Posted on 07/09/2023 8:38:15 PM PDT by Duke C.
Stinger comeback.
That system was slated to be replaced.
Biden said we are out of ammunition.
NASA has strength in diversity. They have become an expert on climate change and Muslim outreach:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obamas-new-mission-for-nasa-reach-out-to-muslim-world
I hear they’re good at making TV shows where they remote control robots others build for them also.
Thank God we have Space-X. They still employ 50+ year old white males and build things that go to space: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Mueller
If it’s in the news and Biden takes action, it must be true.
Other national, even global threats that have been fixed by Biden: Covid, climate change...
“This all begs the question: is the Stinger the best portable AA missile that we have?”
No. The US has, lately, been buying the much more modern Polish Piorun. The Stinger however is the only manpad the US can set up to make domestically.
The US never developed another manpad design, as it was assumed these would be redundant, given the full set of capabilities the US could bring to bear on enemy aircraft.
“It’s much like when the tech guy who builds your company’s computer system leaves to go elsewhere. If no one else knows where the bailing wire and chewing gum connections are located then you are in a deep spot when the system crashes.”
As it happens, it was part of my job to do just that. I spent a lot of time teaching. That IS a priority in the infrastructure world.
“...is the Stinger the best portable AA missile that we have?”
Or is it more of a case of the Uke’s having enough money to buy the old style, along with expertise in the older technology?
I still use 20 year-old equipment for my work. Yes, the new stuff has some nicer bells and whistles and with some experience might make my job easier, but at my age I’m not going to put down $50k on a new system when my old one works just fine for what I need.
Maybe it’s the same with missiles?
“This is what happens when you fight a military peer. The US hasn’t done this since 1945.”
Not quite. This is not the US fighting as a military peer to Russia. It is Ukraine fighting Russia as a not-peer. The US has thousands of combat aircraft, missiles of all sorts, Patriot systems by the dozens, an integrated air defense system, etc. Ukraine is fighting as an underdog, with a minimal airforce.
Some systems that are, more or less, in the way of being an emergency backup in the US way of making war, like manpads and even infantry atgms, thus have to become primary weapon systems for Ukraine.
If it were the US fighting Russia its unlikely that many Russian aircraft would be able to come close enough to US forces to be engaged by manpads.
Ukraine is a unique case.
Partly it is budget issues for any country. It certainly has been for the US. US war plans saw manpads as a low priority item, and if it were the US fighting this war this would most likely be a correct assessment. So why develop something new?
In the case of Ukraine since 2022, they have been getting Stingers for free, and because Stingers were available in large numbers, not because they are ideal. Ukraine isn’t doing cost-benefit analysis, they are just asking for what they can get.
Ukraine’s original manpad was the ex-Soviet Igla. But they ran out. So they have been supplied with a zoo of western and ex-Soviet manpads, not just Stingers. Polish Piorun, British Starstreak, more Iglas from various sources, even ancient Soviet Strela. Etc.
Seems they’re planning to continue bloody Vicky’s War for the foreseeable future.
-fJRoberts-
-PJ
Interesting - thanks! I guess anything beats a video I saw that was purported to be a Ukrainian soldier shooting at an airplane with a bunch (six or so) of AK-47s bolted on to a tripod, with a strap around the triggers, and he would pull the strap and let loose all of them as he tried to hit the plane! (He wasn’t leading the plane at all!)
Not planes, drones.
That’s a whole other ball game, and totally new (as a significant factor) in this war. A whole lot of manpads got shot at drones, but that’s not cost effective. Everybody is look for drone defenses.
Oh - a drone makes a lot more sense - and is doable with AK’s. Yes - the use of relatively cheap drones and their creative use is pretty amazing and the results they can achieve.
I wasn't forced out, just given incredibly boring work, though raises kept up with inflation. I took retirement (I was hoping for a buy-out) and worked as as a contractor for the Air Force, then got a call from a job shop to work at MIT/Lincoln Lab, then went to a job fair at BAE and took an offer with a big raise, now I'm back at Lincoln. I saved 300k cash in the five years since I left, and maxed out my 401k all five years. Very unlikely that anything could make me go back.
Raytheon Aircraft (formerly Beech) wanted to get rid of oldsters including my dad. Problem was, he wrote the book, in some cases literally, on his area of expertise in the company. He ended up on some “back room” position where the young and fresh faced people Raytheon wanted as representation sought him out for answers. Dad managed to make retirement, but iirc he had enough and left a year or two before he got his 35 year recognition award. After he retired They had the gall to ask if he would come back as a consultant. He declined.
Lloyd Austin was on their Board of Directors, if that gives any clue as to how well they planned for future defense production.
Why not buy some back from the Afghanis they left them with?
Another indication of a forward-thinking Pentagon.
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