ping
Flight International? Any relation to the New York Times??
Sounds like a banzai attack. We better build about 5000 f-22’s. Quick. Oblahblah will leave us defenseless.
And we have no other assets in the battlespace? Like a carrier, for example?
This scenario, if it does not factor in those constraints, is wholly unrealistic.
What is to stop China or Russia/Iran if our economy tanks?
So, they start from the premise that outnumbered, out gunned and out fueled the USAF fighters will lose?...............
Then again, this is 2020, so probably that'd be 16 Joint Force Fighters, with 32 more up in 15, from Taiwan.
I must be missing a lot of things on this one.
We are about to succumb to our internal enemies, move into more spartan homes, eat day old bread, and wear pressed cardboard shoes.
The ChiCom's will be very busy developing Africa as a place to sell their cheap commodities, as we will no longer be able to afford them.
1. Ten guys with clubs will win out over one man with nine bullets.
2. If we are flying to defend Taiwan, why aren’t the Taiwanese airfields considered friendly to land at? Too many SRBM hits already? Perhaps.
3. The F-22s should fire their AMRAAMs well before they themselves can be engaged. Then with super-cruise, they should be able to RTB without being engaged.
4. You can’t defend Taiwanese airspace with six-aircraft, no matter how good they are. Getting back to #1, if the enemy brings more aircraft than you have missiles it is impossible to stop him.
5. When the first ten SU-27s explode and the rest still don’t have a lock on the F-22s, they may likely turn tail and head home. Unless of course we keep publishing that we will only send six F-22s.
1. Build more F-22s - this would be nice, but it just isn't going to happen under either administration. They're a great aircraft but too expensive. The Aussies and Israelis want to buy some, which would help lower our costs and keep the production line going, but for some reason they have been turned down.
2. Keep F-15s flying to supplement the F-22s. The F-15s are wearing out and disintigrating on their own and won't last much longer.
3. Supplement with F-16s - might be our only option.
If you've got any ideas, I'm sure the Air Force could use them. They've been pretty screwed up in recent years.
In WW2 we built “jeep” aircraft carriers, why not do the same now?
Have a fleet of cargo ships that are totally normal in appearance, do daily shipping in the area of a conflict but secretly have concealed Harriers, they need not be the expensive F35’s.
Quite frankly if its a situation of quantity vs quality then we need to counter on that level such as developing unmanned attack drones that are superfast and highly maneuverable that can be used to intercept massed formations.
One of my favorite authors Dale Brown has written many novels of such use of technology.
What happened to my AWACS bandit calls and my tanker retrograde procedures? I guess the assumption is that I’m sitting up in my air refueling orbit fat, dumb, and happy with no awareness of my surroundings.
Russia, China flex muscles in joint war games
August 17, 2007
CHEBARKUL, Russia (Reuters) - Russia and China staged their biggest joint exercises on Friday but denied this show of military prowess could lead to the formation of a counterweight to NATO.
"Today's exercises are another step towards strengthening the relations between our countries, a step towards strengthening international peace and security, and first and foremost, the security of our peoples," Putin said.
Fighter jets swooped overhead, commandos jumped from helicopters on to rooftops and the boom of artillery shells shook the firing range in Russia's Ural mountains as two of the largest armies in the world were put through their paces.
The exercises take place against a backdrop of mounting rivalry between the West, and Russia and China for influence over Central Asia, a strategic region that has huge oil, gas and mineral resources.
Russia's growing assertiveness is also causing jitters in the West. Putin announced at the firing range that Russia was resuming Soviet-era sorties by its strategic bomber aircraft near NATO airspace.
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29030120070817?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
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War Games: Russia, China Grow Alliance
September 23, 2005
In foreign policy it’s critical to “know thine enemy.” So American policymakers should be aware that Russia and China are inching closer to identifying a common enemy — the United States.
The two would-be superpowers held unprecedented joint military exercises Aug. 18-25. Soothingly named “Peace Mission 2005,” the drills took place on the Shandong peninsula on the Yellow Sea, and included nearly 10,000 troops. Russian long-range bombers, the army, navy, air force, marine, airborne and logistics units from both countries were also involved.
Moscow and Beijing claim the maneuvers were aimed at combating terrorism, extremism and separatism (the last a veiled reference to Taiwan), but it’s clear they were an attempt to counter-balance American military might.
Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants. As the Pravda.ru Web site announced, “the reconciliation between China and Russia has been driven in part by mutual unease at U.S. power and a fear of Islamic extremism in Central Asia.”
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed092605a.cfm
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From National Public Radio (NPR):
August 29, 2006
"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been visiting countries such as China, Iran and Russia as part of an effort to build a 'strategic alliance' of interests not beholden to the United States. He considers the United States his arch enemy.":
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5729764
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From the Russian News and Information Agency:
July 27, 2006
"'I am determined to expand relations with Russia,' Chavez, known as an outspoken critic of what he calls the United States' unilateralism, told the Russian leader, adding that his determination stemmed from their shared vision of the global order.":
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060727/51913498.html
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From Investors Business Daily:
September 8, 2008
"On Monday, Russia accepted Chavez's invitation for a first-ever joint naval exercise with Venezuela."
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=305766737761086
____________________________________________________________ From The Associated Press:
Russian navy ships head to maneuvers in Venezuela
September 22, 2008
MOSCOW - A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080922/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_venezuela
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Venezuela Set to Develop Nuclear Power With Russia
September 29, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Russia will help Venezuela develop nuclear energy — a move likely to raise U.S. concerns over increasingly close cooperation between Caracas and Moscow.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,429441,00.html
I call BS. The degree to which the F-22 surpasses everything in history is absolutely mind-blowing.
Bear in mind that the F-16 is untouched by the rest of the world. China has nothing that can compete on anything resembling an even footing with the F-16.
Now consider the dogfights between some of our very best pilots in F-16s against F-22s. A single F-22 takes down multiple F-16s without even being seen. In several cases, not only did the F-16s not see the F-22, not only did the F-16 not even get to register the radar lock in time to even attempt escape, but even after the “kill” the F-16 couldn’t see the F-22 until the F-22 flew over the top of the F-16 allowing the F-16 pilot to PHYSICALLY see him.
With a pair of F-22s, 10+ F-16s were toast. If memory serves me, a team of 3 F-22s is good for something like 18 F-16s without taking a sweat, or even having a single F-16 lock on.
The issue of speed or maneuverability or armament doesn’t even come into play, because the next most advanced fighter on the planet might as well be completely blind (the F-22 happens to do all the aforementioned things better, but it’s so unnecessary as to almost seem boring).
Oh and we haven’t even gotten into how much better the F-22 integrates with literally every support system we can think to link to it (JSTARS, AWACS, another half-dozen I’ve never heard of, and probably another couple none of us knows exists yet). So while being invisible, the pilot can see more sooner. Oh and it can network with other F-22s to form an ad-hoc AWACS system...so everyone on the team sees a combination of the best views.
This isn’t a matter of who wins, or even how big of a loss we would take while winning. The most legitimate question would be if even a single pilot would be in any real danger of being shot at, much less hit.
Usual ploy to get funds from Congress. In the sixties it was Biologicals ... “said” Russia was ahead. Result: AIDS, SARS, nano monsters and new hosts of immune related diseases and other stealth viruses “Purging Us Softly” unlike Moscow. Plus Genetic Engineering (Eugenics) is good for Medicine. Read “Emerging Viruses” by Leonard Horowitz.
Mike
We need more of these aircraft, and the Air Force Chief-of-Staff that was fired for saying so is, in my opinion, exonerated.