Comments on: Air-to-Air Ain’t Dead (Video Fix)

By: Robert Pratt

Robert Pratt — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:03:51 +0000

awesome video. Watching a fighter float around like that while a simple heat-seeking missile homed in on it would be kinda cool.
Sorry. Don’t believe there is an air threat out there. The dogfighting days ended a long time ago.

By: DC2 Jennings

DC2 Jennings — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:46:33 +0000

I was just reading on military.com that the military is asking for $20B to increase the size of the Army/Marines by 20,000. That amount of money would also purchase the additional number of F-22s the Air Force wants.
Let’s hear a rebuttal Cole.
DC2

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:41:37 +0000

We(the U.S.) are nothing but a bunch of “preening gasbags.”

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:39:40 +0000

Cole,
It seems to me that the Chinese have a type of inferiority complex.They have almost made a vast majority of animals on this planet extinct just so that they can make an aphrodisiac to get it up & yet they(the nation of Red China) make up the vast majority of people alone on this earth.Through the combination of foolish population control policies & the fact that their people only want males,they have the problem of having about 100 males for every female.I’m sure that not all of those males want to be gay,so China has to figure out a way to supply women to all of those males.That can only come through conquest.They damn well know that they cannot defeat us militarily,so they use the economy to defeat us.They use the students that they send to our nation to learn our technology & bring it back home to China.They also have no problem whatsoever with sacrificing a large number of their own people in war if it achieves victory(& also helps to bring more balance to the male-female ratio).The Chinese are wise enough to know that they cannot take us head on,but they are developing the asymmetrical means to defeat us.They will use our arrogance against us.
We should always train to expect the worse in our enemies.That means learning how to dogfight,period.To arrogantly say that it is unnecessary invites defeat.We are too proud & arrogant as a people to see this.We are too busy bragging & boasting about how great we are & the other nations are laughing at us behind our backs & will laugh at loud if we get our butts beat.Everybody loves to see the bully & braggart go down.

By: Cole

Cole — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:48:35 +0000

Roy, let it rest. The Chinese are literally not 10′ tall, nor were/are the Russians. The Olympics should make the Chinese feel good about being part of the world and may enhance future tourism there if they are deemed West-friendly. Heck my own own Mom has been there and says we don’t need to worry about them taking over the world because they will kill themselves from all the smog they breathe and cigarettes they smoke…but at least they get a lot of exercise on bicycles. And this is the nation that is going to take over the world and shoot down geosynchronous satellites?
An election coming up in Taiwan in March may indicate a national majority wants eventual reunification. There are already enough economic ties between Taiwan and China…although I read that even Taiwanese companies are exploring other options in places like Viet Nam since China raised taxes on outside companies.
I think that last point is the key. Much of what China makes ends up in Walmart. Well guess what, Walmart will buy products from Viet Nam if they are cheaper than those from China. So price pressures on Chinese products coupled with perception of lower quality will prevent them from charging premium prices for the foreseeable future. If they continue to become an economic superpower, it will be through mass consumption of their cheap, not expensive products. If they end up driving a lot more cars to strain oil supplies, suspect they will be their $2500 tiny specials…which won’t use too much gas but will certainly exacerbate their pollution problems. Bring oxygen if you go to the Beijing Olympics.
Don’t want to get into FCS stuff other than to say that UPI’s Martin Sieff seems like a sharp guy and writes well. But I find little credibility in an argument that failed WWI comms(part 2 of his article) are why the FCS network will never work. Gee why don’t we all go back to the telegraph…oh wait they might hack that too. In another article he was comparing British rule of Iraq between 1918 and 1933 to explain why the Iraqis would never come around today. Maybe they won’t but bet today’s Iraqis are a whole lot different than those of 90 years ago.
Sieff has a 1972 Masters degree from Oxford in Modern History. Don’t see how that makes him an expert in the military or computers. Very few folks, to include me, understand the SOSCOE operating system…but think Windows for the military and be glad it is Linux-based for future enhancements and plug and play upgrades of future systems and software. If it was Windows-based I would really worry about hackers!!
Besides, the software is “only” $6 billion of the total, and is 1/3 finished..it will have some problems no doubt and they will be fixed. It’s mcuh easier to integrate and fix some aspect of one single operating system architecture than the software of 14 different manufacturers going 14 different directions with independently developed combat systems.

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:41:14 +0000

Spacewar.com has an article about the “Future Combat System” called “FCS Follies“
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Defense_Focus_FCS_follies_Part_1_999.html
It talks about he we are too dependent on WiFi technology & how it can be easily hacked into by Cyber-terrorists or by China,who is working very hard on being able to commit cyber-attacks on our systems.The Chinese are working on being able to shoot down our military,spy,& communications(which if they are able to do,will knock out our GPS capability & force our troops to go back to the old-fashioned,passe practice of using compasses & reading maps).
Now,if anybody is as big a “Battlestar Galactica” fan as I am,they know how “Baltar” sold defense secrets to their enemy which was able to defeat the “Colonies” defenses.Now,if there were plenty of people who would sell their souls to both betray & spy for the USSR on us,then why couldn’t the same be true today concerning people betraying our country & spying on our country for China? It only takes one “Baltar” to sell our codes to our whiz bang weapons which would allow China to hack into our systems,give our troops false commands,shut down our early warning radar systems,air defense & ballistic missiles,& God knows what else.What good is our vaunted technology if China can hack into it & turn it against us? Riddle me that,“brilliant minds?”

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:42:16 +0000

I wonder if the "nay sayers" against what I'm saying are really Chinese or "Pro-Chinese" infiltrators trying to lull us to sleep & deny everything we are saying to fear about China & its hegemony.A Chinese "fifth Column" so to speak.I say that because nobody can honestly be so "consistently" blind to the Chinese Threat unless they are in China's back pocket & "paid" to voice such "disagreements or opposition" to common sense. Again,once the Beijing Olympics are over(& unless the Chinese want to also host the Winter Olympics &/or the FIFA World Cup),then we'll see a more hostile & unfriendly China,mark my words on that.

By: DC2 Jennings

DC2 Jennings — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:40:02 +0000

China will behave as long as we are relevant to them. That means we continue to buy their tainted products and borrow their money. When we as a country smarten up and end this, then there will be war.
Sglover, you speak of Tom Clancy. Tom Clancy showed how easy it was for a rogue dedicated individual bent on suicide can fly an airplane into a building. Sound familiar?
My point about the F-35 is that we need the F-22 far more. And we should use the money saved on the F-35 to purchase more F-22s and F-16Es. And there is no guarantee we will buy F-35s in enough numbers to make a difference either. Look at what we did with the F-22 purchase.
DC2

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:29:13 +0000

When our nation’s leaders & “brilliant minds” have lost their minds & gone insane,then we’re all screwed.

By: Roy Smith

Roy Smith — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:22:32 +0000

Do you want to know whats schizophrenic? We talk about how we don’t need to teach our pilots dog fighting skills because its all become passe,& yet the very air to air missiles that would definatly make it passe are retired from service or canceled altogether.I’m talking of course about the AIM-54 Phoenix Missile & the AIM-155 Advanced Air-to-Air Missile,also known as the Outer Air Battle Missile.The same “brilliant” minds who canceled these weapons also canceled our ability to protect our naval fleet from submarine attacks by getting rid of all of our anti-submarine warfare.
When I hear someone say that we have no threats against us as a nation,that nobody else has an air force or navy(or even ground troops) that can threaten us,I roll my eyes & wonder what strong wine or alcohol that person has been drinking that has made him “mad(insane)?” Only an insane person would spout such nonsense. Only a person who should be committed to a mental institute would both believe & say such nonsense. To quote Festus in the bible,“thou art beside thyself;much learning doth make[is driving] thee mad.”