Posted on 04/01/2022 11:56:01 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Ukraine has been asking for more fighters since the war started, but the US refused to support a deal that could have seen Poland supply 28 MiG-29s, a Russian-made jet of the type its remaining pilots are used to flying. Washington was concerned that supplying fighter jets could be deemed escalatory by a nuclear-armed Russia.
Despite the refusals, Ukraine continues to press its case, and overnight its air force tweeted “the greatest need is for fighter jets” and asked specifically for F-15s and F-16s, whose original designs date back to the 1960s and 1970s, which it said its pilots could learn to fly with “just 2-3 weeks of training”.
Experts said it would normally take pilots up to four months to learn how to fly a new fighter, and Ukraine would also have the problem of finding spare parts and engineers who knew how to maintain Boeing and Lockheed Martin-made aircraft.
Ukraine’s air force – a 10th the size of Russia’s – had been expected to be knocked out of the skies within a few days of the invasion. But some of its fighters remain active and the airspace over the country remains sufficiently contested that Russia has not been able to carry out bombing missions freely.
Andy Netherwood, a former RAF pilot and defence commentator, said: “If you’d have asked me at the beginning of the war, I’d have said it was impossible for Ukrainian pilots to learn how to master a new fighter in two to three weeks. But now I’m reluctant to use the word impossible when it comes to the Ukrainian air force.”
However, a more serious obstacle to a billionaire buying F-15s and F-16s and flying them to Ukraine would be US export controls – major arms sales have to be approved by Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Yes he can write a check anytime or use his American Express account and earn points!
Cue the picture of this DOLT paddling a boat in flood waters ankle deep while someone walks nearby.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/sean-penn-had-his-67-guns-made-into-a-dark-totem-like-sculpture-to-please-charlize-theron/
Sean Penn destroyed his firearms because he was afraid his girlfriend would dump him...which she did anyway.
For old Russian fighter planes, I’d suspect the MTBF, or mean time between failures, is about an hour of flight. So, for each hour of flight something will fail. Radio, navigation, control display unit, etc. You simply can’t safely fly a plane were all of these things are not working. It’s not like an old car where the clock, one cylinder and the left headlight don’t work and it’s no big deal. All of that stuff has got to work. Therefore, the logistics chain to support the craft must include anywhere from ten to twenty five experienced, trained technicians...per plane. Also a warehouse full of parts and a warehouse staff to keep it stocked. Much as they might want fighter planes the people asking for them need working fighter planes and they don’t have the warehouses full of parts to keep them going. Or, the technicians who are every bit as important as the pilot. It’s like that old joke about which body part is more important, the brain, the eyes or the sphincter. You have to have them all working in concert.
This is a do or die for Putin. Think of the Hitler in the bunker mentality. Putin is in over his head and a desperate drowning man. He’s essentially killed off all of his potential rivals which indicates he has no succession plans. As one Russian general said, “What’s the use of the world continuing if there’s no Russia in it?” He’s echoing what he believes is Putin’s worldview. I think we should tread carefully and is Biden the guy you want doing that treading for us? (Wish I knew how to link the video of him falling on every step getting onto his plane.)
Penn, have a bake sale and buy them your self.
...asked specifically for F-15s and F-16s, whose original designs date back to the 1960s and 1970s, which it said its pilots could learn to fly with “just 2-3 weeks of training”.
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Shows a naiveté in thinking on so many levels.
Any jet fighter aircraft requires ground support personnel capable of maintaining the aircraft along with a supply of service parts. Too say a jet fighter is fiddly is an understatement.
Just 2 or three weeks training is dreaming. First, who is doing the training? How many training personnel are there? Each fighter aircraft has its own peculiar characteristics, such as compressor stall. Violate them, and you’re dead. And to be actually proficient in air combat, requires instinctive command of the aircraft. That’s not happening in 2 for 3 weeks training.
2 or 3 weeks of fam training... maybe... but those familiarizing themselves to the airframe were all pilots with hours.
Nobody nuked Moscow during Vietnam but US pilots were under orders furing sorties not to take out Sam sites because Russian technicians were running those Sam sites.
They were ordered by the US government not to take out the Sam sites and scores of fighters and B-52s went down by Sam missile because we were ordered to not follow established airstrike protocol.
Douglas MacArthur wanted to use atomic bombs to contain China and ultimately win the Korean War
LeMay Would Use A-Bomb If China Fights in Vietnam
"This stuff" about fearing escalation isn't new, and is probably the very last thing America needs while in the grip of the very insane BIDEN/HARRIS administration.
Has he smelted his Oscars yet?…that’s what I want to see…c’mon man…
Liberals always want someone else to pay
That was a result of the Paris Peace talks of 1968, peace talks which extended throughout the war. They culminated with Henry Kissinger shaking hands at 1972 peace agreement.
Today, not one soul is attempting peace in the Ukraine, with our very own Neocons being among the biggest warmongers.
Yeah you said that before, but I trust your overall analysis only marginally.
STFU, Spicoli.
Never let a good crisis go to waste.
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