The 21st century belongs to whichever country first ditches the mentality of preparing to refight WW2, and builds a robotic air and submarine force.
F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
31–40 of 64 posts
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because nations tend to avoid starting wars they'll obviously lose. If the US military falls behind technologically, other nations might start thinking defeat isn't so obvious any more.
When was the last time the US won a war against a threat that had comparable capabilities?
1865
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#33The 21st century belongs to whichever country first ditches the mentality of preparing to refight WW2, and builds a robotic air and submarine force.
Totally, we could call it skynet! I know it will happen eventually, let's just hope we can survive it, or maybe have world peace by then as even conventional warfare becomes MAD.
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
South America isn't invading you any time soon and every other mob has a whopping great pile of water to cross and not much in the way of an active carrier fleet to support it, or they're already your allies. The only one that falls into your threat category is Russia. Is Russia really about to invade the US at the first sign of air supremacy weakness? You still have enough nukes to cause literal worldwide armageddon…
It's not about invading the US. It is about challenging their regional dominance. If the US isn't willing or able to commit to defending Japan, Taiwan or Philippines, then Mainland China will be happy to recreate a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere under CCP leadership and to claim the Pacific and Indian Ocean for itself. While that wouldn't hurt the average American in the short run, the long-term consequences…
considering how much evil was done by US in last 15 years worldwide and how many millions of innocents died/suffer daily just because of lust for money and power, i am perfectly happy with Chinese taking banner of world supreme power for next few decades. side-by-side comparison of last 20-30 years leaves US in shame. I have more trust in Chinese party leaders rather than joke US presidency had become, with all those shady machinations behind the scenes. No, it ain't great either, but definitely lesser of an evil and US is spiraling down faster than ever.
and it was once a beacon of democracy and free world...
also, US has no greater claim to be the ruler of pacific region compared to China. in fact, if you look at the map, opposite is true.
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because nations tend to avoid starting wars they'll obviously lose. If the US military falls behind technologically, other nations might start thinking defeat isn't so obvious any more.
When was the last time the US won a war against a threat that had comparable capabilities?
1945 if we ignore the little fact it's mostly russians who kicked hitler down, not sure if japanese were in same ballpark with their army
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The way to hit an unsophisticated target like that is come at them out of the sun. They won't see or hear you coming.
While you're doing that, everyone else (who aren't, incidentally, in line with you and the sun) should be firing full auto at a point in front of your aircraft so you fly through a cloud of bullets.
It's pretty hard to do a deflection shot against a target moving 500 mph that you have maybe a second or two to line up on.
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
While you're doing that, everyone else (who aren't, incidentally, in line with you and the sun) should be firing full auto at a point in front of your aircraft so you fly through a cloud of bullets.
It's pretty hard to do a deflection shot against a target moving 500 mph that you have maybe a second or two to line up on.
Sure, but how many trucks can you field for the cost of one F-35? It only has to work one time out of a hundred, or even one in a thousand.
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not about invading the US. It is about challenging their regional dominance. If the US isn't willing or able to commit to defending Japan, Taiwan or Philippines, then Mainland China will be happy to recreate a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere under CCP leadership and to claim the Pacific and Indian Ocean for itself. While that wouldn't hurt the average American in the short run, the long-term consequences…
considering how much evil was done by US in last 15 years worldwide and how many millions of innocents died/suffer daily just because of lust for money and power, i am perfectly happy with Chinese taking banner of world supreme power for next few decades. side-by-side comparison of last 20-30 years leaves US in shame. I have more trust in Chinese party leaders rather than joke US presidency had become, with all those…
Chinese are much worse than the Americans, though born of the same cloth of Capitalism. Americans ideally rally under freedom, which means they will come fuck you up and then supply enough aid to keep you going and help you rebuild, I mean it's in their corporate interest to do so. Chinese rally under domination, that's their underlying ideology. If they ever start fucking people up, they will probably replace them with more Han Chinese. They are not just in it for the money, they are in it to take over the entire area. See Western Xinjiang province or Tibet.
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
While you're doing that, everyone else (who aren't, incidentally, in line with you and the sun) should be firing full auto at a point in front of your aircraft so you fly through a cloud of bullets.
It's pretty hard to do a deflection shot against a target moving 500 mph that you have maybe a second or two to line up on.
They'd be going slower than that for a ground attack. Also, "In the Korean War, our Air Force lost 259 jet aircraft and 285 other aircraft to combined small arms and air defense fire, which is nearly five times as many aircraft that were lost in air-to-air combat. In South Vietnam, we lost 410 fixed-wing aircraft and 2,100 helicopters. In the Mideast War, 36 coalition aircraft were shot down by ground fire." [1].
[1] http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/f...
Re: F-35 Delays Mean US Marines Are Pulling Old F-18s Out of Desert Storage
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
When was the last time the US won a war against a threat that had comparable capabilities?
1945 if we ignore the little fact it's mostly russians who kicked hitler down, not sure if japanese were in same ballpark with their army
The sheer number of people Russia lost in WWII is staggering. If I recall correctly the number was around 25 Million. Russia deserves so much credit for the defeat of hitler, but you won't hear it in America very often.