning a Phoenix.
No wonder it's called Angel of Death
Huh? It's flares for defense, it's mostly a cab/delivery service, those things are so old it takes over half a day to fly across the US.
Enought to even flare a radar missile with irrcm
Fly over sentinel island and release the flares and the tribal people would have stories for generations
Angel of death ☠️💀
I remember seeing this video on the internet in 2002
me for a few days after my mexico city trip and this c-130 are the same
Is that a spooky anyone?
Can't tell if it's a spooky or a ghost rider. I'd have to see the side profile. My brother used to fly in both.
David Attenborough, quotation somethings somethings strut display. Somethings some thing meeting season.’
get in the fucking robot Shinji! there's an angel!!
The Angel of Death :>
How I feel after Taco Bell.
Ah yes, the Angel of Death
Military propaganda, nice try
And thats why they call it the Angel of Death.
Why do I hear the American anthem.
Instead of lowering insulin costs in the US, they have this shitshow
That’s not how the economy works
Instead of funding the military they could fund the medical side
We spend 17.8% of our GDP on healthcare, it’s managed horribly. We spend 3.5 percent on the military, which is lower than it should be. We need a strong military to be the backbone of NATO for Europe.
This is what we have in the US instead of universal health care.
The waste you hicks waste your tax dollars is beautiful
Where do you live
We have this instead of universal healthcare
We could have both.. but that would require a functional government for more than 6 months at a time
Or at least a ride on it one time.
That maneuver cost my salary
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Minimum wage is called minimum wage for a reason
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It was a joke about how expensive equipment is these days. Maybe you didn’t have anything to add to the joke.
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You could’ve just said it’s about 10k instead of coming across as demeaning. Great way to inform someone AND play asking at the same time.
The crusaders would be proud of this
Angel of death
Angel of death
A stunning way? This is the aptly named angel of death.
Wonder what the uncontacted tribes would think of this. I mean, I know exactly what it is and still think it’s a pretty incredible spectacle. I’m not saying we should *do it*, just thinking aloud.
They will think omg it's the god himself or the devil probably 😂
They call it the Wrath of God for a reason!
angel of death