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The Most Ridiculous Sentence You'll Read All Week
From Mark Helprin in today's Wall Street Journal:
Cancelling the F-22 Raptor, the most capable fighter plane ever produced, is yet another act in the tragedy of a nation that, bankrupting itself, embracing moral decline, and apologizing to its enemies, is losing the will to prevail.
I mean, I do not even know where to begin with this one aside from laugh at how over-the-top that sentence is. I guess I could point out that the Department of Defense's base budget grew, in a time of tremendous financial pressure, 2.8% last year. (1.4% if you adjust for inflation.) I could also point out that since 2001, even if you do not include spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the DOD base budget has increased 40%. (And 70% if you include spending on Iraq and Afghanistan.) You and Mark Helprin can both read about this in Travis Sharp's helpful primer on the QDR and FY11 defense budget.
Lamenting a reduced U.S. Air Force presence in Europe, Helprin writes that "while it declined but before it burned, Rome kept only a shadow of legions upon the Rhine and the Danube." He actually wrote that sentence. In a newspaper. A quick Wikipedia search tells me the U.S. military currently has 369,000 military personnel deployed in 150 countries. Hardly a shadow, those 369,000 troops. And maybe -- just maybe -- we have a reduced presence in Europe because it makes sense to stage elsewhere. Or does Helprin think the Visigoths might mount a comeback and threaten Rome anew?
Helprin points out that three successive U.S. administrations before Obama have down-sized the F-22 program, which, come to think of it, should have told Helprin something. Instead he cites the late Sen. Kennedy's support for the F-22, ignoring the fact that the F-22 was manufactured in 48 different states, meaning Helprin could have found a quote from 95 other senators if he had wanted to do so.
Oh, and he never mentions the word "drones". Not once. He never once takes on the inconvenient reality that the era of manned flight may be reaching its terminus and that remotely piloted aircraft might render manned aircraft irrelevant in the next generation. You would have thought he would have wanted to have at least challenged that idea as he mounted a lusty defense for the F-22, no?
The pity of all this is that I was talking with Fick just a few weeks ago about what a great book A Soldier of the Great War
Not a word about how
Not a word about how ridiculous and unserious it is to compare us to the Roman Empire? I would have thrown that in as well, as if we need troops to pacify "the Rhine and the Danube." What an incredibly arrogant thing to complain about.
I can't get behind the
I can't get behind the subscriber wall, but I've found in casual conversation that people perceiving the US's ills often utilize Rome as their favorite analogy for imperial decline. Perhaps Helprin simply appropriated the standard analogue (i.e., Rome) for a lament about American (in this case, defense) politics, and used it here.
ADTS
Stuff like this always
Stuff like this always happens. It will not be the first or end. The discussion is just beginning.
Having lived through the 90's and defense downsizing, I can tell it was not fun. The BRAC discussions were heated and full of comments that were just as interesting. We lost the Navy training base in Orlando, Fl and that changed a lot of peoples lives. The end of the Shuttle flights in September of this year will change the lives of people in Brevard County, Fl.
Went through it after WW1, then again in WW2....and each skirmish there after.
Eisenhower had it right. Then again, when there is that much money on the table, people don't alway get it right. It is just not defence, it is money......it happens in banking too.
Helprin points out that
Helprin points out that three successive U.S. administrations before Obama have down-sized the F-22 program, which, come to think of it, should have told Helprin something.
He's pointing out that it's a bad thing. Every time they cut the order quantity, it slowed the whole process down, drove up the per-unit cost of the remaining planes (since the development costs now had to be recouped on a smaller number), and forced the re-structuring of the production line, costing even more time and money. If they had just bought the original number, it would have kept the unit costs down, and we'd be flying those instead of 30-year-old F-15s.
Oh, and he never mentions the word "drones". Not once. He never once takes on the inconvenient reality that the era of manned flight may be reaching its terminus and that remotely piloted aircraft might render manned aircraft irrelevant in the next generation.
Oh really? Do you think we'll have fully autonomous drones in the next generation, capable of completing their missions without constant guidance from a remote pilot? If not, then the above is not true unless you're foolish enough to think that all of America's future adversaries won't have capability to jam communications (and modern drones depend heavily upon a gigantic amount of undisrupted, more or less un-restricted bandwidth).
Not all of America' s adversaries are going to be impoverished fighters living in the mountains of Afghanistan.
When was the last time a US
When was the last time a US military aircraft was shot down in air to air combat?
Vietnam?
If there's no one capable of shooting down what we have why would we spend billions to upgrade?
Andrew is drinking too much
Andrew is drinking too much Kool Aid....to think that Drones are going to save the day for us in future warfare is as ignorant as comparing the US to Rome. As Brett said, there are an aweful lot of ignorant assumptions that our enemies are not going to do anything to interrupt communications with drones, let alone not disrupt our satellite communication systems...I find it facsinating that Andrew gets up on the soap box every day about how its important that leaders are adaptive, open minded, etc, etc and then right after that advocates we LIMIT our tactical options as far as how we can prosecute war and what technology we use....not having an F-22 limits our options...relying exlusively on drones in the future will limit our options.
Erik, we need to spend time and money to upgrade because our frenemies secrecy, technological improvements and R&D usually outpaces the Washington Bureacracy. If we don't stay ahead of our foreign "frenemies", one day we will wake up, open the NY Times and find out they are already 3/4 of the way through developing/building/testing a next-generation fighter better than ours.
This whole drone vs manned fighter debate is absurd, there are certain situations where drones will excel and be the best tactical option, but there will also be situations where manned fighters are the ideal solution. Most importantly, manned fighters will always outperform drones in air-to-air engagements because its impossible to get into an enemy's OODA loop if the pilot can not properly observe/orient himself. The half-second to second lag between the drone's sensors and cameras making it back to the remote pilot, the pilot interpreting that information and then able to react is far too long when the enemy fighter is manned.
What does the gang think of
What does the gang think of the Heron fleet Israel just unveiled?
I don't know about this program, but if we lose Air Superiority we have lost the precious hegemony. Also what is the replacement for our F-15's that are being flown to death? I thought it was the F-22? Granted the USAF doesn't do itself any favors but everyone at the Federal Level wants the best. Why not? They aren't paying for it.
I don't think anyone wants to fight on a battlefield where we don't have Air Superiority, Hell monopoly.
As far as where our coin goes...well...apparently it should go to COIN. All of it. Spend every last dime to do our essential armed social work. Without our crucial efforts underway now in Marja the quality of street heroin could fall precipitously. The American and Global heroin consumer deserve the best. Perhaps while our boys are fighting they could get the innocent little Marja Navi to diversify into good kryptonite grade "Hemp" products. Perhaps we could also build schools and teach internetworking skills - and hence branch out into identity theft and internet crime. We built a canal 50 years ago, and by Allah we got High Grade H. With more effort I'm sure we can diversify their Empire of Crime.
Helprin can lick my dirrrty
Helprin can lick my dirrrty left nut for being such a dumb ass.
Elf: I'll respond to the
Elf:
I'll respond to the first question.
It seems to me to have three possible applications:
1) a technology that can be used for a low-risk strike on Iran
2) a technology that can be sold, to cement alliances with nations other than the US and for cash
3) a technology that can be used to fight Israel's conventional wars
I'd be interested in learning how the technology came about. Was it in response to a specific request by the Ministry of Defense, or did Israeli Aerospace Industries or whomever produces Israeli military technology decide to produce the technology on its own accord?
I strongly doubt any of the above is profound or original.
ADTS
I guess some one's upset
I guess some one's upset becuase his Lockheed Martin stock isn't doing so well.
Is the F22 a viable option
Is the F22 a viable option to replace our air combat fleet? in 2007 they said there would be a 1 for 5 swap (1 F22 for 5 F15/16) that cuts the total number of our fleet to 1/5 it's current strength and raises the loss coefficient of a bird being down for maintenance, etc. This is bad. I don't think anyone crunched the numbers on this swap correctly. it sounds more like a bureaucratic decision than anything base on logic.
As Nemesis pointed out, Andrew isn't exactly on top of his game here. FCS should have been scuttled when the Chinese shot down that satellite. Even if you can manage a redundant system for remote control of a drone the enemy can always jam the connection. I was assigned to a UAV JT&E. They are not in our remote future as a viable alternative for manned aircraft. also, if we only got a 2.8% budget increase, then our budget actually shrank by at least 1% adjusted for inflation. I can't find the graph but i also believe that our current military expenditures are perhaps around 4% of GDP. we've had much larger percentages for military spending during war and peace time. we can afford to increase spending.
whether we have troops in 150 countries isn't the point. Rome rotted from the interior. we get involved in wars that rob us of our treasure, wreck our military, and fail to achieve any significant value. AQ is far from vanquished, as we were promised when these wars started. we have leaders at every echelon in the government and military that fail to take strategy seriously and make the hard decisions. as i've said before, nothing significant will be achieved for American safety even if Afghanistan and Iraq are functioning and healthy democracies for 100 years. Nothing. AQ will still exist. they will still attack us. we have failed to address the real reason AQ exist and is successful in avoiding being put out of business and until we do we will continue to waste our treasure in an effort to "look" like we are doing something. i'm not a big fan of Rome/America comparisons to predict the future however no empire has stayed on top.
For understanding the
For understanding the driving forces behind weapons sales vs. weapons development, an essential must read is this:
Sampson, Anthony. The Arms Bazaar. New York: Bantam Books, 1978. 401 pages.
"The Arms Bazaar" is his critical history of international arms merchants. Beginning with founders like Nobel and Krupp, Sampson works forward through the postwar "military-industrial complex" to our contemporaries who have turned Lebanon (and now Bosnia) into arms marts, and laboratories. Along the way, Sampson details the subterfuge, bribery, and power politics that inevitably shadow the arms trade...
Take for example the recent sale to China, NYT, Jan 30 2010
The arms package announced Friday is primarily defensive, and includes 114 Patriot missiles worth $2.82 billion, 60 Black Hawk helicopters worth $3.1 billion and communications equipment for Taiwan’s F-16 fleet. The package also includes Harpoon missiles and mine-hunting ships, the Defense Cooperation Security Agency said in a statement.
So, we sold F-16s all over the world... Now, consider the following from the NYT, Feb 2010:
The F-35 program was supposed to be the prototype for more effective defense procurement. Like the far more expensive F-22, the plane incorporates stealth technology and can successfully engage enemy fighters in air-to-air combat. But it also is built to support ground combat units in today’s wars, like the Air Force F-16 and A-10 and the Navy F-18 it is intended to replace.
This is the so-called cycle of military-industrial procurement, which keeps the aerospace military divisions up and running. Foreign arms sales play a key role, and so does bribery. One solution: more NASA contracts, maybe a mission to Mars? Lockheed & Northrup can compete - keeps the manufacturing division busy.
Arms sales are booming to Gulf Arab states, and unusually, Israel is not protesting - they know the limits of their influence over U.S. foreign policy, after getting smacked on the nose for trying to block U.S.-Saudi arms deals in what, 2007
Israel not opposing US arms sales to Gulf states, Feb 22 2010 Jerusalem Post
As far as drones, they'll be the new surveillance tools:
http://www.darpa.mil/news_images/vulture-02.html
@ADTS, I agree with your 3
@ADTS,
I agree with your 3 scenarios.
As far as IDF involvement in UAV's and drones...I believe from my reading (no expert) that they have been involved in UAV's since the 80's, in fact may be the world leader with us following. No expert as I said and sorry don't have Van Crevald handy.
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USA as Rome: no thank goodness our geographic position is so much more advantageous, we are masters of our Hemisphere and the oceans still present a formidable barrier, in fact impassable for an enemy with even token resistance on our part. Socially and in terms of character we more resemble Byzantium. As should our FP although we are in a much more advantageous position. Indeed the Atlantic and the Pacific, with no natural enemies or land bridges to us make America a Giant Constantinople. We actually can withdraw and live in peace and prosperity.
It's the rest of ye that'll be buggered if we depart. Tough shit say I.
Ex, Can I make a suggestion.
Ex,
Can I make a suggestion. Write this blog post up as a op-ed and submit it to the Wall St. Journal. Then get Andrew Bacevich to write about how this is proof that people like Helprin cannot actually think beyond high-tech, hard-core, kinetic military power and that is the real cause of America's decline. Also, check out if Helprin is an official shill for the Defense industry. Demanding a renewing and increased production of F-22's smells of more than mere partisan hackery and a blinkered view of world politics.
@Elf: I agree we are
@Elf:
I agree we are conveniently located with respect to potential great power enemies. And I lack sufficient knowledge to comment intelligently (or unintelligently) with respect to Byzantium. My friends who reference the downfall of Rome usually speak of moral decay here, to which I assume your reference to Byzantium refers. My own concern (and here I lie somewhere between you and Fnord) resides in massive deficits and debts, low quality education, crumbling or at least shoddy infrastructure, and (where we probably part ways most) the absence of universal health care.
My own $.02.
ADTS
Lockheed Martin the #1 DoD
Lockheed Martin the #1 DoD Contractor in the world. Go pound some sand Helprin. I hope that LM goes bankrupt and implodes on itself, as its filled with nothing but greedy scumbags who manipulate, lie, cheat and steal to get their next contract. I could care less if the F-22 is never mass produced. The future of aviation is pilot-less aircraft, not some laser beam shooting, plasma shielded shitbox, that can corner faster than any other jet in the world. Talk about a waste of money...wow.
Visitor@3:58pm and
Visitor@3:58pm and Michael...I wouldn't call Helprin partisan as much as I would say he's biased....of course, I would say that Exum, you and others are equally biased with your belief that there is no room for "high-tech, hard-core, kinetic military power"...to think these things aren't important just because of certain experiences in OIF/OEF is just as ignorant as suggesting that kinetic, hardcore warfare is the way of the future.
Bottomline is people like Helprin and Exum have both taken sides and are closing their minds to options, adaptibility and flexibility. Clearly you two are in the Exum court...
But here's the most important thing to come out of this discussion....UAVs are not the be all, end all of future aviation....Look, I'm an Army Infantry Officer, I don't like Air Force Officers....I think they are all too full of themselves and don't know how to loosen up and have a good time, but personal feelings aside, I know we've got the best Air Force in the world, and I know that air superiority is crucial to the guy on the ground. I also know that air to air battle is not a thing of a past and I also know that UAVs have crucial capability gaps that are not going to be fully solved until we make a 10000% improvement in Artifical Intelligence systems. Our future success on the battlefield will involve a mix of technology, adaptive leadership and flexbility. Taking away options, such as UAVs in lieu of manned aircraft limits our ability to be flexible and creative.
Communications jamming, defenseless satellites, lack of AI capable of beating a human in a dogfight, etc, etc I mean this is just common sense. You people are letting your biased views get in the way of common sense strategic and tactical thinking.
I don't know if the F-22 was the "right" aircraft to invest it, but I do know that we need capabilities like the F-22 to be successful in the future.
Byzantium fell in large part
Byzantium fell in large part because it got basically sacked by crusaders at the behest of the Venetians because they needed a ride. So I think we're ok on that part... unless Blackwater er... Xe cuts a deal with Venezuela or Iran tomorrow.
Byzantium fell in large part
Byzantium fell in large part because it got basically sacked by crusaders at the behest of the Venetians because they needed a ride. So I think we're ok on that part... unless Blackwater er... Xe cuts a deal with Venezuela or Iran tomorrow.
Byzantium fell in large part
Byzantium fell in large part because it got basically sacked by crusaders at the behest of the Venetians because they needed a ride. So I think we're ok on that part... unless Blackwater er... Xe cuts a deal with Venezuela or Iran tomorrow.
@ADTS, Often when people
@ADTS,
Often when people refer to Rome they mean the Western Empire with Rome as it's source and Capitol, and by Byzantium they refer to the Eastern Roman Empire with it's capitol of Constantinople - which lasted longer than any other Empire - 1100 years, although the last 250 were rather sad. I don't mean moral decay, I think societies morals fluctuate but that alone doesn't bring them down. Not to say they are not important. I don't think for instance the Western Empire fell due to moral decay - indeed their morals had rejuvenated themselves around Christianity (don't tell Gibbon) but they simply fell due to exhaustion, taxes, debased money, loss of control of the borders, loss of the citizen soldier ethic, and bad decisions concerning their auxiliary allies (now there is indeed a lesson here for us).
If you want a great read on Byzantium - J. Norwich's book (or books) of same title. You will not be bored.
I am at times thinking we are like Byzantium in that we have so many of the same attributes - mixed cosmopolitan societies across the land, a rugged warrior peasantry, a deeply religious population that is nonetheless quite sensual, and that finally like Byzantium we are a mixture of the heritage of both Greece and Rome (and England). We also began life as a colony.
We will also if wise adopt their Grand Strategy - see "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire" by Edward Luttwak.
Also a great read. Nothing too wonkish about either author.
They fell because their web
They fell because their web servers didn't respond fast enough ;-)
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Here again, we are in a enviable position. We're too large and decentralized for a band of Franks to knock us off. The loss of DC in fact would probably be a net plus for the rest of the nation. We also possess huge reserves of - everything - to include large numbers of armed men and veterans.
Frankly the only reason this particular war has gone on so long is 1) The Saudi's have money and are in bed with our entire Beltway establishment and bought their way out of it 2) Our Davros hopping elites and the rigged rules based international order won't cut us loose to cut throats- might upset the apple cart ho ho - and 3) Liberal horror at the horrors of war. Which mind you could have been quite short and one sided after about 1030 AM on 9/11/01.
Well, conditions 1 and 2 are going away or gone. People seemingly have stopped caring about #3 (or at least the other 81% of the country that is not Liberal). So this could be interesting...
As far as Xe (doesn't this sound like a feminine hygeine brand or some kind of sex oil?) ..let's not overlook that mercs and Pirates are exactly the answer for this type of war...which is why Rep Ron Paul was the only one to get it right when he proposed the violent answer to 9/11 was a letter of marque and reprisal. It's his one true FP insight. Seriously he exactly nailed it, and such similar measures served us well before, such as in the conquest of the American Continent.
And any objective study of the mentality and oh so pure motives of the participants in most of the Crusades -by which I mean the true believers who believed their were piously doing God's work - would lead one to conclude that COIN is in fact a Crusade in itself. (Really) Those were the ones that failed almost every time BTW. When they had some more realistic motives it worked.
I say sign the letters of marque and reprisal, bring on the mercs and the Pirates (yes I'll be back!!) and we can start with the Golden chain names...work our way thru the JTTF's and watch lists...Yeah Baby!! Always wanted me a Saudi Princess...
Meanwhile ya'll can keep fucking the COIN chicken or chasing Afghans thru the Fulda Gap in MRAPs. When you're tired and we admit we're broke, have President Paul sign the letters..and it won't cost a dime.
@Elf: Just a few, random
@Elf:
Just a few, random thoughts, rather than anything comprehensive (because I can't produce anything comprehensive, in large part because I lack your knowledge base):
1) I've read Luttwak's "Strategy" - I found it "meh."
2) "Xe" as a sexually-oriented lubricant - I'll handle production and distribution if you handle marketing.
3) "mercs and Pirates are exactly the answer for this type of war" - How about universal conscription instead?
4) COIN as a crusade - see one Gentile, Gian, I believe. (Please, please return to this blog.)
5) Pirates - http://www.peterleeson.com/TheInvisibleHook.html
ADTS
To claim that unmanned
To claim that unmanned aviation is the future is a terrible mistake. UAV's just aren't ready for the big time in the full spectrum of operations that they would need to undertake to replace manned aircraft. As several others have noted, until we figure out a way to have these aircraft reason for themselves (which will likely never happen without some sort of revolution in computing or the discovery of a way to transplant working human brains into machines) these weapons will never be useful in a conventional war beyond the first couple of hours, the time it takes for both sides to shoot down eachother's satellites. Without a means of long-range communication, there will be almost no way of operating UAVs usefully. The Navy is working on a system where transmissions would be routed through an orbiting E-2 to pilots aboard an aircraft carrier in-theater, but that's an inelegant way of overcoming that problem given that it requires a vulnerable manned platform to accompany strike groups, which basically means that the advantages that the UAVs have are neutralized. This is to say nothing of the problems involving pilot situational awareness and response time. I and a bunch of other people say this every time someone proclaims that "unmanned aircraft are THE FUTURE", but it's like nobody ever listens. I desperately hope that policymakers know that this technology will not be mature for at least 30 years and will probably never be able to take over key missions like air defense. UAV's have great potential, for strategic and tactical reconnaissance and for precision strike (think cruise missiles that return to base and are reused) but their horizons are limited beyond there.
As for the F-22, yeah, it's way too expensive, we get that. The Air Force has to make up it's numbers somehow; they're probably going to have to procure these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-15SE_Silent_Eagle
Which should be relatively inexpensive and still superior to the late-model Flankers that the Russians are fielding these days, especially in the way of sensors and electronics, most of which can be derived from the ones used on the Raptor. Plus, while the air force will never admit it, two seats (and that extra pair of eyes) makes for a better fighter.
On Rome - lots of doom
On Rome - lots of doom sayers like to go there, but Halpern's point is not wrong in broad sense that Roman military's focus for various reasons became too narrow which led to significant strategic mistakes, most notably allowing Vandals free reign in North Africa - so if you allow Halpern his point that canceling the F-22 demonstrates a short sighted and too narrow strategic focus, then the Roman analogy not entirely out of bounds.
But of course it's hard to say what canceling the F-22 says about our long term strategic posture because it will be 20 years before we know how truly relevant the technology is - by that time Russia and China will have their own 5th generation long range fighters and we may sorrily regret not staying ahead of the R&D curve - or any potential strategic void may be filled by stealthy supersonic and possibly hypersonic drones capable of much higher ceilings than the F-22 and therefore better options against denial of access defenses, making investment in the F-35 short range tactical fighter seem like a wise choice.
Whatever the case, I think it's arrogant to scoff at F-22 alarmists - anytime America is seen to be walking away from cutting edge technology it has pioneered it's important that decisions like that be vigorously second guessed because if we do come to regret the decision it will be way too late to do anything about it. Staying ahead of the defense R&D curve is a vital long term strategy for the US, indeed, an imperative - I doubt if anyone writing on this blog can manage a truly informed opinion on how canceling the F-22 impacts that strategy. After all, Gates also canceled the airborne laser saying it was unworkable and that was just successfully tested - although, granted, there are many questions to be answered regarding the actual significance of that test. Still, is that really technology we wanna walk away from? The reasonable answer is: don't really know.
Nemesis, Where did you get
Nemesis,
Where did you get the idea that I believe there is no room for 'conventional' warfare? I never said any such thing. Moreover, 1) you have totally forgotten the very basis of the Hybrid Warfare critique and the additions made to it. 2) I do not see a reason why the F-22 needs to be continued when so many already exist and have been budgeted to be created since the F-35 is coming online. 3) I agree with Exum that drones and UCAVs are a future we should explore and money can be better spent there. 4) How could one not know Ex is biased towards COIN?
Calling someone ignorant for an argument that they have not put forward simply to make your own opinion is not a good basis for an argument.
Moreover, my main line of attack was to suggest that by demanding the renewal of the F-22 keeps one in a blinkered view of strategy. Hence my reference of Andew Bacevich.
I do no deny a need for air superiority/dominance, I just believe it is achievable and maintainable for the foreseeable future with current/projected stocks, so why spend so much extra money on something we don't need when it could be used elsewhere.
@ADTS, If you can get me a
@ADTS,
If you can get me a marketing budget I'll field test and literally market the f*ck out of Xe lubricant. "Xe - what hired guns use to shag after shootouts". I have some friends that I'm sure will love to volunteer.
Draftees instead of mercs and Pirates: dude WTF would we do with draftees! Build FOB's the size of Rhode Island? Or worse Ft Hood? Might help unemployment.
Now if you want to conscript America's callow, ADD X-box addicted youth the GTO for freaking real then it might not be so unpopular. As pirates that is...
Conscript mercs: hmmm...would take out the fun, and lessen the profit. I think you missed my loot and booty as implied compensation meme. (readers note: on that last point I'm not kidding).
Headed over to your pirate link...
@Elf: 1) I cannot provide
@Elf:
1) I cannot provide you with a marketing budget at present. However, should you wish to recruit participants and begin field trials on your initiative, said initiative would be applauded, and quite possibly enjoyed by said participants.
2) On a slightly more serious note, I actually think less about callow youth than about a friend's suggestion to, if not draft, then recruit graduate students and graduate school graduates. As it stands - and no doubt to the pleasure of others, to return to the original topic of this thread - for one F-22, how many current military officers could become graduate students that the military puts through universities in social sciences and area and language studies? How many current graduate students - often debt-ridden - could the military recruit from the same disciplines?
ADTS
@ Elf. lol. Last time I try
@ Elf.
lol. Last time I try and post from the crackberry.
As for Executive Outcomes (oops out of business) probably pretty hard to have them running around semi-functional countries like Pakistan, or places with high media counts like Afghanistan, but imagine it would be kind of hilarious to bring back the bucaneers. But I'd only agree if they had to wear pewter uniforms.
ADTS - that's an interesting
ADTS - that's an interesting idea, just how many field ready troops can we buy for one F22.
Now I don't think that the F-22 is the bad guy so to speak, and the need for the US to remain viable in the air is important, especially if your living in Australia like I do and we'll need that air power down the track, (more so if your in New Zealand and your government sold your entire air force). But I question the dogged mentality that still stalks the halls of power that dictates that the US must have the latest in high tech, to the detriment of the low tech and needed kit.
A case of the few and expensive vs the many and the cheap. Ask the grunts in the field what they want more of and give them that.
As to pirates - can we crew the vessels with ninjas, and or comely lasses.
For years, I represented the
For years, I represented the workers at the Lockheed plant in Georgia that assembled the F-22. When the plane first rolled out, I was invited for a look-see. The plane was kept in a disguised barn off the runway and a top AF general was showing it off. I have to say if was one of the most beautiful pieces of flying machinery I had ever seen, sort of like a flying F430. I asked the general how much it cost. He said, that one, about $225 million. I said, Wow, that's more than the entire annual budget for Grady Memorial Hospital (the big Atlanta public hospital). He looked at me and replied, You must be the union lawyer.
Buchanan's latest article
Buchanan's latest article .......
Indeed, how do conservatives justify borrowing hundreds of billions yearly from Europe, Japan and the Gulf states — to defend Europe, Japan and the Arab Gulf states? Is it not absurd to borrow hundreds of billion annually from China — to defend Asia from China? Is it not a symptom of senility to borrow from all over the world in order to defend that world?
In their Mount Vernon declaration of principles, conservatives called the Constitution their guiding star. But did not the author of that constitution, James Madison, warn us that wars are the death of republics?
Under Bush II, conservatives, spurning the wisdom of their fathers, let themselves be seduced, neo-conned into enlisting in a Wilsonian crusade that had as its declared utopian goal “ending tyranny in our world.”
...of Piracy. And ending
...of Piracy. And ending the questionably oriented tyranny of the technocratic ninjas.
That's why the answer's no to Ninjas with comely lasses, David. If you've been paying attention the ninja position remains firm on "No Girls Allowed" club rules. However they want to drop DADT...yeah...I'll stick with the support units I guess.
This is the root of the ancient hatred. That and their no fun/GO ONE rule (no alcohol, porn, sex or anything else worth the trip) in theater. Hell I think they'd ban it in CONUS if they could.
(GO ONE: General Order One- see above. Fags).
They f@cking killjoys. Then there's the no looting rule. WTF?! Only KBR can make money? Maybe Goldman Sachs will outfit the first Privateers....
Vote Ron Paul. Guns, Pot and Booze will all be available legally at a drive through window, and if so inclined you can use all three before you get home. Also you can marry and associate with whom ye like....see us Pirates are reasonable.
The F22 is our answer to a
The F22 is our answer to a future fighter with anti-radar capabilities. I avoided "stealth" and "technology", just like I only use "narrative" when I want to poke someone in the eye. We over use words....guess that is what "cliche" is all about. Gets old, but suppose it communicates the message.
I will get to the point.....what are Americans going to manufacture in America?
Electronics...NO. Cars....NO. Ya, ya, I know...there are exceptions. Toyota is more US made than GM. Intel is building wafer fabs in the US to make processors. Did you know that round about 2004 was the first year that the Asian rim shipped more semiconductors than the US? China owns the IBM PC trade names. We are just now learning how to off-shore hip replacements...they call it a medical vacation. The defence industry is slowly off-shoring. M1 tanks are made in Canada, the electrionics are fitted in Lima, Ohio. COTS (consumer of the shelf) started in the 90's, mostly from the discussion of the $100,000 allen wrench and toilet seats. COTS stuff can be manufactured off-shore, there are a few exceptions.
Guess we can work at Lehman Brothers......Forgot, they went bankrupt.
Green Technology......Hear that $450 million of our stimulus dollars is going to keep the Chinese working. Windfarm in TX was outsourced to Chinese and the Chinese thought it best to use Chinese made trubines....go figure. We had a "US made" clause in the stumlus package....we took it out so we would not piss-off the Chinese......irony lives on.
There are a lot of faults with military job shoppers.......so what are we going to make....Sex wax for elf ? Might feel good.....does not last. We can send Elf to China to market the product. Might be like Kentucky Fried Chicken....the Chinese did not get the "finger linkin good" part....translated to "sucking fingers". Maybe that will work in Elf's favor. Problem is, last time I did business in China, Chinese took a dim view of Americans mucking up their gene pool. It got you thrown in jail............So much for free trade. We can chip in an send Elf care packages to his jail cell....I can only image what the pictograph looks like for "grab your ankles".
Kinda like Rome.....rotting from within. I lit off a international dispute in my office one day talking to Korean national. Touched on a discussion about the Japanese. Guy launched. First time I experienced the resentment the Koreans felt towards the Japanese and the female war workers. We finally got around to America. That is when I heard about the Fall of Rome. Comparison came out of his mouth not mine. If America is not careful,,,,a black swan might take roost in our pond.
Can you still be an independent country if your manufacturing is off-shored? Think we are learning that off-shoring debt is not a good thing. How do we pay back the debt if we do not have jobs? That is the devil in the detail of defence and aerospace work, it is hard to completely off-shore and it is a product that Americans make that foreign folks still want to buy.
Funny, I just glimpsed a book on Eisenhower on my desk. "I like Ike"....his narrative lives on.
"He never once takes on the
"He never once takes on the inconvenient reality that the era of manned flight may be reaching its terminus and that remotely piloted aircraft might render manned aircraft irrelevant in the next generation. You would have thought he would have wanted to have at least challenged that idea as he mounted a lusty defense for the F-22, no?"
When did you become the grand expert in aerial technology and air warfare? I'm not a "big-military" fan, but I can still see the nonsense about drones replacing human fighter pilots is anything in the next few decades is...complete nonsense.
Zak, you are forcing me to
Zak, you are forcing me to get semi serious....I'd create millions of American jobs and make the Chinese happy.
How T.F??
It's called Drill Baby Drill. It's called the Marcellus NG basin (underground NG field from Geneva NY to W.VA). That's not the only field.
Zak - Green Energy: Zak the Green movement wants to exterminate all, all, all human industry that involves exploiting the earth - which can be defined as everything to include defecation. See the 1.6 gallon toilet, or the compost toilets they are pushing now. In fact their entire economic agenda leads ineluctably to bankruptcy and welfare. Works great for them - see DC and Goldman Sachs.
So even talking to them if you are involved in any industry where you actually fucking produce any fucking thing (that one's aimed at you DC/Wall Street) you are basically guilty of a crime against the earth. And not only do they want your job, they want to erase all traces that you ever existed...which is their current project in Detroit. It's what they call living a less violent existence.
Oh, the Chinese happy part? Simple. They get paid back in kind - mineral energy of coal and oil. BTW if any Gaia suckers are reading: someone will, will, will get that coal and oil. I just think it should be Americans that take America's natural resources. But I hope you toss and turn tonight knowing it will be done .
For those of you who might feel indignant or outraged by my sacrilege against Gaia: as I am from the Rust Belt I assure you it's nothing compared to how I feel about you. Hate is not too strong a word. The difference being I am from the truly aggrieved party, as opposed to your faux Andreas Baader put on act. Al Aghab.
Let's go back to Sex Wax jokes (BTW - not very practical to use wax as personal lubricant, not that I've tried ;-)
There's a book out there
There's a book out there waiting to be written called "How the F-15 Weapons School Ended Air Combat as We Know it."
Thesis: 1) The instructors at the WS took a good airplane (that was maligned during its development for cost and technological overeach almost exactly like the F-22 has been)
2) They developed some very simple, yet very effective tactics that matched the aircraft
3) They enforced these tactics ruthlessly across the community so that any two, four, or eight F-15 guys anywhere in the world could fight together as a perfect team.
The result: 1) For the last 20 years, nobody will take off if there are F-15s around, and they bury their airplanes in the dirt to preserve them. This eliminated conventional wars, and their tremendous expense, at the cost of 700 F-15s.
2) Nobody values air superiority because, for 20 years, our enemies lost this battle before taking off.
F-15s are tired. We need about 15-20 more F-22s to complete a replacement force.
The idea that drones will replace air-to-air aircraft is as sound as the idea that robots can replace infantrymen in COIN ops.
As one commented " Is the
As one commented " Is the F22 a viable option to replace our air combat fleet? in 2007 they said there would be a 1 for 5 swap (1 F22 for 5 F15/16) that cuts the total number of our fleet to 1/5 it's current strength and raises the loss coefficient of a bird being down for maintenance, etc. This is bad. I don't think anyone crunched the numbers on this swap correctly. it sounds more like a bureaucratic decision than anything base on logic." That was true. Find more world political news
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As mentioned above "Helprin
As mentioned above "Helprin points out that three successive U.S. administrations before Obama have down-sized the F-22 program, which, come to think of it, should have told Helprin something. Instead he cites the late Sen. Kennedy's support for the F-22, ignoring the fact that the F-22 was manufactured in 48 different states, meaning Helprin could have found a quote from 95 other senators if he had wanted to do so." Find more current events news.
As mentioned above "Helprin
As mentioned above "Helprin points out that three successive U.S. administrations before Obama have down-sized the F-22 program, which, come to think of it, should have told Helprin something. Instead he cites the late Sen. Kennedy's support for the F-22, ignoring the fact that the F-22 was manufactured in 48 different states, meaning Helprin could have found a quote from 95 other senators if he had wanted to do so." Find more current events news.
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