Why, exactly, do you think we’ve gone up against “second rate armies”?
Because they were second-rate TO US.
You don’t get that way choosing pickups over Ferraris.
Ferraris like the F-16 and F-15.
And now the F-22 and F-35.
The A-10 has its place, but some of you really need to stop fixating on the big gun.
Third and forth rate. Most of the people( worlds number one resource) and most of the wealth, albeit grossly mismanaged, lays in third world dumps. And that who we have and will continue to fight against.
The Army can deliver infantry in fighting vehicles, or duce’n halfs. It can deliver artillery by Blackhawks or trucks. Trucks are cheaper. Budgets are not unlimited. Conservation of money, and it’s efficient use is critical.
Much of the billions the Army spends upon helicopter CAS could be done cheaper by dedicated fixed wing. But neither bureaucracy seems willing. (Yeah, yeah, the Joints are victims of elderly legislation).
The Army does the same thing. Supposedly observing third world warfare for five decades, and having some experience with mines in Vietnam, the Army found its self with no MRAPs at all, even though they are multi generation experienced technology.
For the Navy it was not having a near shore force. Somehow all battles were to be in some vast open ocean space.
You can not tell me, that since WWII, in spite of near every war fought, the services haven’t been intellectually and thus materially captivated by ‘the big one’. A major war against a equal or superior foe.
No, zero, zip language, cultural skills at all. And all those relatively dirt cheap.