Posted on 02/11/2023 5:15:31 PM PST by Zhang Fei
Now, in terms of the military impact, an F-16 is still a very capable platform: It has a good radar, it can fly well above the majority of the Russian sound systems in the area apart from the very, very specialized ones. It has a weapons system tied to that radar that can engage the vast majority of Russian aircraft long before they can attack it. The F-16 doesn't have quite the same stealth characteristics of something like an F-35 and an F-22. But I've fought against the F-16. I've had the odd trip in one, but I've also fought against it. It's tiny, it's hard to see on radar, it's even harder to see in the air with the naked eye. The F-16 is not called a viper for no reason. It's a vicious, nasty, dangerous little airplane.
If I was a Russian pilot with 100 hours training in an aircraft that I'm a little bit nervous about whether my weapons really work because I've never been allowed to use them in training or in wartime, I am going to be shit scared of getting airborne and wondering whether there's an F-16 up there.
And it's going to change the way they approach [the war]. If we can take Russian air power and limit its influence on the battlefield and over Ukraine in general, that gives Ukraine breathing space, that's then going to allow the combined arms effect of the artillery, the HIMARS (High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems), the tanks, and everything else to operate as well as it already has done. And this time do it without any concern about what's above. The combination of those two things will be hugely powerful and ultimately will make most Russians realize that they can't win....
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
I believe it's a typo.
Should have been “Russian found systems”, referring to the Russian built MiGs and SUs being flown by both sides.
The US has useful alliances and useless alliances.
Much of Europe is useless or detrimental, but Ukraine isn’t even a useless one.
They are nothing to us, and we owe them nothing.
I care about the US. I don’t give a damn about Russia or Ukraine.
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I’m going to disagree with you a little Gator. I share your feelings about “I don’t give a damn about Russia”. But, I do give a damn about Ukraine for the following reasons.
Sort of like Israel keeps (historically) the worst of radical islam at bay for the world the Ukraine has taken on the most worthless, warlike, savage, barbaric, utterly useless and destructive nation state on earth. The Israeli’s fight smart and similarly the Ukrainians fight smart and they are bleeding Russia in blood and treasure for the rest of the world so they are indisputably “useful” which makes them “something” to us.
As if they haven’t been trying to already...
Using missiles to crater runways daily to keep them inoperable is a very expensive proposition. Actual bombings by aircraft are much more efficient, except that the US is telling Ukraine where the Russian planes are. Pooty doesn’t dare fly significant bombing raids over parts of Ukraine not under Russian ground occupation.
Speaking of planes and losses, a recent Forbes’ analysis (sometimes plane by plane) concluded that with parts and “pieces of fighter planes” acquisitions from other countries, Ukraine presently has as many if not slightly more MIGS than they entered the war with.
Obviously, slow attrition will eventually run out that supply, but, unless that attrition is considerably increased, there are enough “spare” F-16’s in the world to sustain Ukraine for quite a long while.
Well, that puts you in good company with “Irish Joe”, anyway...
The problem is that Russia’s leadership has not abandoned ruling class Russianism. Communism as practiced by Russia was just a little / brief loop to the side of that path, but in mostly the same direction.
The Euros have significantly forgone some (some) of their previous distasteful tendencies, in favor of a “softer” model, but then again I am under no illusions about their behavior should they perceive their security be seriously threatened. Ultimately, much greater danger lies there in the long run, than in any present risk of a US - Russia dustup.
Patrick Henry...
Born in PA and Jill Biden taught 12th grade English at my high school when I was in 12th grade in Wilmington DE.
There’s far more dissimilarities between us though.
I don’t sniff little girls hair.
I don’t shower with my daughter.(I don’t have a daughter)
I’m a Veteran.
I have never held office.
I don’t know CornPop.
I was never a coal miner or truck driver..
Another poster said it should have read “Russian SAM systems.”
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