Free Republic

The 9 September events demonstrate two interlocking realities. First, the prospect of a NATO–Russia war is no longer an abstraction. Moscow has shown a willingness to test NATO directly. Second, the most likely path to such a conflict is not through deliberate escalation but through miscalculation. The means to a wider war exist; the question is which one. Technical failure, human error, or political panic could cause escalation to spiral in a single instant.

The U.S. Air Force’s plan to buy “at least 185” F-47 sixth-generation fighters is “dangerously delusional” and inadequate for a future war. To maintain air dominance against peer competitors like China, the U.S. needs a fleet of at least 400-500 F-47s. The current plan repeats the historic mistake made with the F-22 Raptor, where a small, boutique fleet was procured that proved insufficient for global demands.