SAMs and air defense networks have also gone a long way from 1960s era S-125 and a decrepit, barely functional IAD network. 😉

That decrepit equipment (particularly radar systems) worked in their favor in this case. Regardless of equipment the SAM operators were good enough to ensure a relatively high percentage of their equipment remained intact compared to say the Iraqi Army in 1991. This probably is a lot of reason behind SEAD-related developments like AARGM and MALD.

I’ve got to wonder how many spare radar antennas they Serbians had lying around. Was it normal spares allocation or were some liberties taken at supply depots? A lot of those things must have been shredded.

By continuing this violence all the current Israeli policies are doing are creating more recruits for the extremists Islamists…without hope what other alternative do they have if they can’t trade, export or import or have normal businesses and instead depend on UN food hand outs?

During this blockade even the daily calorific intake of the Palestinians was calculated to make sure they got just enough food to live…..do you not see any irony here with this blockaded ghetto a few kilometres across?

So yes, I agree both are as bad as another and we are in the 21st Century and we’re not in 1000 BC! Cooler heads and a rational approach is the only way to stop this futile and perpetual hatred that cause only suffering, usually to the ordinary man or woman in the street, while not affecting politicians (you know what I think of most politicians) who have their own personal self-promoting and self-enriching agenda.

It’s ok if you disagree with me but that is what democracy is about! (and that’s what religious nutjobs like ISIS cannot stomach).

I would say though that my views are in line with majority opinion here in Europe and on the afternoon Ed Milliband condemned the Israeli actions in Gaza as unacceptable even the conservative government issued a statement along the same lines…there is strong public opinion against this (just as there was against yet another unnecessary intervention, last time it was in Syria)….so feel free to call all of us ludicrous. Cameron is canny enough to catch the public mood and there is strong pressure within the government to take a stronger line.

Remember America is at its best while upholding the constitution and achieving higher and noble aims, like assisting people who are in trouble and the world is thankful for this genuine service to mankind.

Rogue agencies of the US government who break the law in pursuit of illegal activities and contrary to the constitution and national interest (and not what deem or they think that it is) are not above the law.

That is why Jonathan Pollard who was caught spying for Israel and handing over secrets is still in an American jail for espionage and treason and the national interest of the US and Israel, while it at times might coincide, is not identical and just as Obama did not wish to carry out the Saudi bidding to attack Syria (greatly aided by the vote in the UK parliament), he also refused to attack Iran at the bidding of Netanyahu (even though many senior Mossad officers came out publically against it).

Don’t forget the illegal sale of arms (including hawk and Tow missiles to Iran (contrary to US law) in 1985 mediated by Israel and illegally carried out by the Reagan administration (Reagan just plain lied to Congress) and by the CIA and other agencies. The President lied then and the government lied then just at they did about WMDs (Pres Bush admitted none were found….all those photos in the UN and the dodgy dossier were all a pack of lies). US agents selling illegal drugs and using the proceeds to pay Israel to illegally sell arms to Iran….you couldn’t make it up! 😉

To top it off the worst thing the CIA did (at the behest of Reagan) was to ask Iran (William Casey & George Herbert Bush, ex CIA director) for a delay in the release of the American hostages held by Iran so their early release would not boost President Carter re-election chances (who was unlucky when the rescue helicopters ran into mechanical trouble….this FUBARs led to creation of 160 S.O.A.R.). 20 minutes after Reagan completed his inaugural address as President the Iranians announced the hostages were released…perfect timing huh? In return for this the Iranians got Hawk and Tow missiles (illegally and against US law).

Iranian President Bani Sadr, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, US Naval intelligence officer and National Security Council member Gary Sick and Reagan/Bush campaign and White House staffer Barbara Honegger all stand by these allegations.

That it’s why Madrat it’s important not too get all your news just from one source, like American TV, but also try other sources and due to the internet it’s a lot harder for agencies to carry out actions against the law.

I trust we are all fighting for the same thing: democracy and freedom and government of the people, by the people and for the people. We believe in the rule of law and the constitution and no one is above the law (not even agencies who take it upon themselves to decide what is right even if it’s against the law and national interest. That only leads only to trouble: absolute power leads to absolute corruption and often to criminal acts such as the mysterious deaths of people involved in the Iran Contra affair and the deliberate delay in the release of American citizens held as hostages. The truth will out in the end and no one is above the law.

And so is Israel supposed to sit around and ignore the rockets and mortars being fired into their territory? Hamas isn’t going to stop just because they don’t get the reaction they want from Israel. Maybe food shortages would be a lesser problem if it wasn’t necessary to constantly check for hidden weapons somebody is trying to smuggle in. Israel is far from perfect in their dealings with the Palestinians, but Hamas has proven they aren’t interested in peace. If you’re going to condemn Israel condemn the scum firing rockets daily too.

I’m not certain what point you are making by bringing up Iran-Contra. Similar events have, will, and will always occur throughout history, even if we don’t know of it. Iran wasn’t “owed” anything by the US for the release of the hostages from Tehran. Those arms sales didn’t start until Reagan’s second term, long after the Tehran hostages were released. It was hostages from Lebanon that were a bargaining chip in Iran-Contra.

The earlier plans to rescue the hostages were very risky but Carter’s cuts to the military during his presidency certainly didn’t help prospects any. If you’re trying to paint that incompetent in a positive light, good luck.

Obama may be nominally Christian but that hardly matters when the only thing he seems to be interested in worshiping is himself. There are few politicians these days who deserve respect and he certainly isn’t one of them.

Always loved the original Arrow but feel in love with it again when I first heard of the Arrow 2 proposal, am In not correct that they have thought about off the shelf technology for the systems and weapons and I just wonder what would happen if Bristol and Avro actually teamed up to produce the Arrow and Tsr2 together rather than go it alone projects could have saved both IMHO bot are far superior aircraft than the white Elephant of an F-35 the only view that I like of it is as it’s flying away it looks far better than it does side on or from the front, IMHO they have with the F-35 tried to run like Bolt before they can walk like a baby steps.
The canopy is another obvious pimple in IMO as I would have thought you need a canopy akin to the F-16 not a barn door! As for the design for vertical flight the Russians had a similar system on the Yak 141 and they abandoned it and you have to ask why ? but I just came across this and although in Russian language you can definitely see the resemblance so is the video title true ?

So who in Canada actually has the capacity to manufacture a modern CF-105 Arrow? Or integrate all of the tech 2014 has to offer into an airframe designed in the late 1950s? “Off-the-shelf” doesn’t mean there won’t be any work involved to integrate such systems. It was always a fantasy, pure and simple. It was about as likely as my own fantasy of the Navy flying these in the near future:

Or as likely as my other fantasy of finding some excuse to build the F-23.

As for view from the canopy, rearward visibility is a bit limited compared to the previous generation of American fighters but EODAS makes up for that. It’s also still a far better than the view you get from the canopy of the CF-105, TSR.2, or so many other aircraft of that generation.

The Yak-141 used two lift engines versus the shaft-driven lift fan but the primary reason it never went anywhere was a lack of funding due to the poor Russian economy. Attempts at finding foreign buyers failed and like numerous other Russian projects at the end of the Cold War it was eventually killed-off.

IIRC a lot of the plans for new stealth materials for the ATF program were cut along with other features once planned for the aircraft. As a result it requires more LO maintenance than it could have otherwise, though it is supposedly still quite an improvement over the F-117A. With the F-35 this has remained a key focus and some of the results (stealth fiber mat) are already known.

Horrible readiness rates of the Iraqi Abrams? Well they can either learn how to operate a modern tank or stick with old T-72Ms where you have to manually input the range and estimate lead or T-55s which probably don’t even have a LRF. I would hope that the far greater chance of surviving a hit in an Abrams would be enough to convince an Iraqi tanker to put up with the maintenance requirements of the Abrams versus their old T-55s.

Providing they can avoid slipping back into a civil war they’ll probably be able to buy a dieseled Abrams in a few years.

I’m something of a fanboy of Sikorsky’s X2 configuration. Some similar setups have been tested in the past (S-69) but in most cases they weren’t very practical due to fuel consumption, extra weight, complexity, etc.

Sikorsky’s S-66 design for the AAFSS program featured a tail rotor that would rotate 90° to serve as a pusher propeller as speed increased. It was down-selected but ultimately lost out to the Lockheed design which became the AH-56. Much of the S-66 design was reused in their more conventional S-67 Blackhawk, which was probably the closest Western equivalent to the Russian Mi-24 Hind out there.

So it’s all internal but it can be used for more than just the “defensive” ECM your typical internal ESM suites is built for? Are there plans for “cooperative” EW?