Thumpalumpacus
Major
As I noted above: even if the Russian explanation is 100% true, that bespeaks poor training, poor discipline, or both.
That's not something I'd want to admit to my enemy.
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Aparently, fairly large, from the looks of the damage to various sites since February.
It was even suggested at one time, that the "damage" to the Moskva was due to "someone smoking in an area they were not supposed to be".
Perhaps the US Surgeon General's warning on American cigarettes should be changed to:
"Warning, cigarettes are known to destroy ammunition dumps and airfields, sink Cruisers, explode munition factories and may complicate pregnancy"
The biggest CIA sucess ever!This talk of the cigarette/smoking/explosion problem reminded me of the billions of cigarettes that the US tobacco companies sent to the crumbling Soviet states in the early-1990s. Maybe there was some-long range planning going on? Sleeper agent cigarettes? A cigarette centered insurgency? Psycho-cigarette warfare?
"U.S. Tobacco Companies Supplying Cigarettes to Russian Republic"
True. When we see F-16s, Apaches and Reapers in UAF colours we'll know they've arrived.True in many ways, but they still need an airforce with western kit.
True in many ways, but they still need an airforce with western kit. The supply of ex soviet equipment must be close to the bottom of the barrel.
I imagine we'd need to scour Africa's plentiful MiG and T-72 stockpiles for anything moderately operational or repairable. Much will be junk, but for the right price or prodding the African states may part with their better kit.Plus, there's just no more MiGs left and no more MiG supplies."
The F-16 is "fly by wire", so it ended up with a "side stick". The F-22 is set up like that, too.I think the one oddity is the location of the stick. The F-16 has it on the side.
Indeed:Some cars have "steer by wire" but SAAB took that one step further with their 9000 and had a "drive by wire" side stick in the console instead of a steering wheel!
I imagine we'd need to scour Africa's plentiful MiG and T-72 stockpiles for anything moderately operational or repairable. Much will be junk, but for the right price or prodding the African states may part with their better kit.
How difficult is it to convert from MiGs to F-16s? Is it akin to converting from a horsecart to a Tesla?
In addition to training the pilots, there are the problems of maintenance personnel training and establishment of logistics pipelines.
Even if the UAF had enough pilots with enough skill that they could transfer to F-15s (for example) tomorrow, it would not be possible to provide support tomorrow unless we treat the airframes as ~disposable - ie if the airframe becomes unserviceable the pilot draws another from the parking lot. Training/retraining key technical personnel (even skilled people) could take longer than training the pilots.
Establishing a secure (enough) logistics pipeline could also be problematic.