Posted on 11/24/2015 2:21:12 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
Sometimes it's just too easy and alluring to take advantage of an advantage.
That's what may have happened in the skies along the Turkish-Syrian border today as two Turkish F16s shot down a Russian SU-24 bomber. The Turks say the Russian jet was flying into Turkish airspace. The Russians deny that. The political squabbling will go on perhaps for years.
But from a military and industrial standpoint, there are things we know now that are crystal clear and they should have an impact on the bottom lines for defense contractors all over the globe.
First, I'd like to put this nicely but why mince words? A Russian SU-24 going up against an F16 is like a Pop Warner football team taking on the New England Patriots. No contest. The F16 is a far superior machine and Lockheed Martin also completed and delivered a $635 million upgrade to Turkey's F16 fleet just seven months ago. One SU-24 going up against even a non-upgraded F16 is still a mismatch. But an SU-24 going up against two upgraded F16's is a laugher. Is it possible this incident was the product of Turkish pilots who were just unable to resist their huge advantage in the skies? Someone will have to ask them. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
I’m not so sure of that. The area it crashed in was Syrian.
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After the aircraft was hit by a Sidewinder from one of the F-16s, it was still flying when going down. It crashed around 2 miles (or kms) beyond the Turkey border and the two pilots who ejected came down in Syria.
Saw the radar tracking of the SU-24 on TV this afternoon and it was flying in Turkey’s airspace.
Further, the protrusion is Turkish but the Syrians claim it. I’m putting forth the thought that the Russians used Syrian maps that didn’t identify the territory as Turkish. On the TV map it is all plain as day.
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I saw the radar track and it was a small segment of Turkey. I didn’t know that Syria claimed it was their land, so thanks for that bit of info.
I pray the “teeming millions” will arise in defense of our shattered Republic.
Ping
Some blocs of F-16s can carry AMRAAM, so they can, too. Dunno if the Turnks have that version, though.
I think the meme is that if you have the upper hand you will abuse it, just because you can. Planting that concept, they will segue to gun control...
YEAH!!!
Well, regardless of what the actual details were, they were warned. Ivan knew what he was doing and exactly where he was. IMHO, there is much more to this whole horrible disaster in the ME than we know.....
After my last post to you I did a little checking. It appears we JUST completed an upgrade to the Turkish F-16 fleet. Can’t imagine that we didn’t give them BVR capability so that they can shoot the AMRAAM.
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