Posted on 03/16/2009 10:15:25 PM PDT by utahson
Two defense officials who were not authorized to speak publicly said Gates will announce up to a half-dozen major weapons cancellations later this month. Candidates include a new Navy destroyer, the Air Force's F-22 fighter jet, and Army ground-combat vehicles, the offi cials said.
More cuts are planned for later this year after a review that could lead to reductions in programs such as aircraft carriers and nuclear arms, the officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
We're a couple miles down the road, not lightyears. There isn't a single UAV that can stand up to a modern manned jet fighter in air-to-air combat right now.
You have just proved you are too ignorant to comment on this subject.
I came to realize several months ago that before it’s over we’ll be looking back on the Carter Administration as the “Good Old Days”.
Where are all the Scoop Jackson Democrats when you need them?
It does if you want to continue having the next generation of defense technology developed. Of course if you are satisfied having the Russians and Chinese, and the North Koreans, catch and surpass our weapons technology then your argument (which pretty much matches that of Carter and clinton) makes a lot of sense.
It is embarrassing to see such ignorant drivel on FR. You are going to redesign the fuselage of an F-15? Are you mad?
Stupidity like yours deserves a chance to shine. Go join the Obama administration. He would probably make you head of acquisition!
Boyd was a genius in some areas, but he was stuck in the tactical world of 1955. And whenever our planes have gone up against Soviet planes, we've kicked ass.
No kidding. "Oh, we'll just redesign the fuselage, engine, and avionics..." Geez, why don't you just design a whole new plane? Oh wait...
Our nation's defense needs a military. It needs industry to supply the military. The source of payment is the "tax-payer trough."
While it is always appropriate to cut waste and fat from any large budget, blanket statements like the one you made are idiotic.
I had a chance once to talk with engineers - who wanted to sell the program, mind you - about a modification to the F-15 wing. It involved placing a small piece of equipment in the wing.
After going around it for a bit, they agreed it wasn’t possible. The ‘minor mod’ would force a redesign of the entire wing. The company trying to sell the product took the F-15 off the list of potential candidates.
I won’t pretend the system is perfect, but I wish folks would give the military officers working these projects SOME credit for intelligence and patriotism!
Excellent point. The military is pushing for unmanned aircraft as hard as possible, but it isn't as easy as the armchair engineers seem to think.
Good luck. Some people have an opinion, and it is theirs. They aren’t giving it up for anything, including logic.
I am with you on this.
They said that crap in Vietnam.
This sorry excuse for a American needs to find some way to pay for the $900 million promised to the Palestinians. He's going to gut the military and leave us weak so his Muslim brothers can attack again.
There have been a lot of yahoos on here recently talking down conservative issues. Here, if no F22, then what?
I think Popular Science is a great magazine too, as long as you use more than a 12 year old’s level of objectivity about what is presented there.
The F22 is a fantastic aircraft. It’s dominance is hated by what group of people? Lefties...
End of story.
Folks, we need these weapon systems, and we are going to need them all.
The F22 is a critical aircraft, it is an Air Superiority Fighter. People say it is a relic of the Cold War. They have not a single damned clue as to what they are talking about. They think that because the USSR went the way of the Dodo, then we don’t need to prepare for an enemy that is actually going to stand up to us with modern hardware and well trained personnel.
We DO need aircraft that can carry ordinance, but we need an aircraft that can control the sky, or our helicopters, Ospreys, F15s, F18s and anything else will be at a severe risk if we have to fight a dedicated, smart opponent who chooses to challenge us in the sky with decent hardware.
Our military has been and is successful because it owns the battlefield in nearly all dimensions, most importantly, the air. We don’t control the air, we can’t fly our helicopters, they are sitting ducks. We can’t fly our E3 Sentrys or JSTAR aircraft. We can’t fly the AC-130 gunships because they would be big fat targets in a contested airspace. All this is predicated on controlling the sky.
We have been lucky to this point. But history shows we won’t be lucky forever, and the way we combat that is by being prepared. It has served us well for fifty years.
But that is all changing, so we better hunker down. There is blood and anguish ahead for all of us, and our military is going to be asked to perform on a shoestring. There will be more blood and anguish ahead for them. In these times, more than ever they will be the “point of the spear”. We should be ashamed as a country for letting this man and his radical ilk get into the machinery of government.
“Outmoded air combat...RADAR technology is so advanced there is no need for dogfighting skills....”
Wrong my friend. Go ask any fighter Pilot if dogfighting skills are needed? It must be since this is what they spend part of their time training for. However, it’s not like WWII. In these dogfights, the enemy aircraft will most likely never see the F-22.
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