A-10s are much deadlier but our chicken shit leaders are canceling their production. Always leading from behind, especially if they are under Democrats.
Couldn’t even put up two F-16s ASAP on 9/11 in our Capitol where there were three airfields/bases within spitting distance of the Pentagon, which was right down the street from me.
Heard the plane come right down Route 95 and crash into the Pentagon. Felt the explosion shock. That was a few blocks from Reagan National Airport, which was next to Bolling Air Field which was next to Andrew Air Field where all the jets were kept to protect DC. Not!
𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘍-16𝘴 𝘈𝘚𝘈𝘗 𝘰𝘯 9/11 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘭 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴/𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦.
Unfortunately, getting jets up in the air in a hurry isn’t like it is in the movies. If you already have a couple bases with alert cells, aircraft that were hot-cocked, armed, with air and ground crews on alert, then yes. My fastest time on alert was in Bagram AB; airborne 9 minutes from the time the call went out over the radio, talking to the JTAC within 21 minutes. But, you have to have aircraft on alert for that, and a reason to have jets armed and on alert in advance. Also, hot-cocking your aircraft brings the possibility of maintenance issues, because things love to break when pilots turn them on.
The misconception on alert aircraft is also why I hate those rare occasions when people name drop Aviano AB when the subject of the Benghazi disaster drops. Yes, the movie 13 Hours has about 10 seconds of footage of block 40 F-16s buttoned down on the ramp. Yes, in the past I was stationed at Aviano, at least half of the planes in that short shot, I have worked on, in, or around. Even if you could’ve gotten those jets into the air, and headed towards Libya that night, you’d probably still have to deal with the issue of refueling, and you’d need to have a tanker in the air, or an alternate base to land to refuel.