Other Nations Gaining on U.S. in Air Power - General

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States must modernize its fighter jets to maintain air supremacy, a top Air Force general said on Wednesday citing the success of advanced Russian-made jets against American planes in a recent exercise as signaling an erosion of its overwhelming advantage.

Gen. Hal Hornburg, head of U.S. Air Combat Command, said a U.S. air-to-air exercise with the Indian Air Force in February, in which India used Russian jets to defeat aging American F-15Cs, revealed ``that we may not be as far ahead of the rest of the world as we once thought we were.''

Defense experts in both the United States and Europe, however, have said it is unlikely that America -- with vast spending power and a major industrial base -- would lose its dominance in military technology.

more............

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-arms-usa-airforce.html

Gee, didn't Dean get attacked for saying that we might not always have the strongest military, yet here a General is saying the same thing and nada is said.

:shrug:

Yeah, I get it.

[qazplm]

1. well

to be honest, I dont wonder if he isnt just saying that because congress cut back on funding for the F-22?

I suspect the reality is that we are fairly decently ahead of the rest of the world still air to air, and with cruise missiles, the ground attack aircraft arent as important as before (and the ones that are like A-10s are great b/c of their retro engineering not b/c they are somehow ancient).

I think he is right that the F-22 is a next generation ahead of the F-14/15 series...but I dont think the other planes have the total package to really challenge us yet, even without the 22.

[jayfish]

3. The A-10 Is A Great Aircraft Because...

it's not fly-by-wire, is easy to build and has several layers of redundancy in all of its critical systems. It would be great if it didn't atomize DU all over the place but as an airframe alone it is amazing. Because it's built around a gun that uses DU rounds however, they should have kept it retired.

Jay

[DavidMS]

5. I wouldn't even bother with more F22s

too expensive and not something you want to export (it is very stealthy and I believe the radar is the best in the world). That and the primary computer crashes every hour or so making it combat ineffective until its rebooted (I wonder if it runs Windoz).

However the F35 is another story. Cheap, exportable, usable by Air force, Navy and Marine Corps. No problems.

The bit on the A10 and DU is that if the projectiles are Tungsten-Carbide as opposed to Depleted Uranium it would only be marginally less effective against armor and wouldn't leave toxic heavy metal everywhere (at least as I understand it).

[jayfish]

6. Do You Have Any Additional Info...

on that alloy? A link to a study perhaps? I would like to see what it costs and it's effectiveness against the latest and greatest armor tech..

Thanks In Advance

Jay

[jayfish]

2. Yup, Properly Maintained Russian Aircraft In The Hands Of A...

capable pilot are Every Bit...as good as American gear. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. There are three things that make them superior IMHO to the flying computers the US builds. It takes forever to build an American fighter/attack aircraft, they are exorbitantly expensive and without all of the computer controlled flight surfaces many of them wouldn't even be able to fly.

Jay

[HawkerHurricane]

4. In other news...

The same General got a job offer from Lockeed...

[Massacure]

7. The US Military has a 640 billion dollar budge for 2005, doesn't it?

Where is all that cash going besides Iraq?

[saigon68]

8. Meanwhile on the home front

42 million Amerikan's have no health insurance. This Steve Canyon Wannabee is NOT one of them.

[sandboxface]

9. Heard it first from Project Censored

http://www.projectcensored.org/

[daleo]

10. U.S. airpower couldn't stop 911

What is the point of spending hundreds of billions if the president is more interested in a story about a goat?

[porkrind]

11. Give me a Fuc*ing break !!!

The military-industrial-political complex is a "self-licking ice-cream cone". It's a parasite on America that promotes fear and wars to ensure it's existance. Honestly, where in the world is the big enemy that we really need something more high-tech than the F-22, F-16, etc? Even the F-14 is still overkill. With computer-guided missles, fighter planes are becoming less-needed anyway. The Air Force pushes them because they are in love with flying, not because it makes real sense.

I am sick to death of government fear-mongering. The * administration shamelessly waves every boogeyman it can find in our face to scare us into sitting by while they steal us blind and destroy our government and liberties.

Give me a break! Maybe if we weren't such international pricks, we wouldn't have to worry about needing monster armies and navies. Stop trying to scare us! We're getting pissed off!

---

Read about the Right-Wing "Master Plan": http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-contents.html

Have you read "War is a Racket"?: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm