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Tony Stark

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Everything posted by Tony Stark

  1. When he's not stealing the Declaration of Independence, he's raiding museums for Hornet parts.
  2. The longerons broke at the cockpit during impact. The jet will be written off and most likely used for parts.
  3. That'll be part of the narrative. This will be a temporary solution that becomes a permanent one. Winner winner chicken dinner.
  4. F-35's already participated in Green Flag. This July, it'll make its first appearance at Red Flag.
  5. Due to China's expansionist aims, as of an hour ago, the White House has lifted the arms sales ban to Vietnam. "Sales will need to still meet strict requirements, including those related to human rights, but this change will ensure that Vietnam has access to the equipment it needs to defend itself," While Vietnam was an ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Hanoi would certainly like to diversify its sources, and is looking at a number of potential alternative suppliers. But it won't be rushing into the arms of US manufacturers just yet. One reason is that a lot of US technology ma
  6. Yes; on May 7, 1999, 5 JDAMs dropped from a B-2A hit the People's Republic of China embassy in the Belgrade district of New Belgrade, killing three Chinese reporters and injuring 20 other people. The intended target was the Yugoslav Federal Directorate for Supply and Procurement. Former CIA director George Tenet later testified before a Congressional committee that the bombing was the only one in the campaign organized and directed by his agency, and that the CIA had identified the wrong coordinates for a Yugoslav military target on the same street. As to if the strike was deliberate or not
  7. Are you sure? There's a presumptive nominee for one of our two political parties who's rallies are well known for their nationalistic rhetoric. And while it's possible that you are correct that they're plants, that doesn't mean that there aren't regional animosities that go back decades. The 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff was a big deal both in the Philippines and the region. The governments of Australia, India, Vietnam and the UK released statements urging calm and restraint, Russia urged compliance with UNCLOS (they didn't take openly sides, they're only interested in freedom of navigatio
  8. Not everything can (or should be) encapsulated in 140 characters
  9. Strategic Importance The speed and scale of China’s island-building spree has alarmed other countries with interests in the region. China announced in June 2015 that the creation of islands — moving sediment from the seafloor to a reef — would soon be completed. Since then, China has focused its efforts on construction. So far it has constructed port facilities, military buildings and an airstrip on the islands, with recent imagery showing evidence of two more airstrips under construction. The installations bolster China’s foothold in the Spratly Islands, a disputed scattering of reefs and is
  10. This. All of this. To OP - Cancel your order, there are better retailers out there.
  11. Sure. But the proliferation of advanced, mobile SAM systems can make "Day X" as lethal as "Day One." The mission won't go away, but how it's executed (which will be based on factors such as range and threat environment), will dictate how it's carried out.
  12. Key words right there: years past. That scenarios is great if you're talking about a low threat environment (Legacy SAMs, MiG-29s), but up the threat and that training scenario changes. Nothing's getting in there without a lot more effort.
  13. Nope! If US forces are fighting in a high-threat environment, the A-10 isn’t really in the conversation. Commanders can send an A-10 into a high-threat battlefield, but they can only do it once
  14. She's playing out all the emotional buzzwords here because they make for great soundbites. A-10s aren't being used for the majority of missions already and in many cases, they're being pushed away by JTACs/CCTs/TCAPs. Hers is a purely political game to garner support and votes for the upcoming election. She's been very successful with her fundraising this cycle, but the nomination of a certain Presidential candidate from her party (which is looking increasingly likely) could result in a backlash against her since he favors policies and has made numerous remarks that have offended Latinos and
  15. McSallly is the representative from the 2nd district in Arizona. She is a former CO of the 354 FS located at Davis-Monthan, AFB Davis-Monthan AFB is in the 2nd district. Rep McSally is making the same play as McCain; the state stands to lose federal dollars if/when the A-10s leave. Maybe F-16s replace the A-10s at D-M, maybe F-35s, maybe nothing. Additionally - and most importantly - she stands to lose votes during the next election cycle if the A-10s go away, and re-election to the 2nd District isn't a lock for her. In the 2012 campaign for that seat from the 2nd District, it was one of
  16. Except that EOTS is, in fact, based on the Sniper pod, so it is compatible with other existing platforms. Yet you made a declaration about it without knowing enough about it one way or another. Your statement was an emotionally-based complaint that did nothing to further the conversation as it brought nothing new to the table. That was the point that I made previously about critics making statements about something they knew very little about. The jamming of communications signals between ground and air is a threat that already exists. It has for some time, too. Isn't stopping us from usin
  17. Not from the American perspective.
  18. Iraq is a great reminder that a COIN cannot be won via airpower alone and that the over-reliance on air power alone on the part of civilian leadership has prolonged an already disastrous situation.
  19. But you implied that it was, and this was exactly my point earlier - there hasn't been a lot of reliable information about the EOTS to say if it's broken or not, but because we've been so conditioned to think that everything with the F-35 is a charlie-foxtrot, it's become fashionable to assume that everything with the F-35 is somehow fundamentally "wrong" because it either doesn't fit within how things were done 10-20-30 years ago, or we don't know the context of a situation. Therefore when something comes up in conversation, we just assume something's broken and use language such as the follo
  20. That's exactly why the ATF program office first opened in 1981. You don't sit around waiting to design your next aircraft, you start planning it as soon as your brand new ones hit the ramp.
  21. Who ever said that it was "wrong"? No one has ever said that the F-35's IR system was broken. The only whines (and that's what it is, a whine) are coming from Tyler Rogoway and Dave Majumdar - both of whom are hacks that have not only been repeatedly discredited by those with actual operational experience in these matters, but they have even contradicted themselves - that the F-35's EOTS hardware is now dated as it was based on emerging technology that was included in the first generation Sniper pods (and again, Sniper's a really good system). They have speculated about the upgrade capabilit
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