Posted on 06/01/2024 11:25:33 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Europe has only a fraction of the air defence capabilities needed to protect its eastern flank, according to Nato’s own internal calculations, laying bare the scale of the continent’s vulnerabilities.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has underscored the importance of air defence, as Kyiv begs the west for additional systems and rockets to protect its cities, troops and energy grid against daily bombing raids.
But according to people familiar with confidential defence plans drawn up last year, Nato states are able to provide less than 5 per cent of air defence capacities deemed necessary to protect its members in central and eastern Europe against a full-scale attack.
One senior Nato diplomat said the ability to defend against missiles and air strikes was “a major part of the plan to defend eastern Europe from invasion”, adding: “And right now, we don’t have that.”
Nato foreign ministers will gather in Prague on Thursday for two days of talks aimed at preparing for a summit of the alliance’s leaders in Washington in July, where beefing up European defence will be a central topic.
Some European leaders and military officials have said that Russia could have the capability to attack a Nato member state by the end of the decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
“ Yeah but they need the planes to defend against Iran. Can’t forget about Turkey either.”
Israel’s strategic situation is terrible.
“I only root for the invaded underdog”
So you supported Panama, Grenada, and Iraq?
That's different. I don't have a dog in this hunt.
No.
If you are totally outgunned, or fixed and out in the open, you are going to be destroyed and killed.
Take the Ukraine Counter-offensive that got trapped in the minefields south of Orikhiv. They hit enough mines so that their mine ploughs were immobilized, and they were “fixed” and out in the open.
The Russians then gunned them down with everything they had: artillery, drones, ground rockets, helicopter rockets, aircraft bombs.
They couldn’t even retreat because the Russians remotely mined using rockets and artillery so the cleared paths disappeared.
The could have had the most elite special forces form NATO on those vehicles, and it wouldn’t have made any difference - they would have all died just the same.
“So you supported Panama, Grenada, and Iraq?
That’s different. I don’t have a dog in this hunt.”
LOL !
It’s different when WE do it !
They can't really afford to make any mistakes.
But if we were the ones paying for the war, perhaps they had no choice.
“The problem with the Ukraine Counter-offensive was that they had no air superiority. “
It wouldn’t have mattered. They could have had the entire fleet of B2s and F22s but once they were trapped in that minefield and their position was fixed, they were going to get destroyed.
Fancy aircraft don’t clear minefields. NATO and US Army plans for minefields 100-200 meters deep. Those minefields were 8-10 KILOMETERS.
The Ukrainians said there were parts where there was more than one mine per square meter. That’s a million mines per square kilometre !
They could have given the Ukrainians. every mine plough and roller in NATO it wouldn’t have been enough.
You ignore the minefields and then you bomb the Russian troops, if you had air superiority.
Yeah, you bomb the troops in the Gray Zone, and you are still trapped in the minefield and they hit you with their longer range weapons because you are fixed in place.
Here goes the military-industrial complex weaving scary stories of invading Russian hordes so they can hit their numbers on their next quarterly financial report.
Russia got stopped in its tracks in Ukraine. I don’t understand all the hand-wringing about them invading the rest of Europe.
Yes; if it were only possible to kill all an enemies political bad actors that would be great.
Unfortunately the people who always wind up getting killed in this kind of crap are Joe the plumber, Jill the waitress, Bill the electrician and Susie the Salesgirl!
“
“It’s different when WE do it !“
We didn’t “do it”. We did not rape women, murder children and take hostages.
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