For those of you who bemoan the demise of the A-10, take heart! http://wtfrly.com/2015/02/18/us-sends-tankbuster-jets-to-europe-over-russia-fears-after-germany-says-a-large-scale-war-could-develop/#.VPaOK1L9L0M If the Ukraine conflict gets bigger, the Euro response gets bigger, too.
Air Force keepin' the A-10 Warthog... US Air Force Shelves Plan to Retire A-10 Warthogs Jan 14, 2016 | The U.S. Air Force is reportedly scrapping what has become an annual attempt to retire the A-10 Thunderbolts from the fiscal 2017 budget request being drawn up. See also: Navy Exploring More Uses for Futuristic Rail Gun Technology Jan 14, 2016 | An aggressive effort to make the U.S. Navy more lethal and efficient will include experiments with new uses for missiles and application of new rail gun technology to smaller weapons systems, the service's director of surface warfare said Tuesday.
As long as the A-10 goes up against adversaries stuck in the technological stone age, it will excel as a weapons delivery system. We still need the expensive fighters and multi-roles to clear the road for the A-10 to operate with impunity in contested airspace. The primary supporters of the A-10 are ground personnel who don't grasp the big picture that the battlespace extends beyond 2 dimensions. When is the last time the infantry was challenged from the air by an adversary? It's been decades. You can thank the fighters and multi-roles for that as they provide an umbrella of uncontested airspace over the ground personnel, allowing the A-10 to operate unchallenged by technologically sophisticated air and ground threats.
Let's hope not since that would be pretty crazy, but I'm glad the A-10 is getting a new lease on life,
They will not join NATO, if there is even serious talk about Ukraine joining NATO, Russian troops would be in Kiev within a week.
The A-10 motto: "Low. Slow. Kill everything below." It is actually is the A-10 Thunderbolt II, not "warthog," as the next generation of ground attack aircraft after the P-47 Thunderbolt.
Then Russia would be picking a fight with NATO. Both Ukraine and Georgia are on track for it now. Its voluntary-they want in. Russia can keep trying the Stalin Re-run but its not effective in the modern era.
Even talking about adding those countries to NATO would force Russia to invade, and NATO would not go into protect would be members.
Invade who? Russia couldn't even hold on to its little Republic states, could it? Russia "invaded" (sort of) parts of Ukraine because Russia MUST HAVE Ukraine's Eastern industry base to remain a major power, rather than just another country. Otherwise, Russia gains nothing by invasions other than economic isolation with the West and another arms race Russia can't really afford.
Ukraine would be taken within weeks, the west is already sactioning Russia further sanctions would not achieve much, not to mention the blow back Russia could create against our interests. Antagonizing Russia and forcing them to invade Ukraine would be a monumental mistake. NATO does not need Ukraine, but it does need to normalize relations with Russia.
Russia has already taken a financial hit with sanctions, and with oil prices plummeting its not going to get any better. Russia has no authority over its former satellite states-and they see benefit in joining NATO. Russia is not its former self.
The USA doesn't really need normalized relations with Russia, though if mutual such could be beneficial. NATO doesn't need the Ukraine, definitely, and the USA should overall question maintaining a military mutual defense pact with many NATO countries - when that has come to mean we pay for their defense and they can let us spend the $$, while making their foreign policy one dependent upon us, even if against our interests. What is the benefit of a NATO pact with Germany, for example? Germany is committed to not fighting. Our pact with Germany should be limited to sending nurses and humanitarian aid if they are attacked as that is all they really offer in return.
This was true during the Vietnam War. There was a German hospital ship that hanged around the Danang aera. Any time you saw the German ship headed off shore you knew Charley would be launching it's rockets. The only white girls (round eyes) you ever saw in Vietnam up in I-Corps were if you ended up in the hospital from being wounded or on China Beach R&R area and those women were either Navy or Army nurses who were commissioned officer that meant they were off limits to enlisted Marines or were German female nurses who only associated with officers. There were also German hospitals up and down the RVN usually some German nurse was in charge. Once in Hoi An, Charley opened up with automatic weapons fire on our base, They were right next to this German hospital which was a restrictive fire zone. We returned fire ignoring the restrictions, Charley didi real quick but this German nurse came down the road screaming in German that we violated the restrictive fire zone. We thought we were all gong to be court martialed. Our CO showed up, we went up the hill and pointed out all of the empty shell casings. Then we went back down the hill, the CO appeared with a case of beer and the German nurse got a big grin on her face and everybody was happy.
Yet they have only increased orders for new generation weapons, and expanding their actions in Syria, expanding their military sales and making strategic moves. Russia is not the Soviet Union you are correct, but they are more then capable of taking Kiev within weeks, well before NATO even if it wanted to engage could mobilize with enough force to lend help. Russia has right to her former lands, because they are more powerful.
They already handed out all their punishments, what more could they do? Create an embargo? If they did that they would have serious energy issues, aside creating massive blow back. All over Ukraine? That would be the dumbest thing people have fought over in a long time.
