Air Defence. Good video.

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Saint_
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by Saint_ »

Fascinating video, Scrat. Are you involved in aerospace? I just ask because I wondered how you stumbled across it. When I was flying for the Air Force in the '80s, especially when I was being trained to be an officer, they emphasized over and over again how air power was the single most critical factor in our victory in WWII and they even said the the Linebacker operations in Vietnam were the only reason the America was able to extricate itself politically. (Call it a lost war if you want, but the Air Force was very proud of those operations and after seeing the crater-strewn pictures of Hanoi, I can see why.)

So, losing air superiority is a very good reason to worry. That said, I think that the powers that be are already on top of this. The Predator drones are an inkling of the future. Not only are they tiny, and low-flying which might make them very hard to find and kill for a SAM, who cares if a SAM shoots down your drone? Drones are cheap, possibly even cheaper than the missile that got them. No lost pilot, so what's the worry? Just launch another one!

Robotic warfare is going to be the wave of the future, I'm positive of it. Thanks for the interesting video.
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Bryn Mawr
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by Bryn Mawr »

Very good marketing video from the "defence" industry in their bid for more government money.

Certainly think it's a good thing that defence technology is moving ahead of attack technology as per the first half of the video - when it came to the narrator complaining that you might soon not be able to overfly Venezuela with impunity I was tempted to cheer :-)

And, given that the modern ground to air missiles still outrange the modern air to air missiles, the only time you need to worry about that is when your aircraft are fighting outside the range of your ground installations - not a problem unless you're planning on invading someone sometime soon.

So, all in all, not something that worries me.
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dubs
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by dubs »

I read somewhere that one of the F35 lightning IIs roles was to be Wild Weasel, but only with internal weapons loads, to keep it's signature low.. I don't know if that says that ARM and HARM technology doesn't have to keep pace with SAMS, because the platform can still get the weapons in close, or what!




My dog's a cross between a Shihtzu and a Bulldog... It's a Bullsh!t..
gmc
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by gmc »

It's the tone of it that surprises me. If you have a militaristic foreign policy where the use of force is seen as an early option it can hardly be a surprise if other nations take steps to protect themselves and match what they are likely to face just in case. It's also quite understandable. Especially in the face of deliberate provocation such as Bush placing missiles in poland to defend europe against iranian missiles. Did anyone take that seriously?

At least Obama doesn't seem to go in for sabre rattling in quite the same way as bush did.

Any conflict with russia or china would very rapidly go nuclear anyway. Russia's too tied up with it's own problems to want a war anyway. I suspect they are sitting quietly watching America bankrupt itself in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mind you china's reaction to the fundamentalist muslims if they try and stir things up on their borders or get a hold in pakistan might be rather interesting. I don't think they would **** about. India would probably invade Pakistan as well.
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Saint_
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by Saint_ »

gmc;1311346 wrote:

At least Obama doesn't seem to go in for sabre rattling in quite the same way as bush did.


Yeah, no 'dead or alive, for us or against us" stuff.

Russia's too tied up with it's own problems to want a war anyway. I suspect they are sitting quietly watching America bankrupt itself in Iraq and Afghanistan.


The irony of that statement is astounding since that's exactly what we did in the 80s.



Mind you china's reaction to the fundamentalist muslims if they try and stir things up on their borders or get a hold in pakistan might be rather interesting. I don't think they would **** about. India would probably invade Pakistan as well.


Yeah, can you say "Welcome to Tibet?":D
gmc
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Air Defence. Good video.

Post by gmc »

The irony of that statement is astounding since that's exactly what we did in the 80s.


The irony was intended. It was always suggested as being the aim of Reagan - to bankrupt the soviet union with an arms race they couldn't afford. whether true or not I don't know - and the war Afghanistan helped break their back. Trouble is most americans don't seem to spot the irony in the US helping the Taliban to power in the first place. Afghanistan has helped bankrupt more than one empire over the centuries.

I have heard the british troops in afghanistan prefer to be facing insurgents trained by the americans since the ones trained by the SAS are far more dangerous.
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