Wow…. As a huge fan of what the Air National Guard is, this is truly depressing. True, during the post-Cold War draw down, the U.S. military was cut by roughly 1/3 it’s total strength. The vast majority of these cuts affected standing forces, the idea being to reduce the costs associated with maintaining a large regular force yet maintaining a larger portion of your strength in the cheaper to operate National Guard/Reserves. I must say, I was suprised and excited when Rumsfeld was named the SecDef by Bush. I thought what a prudent move to nominate someone with so much experience in the military and the military establishment. However, a growing number of his iniatives since being named do not impress me in the least, this one likely the most. I’m not sure what to think of him anymore honestly. He, like most everyone else on the planet, realizes the military is stretched very thin right now. More numbers are needed if this level of acitivity is going to continue for any real length of time, and it appears that it will. Yet, any talk of actually increasing personnel or equipment orders seems to fall on deaf ears with him. I, for one, am often confused by what his thinking on many of these matters is…?

Yes, all in all, probably too much helicopter for the mission it is now being asked to do. In the days when the biggest concern was WarPac tank armies flooding across the German border, a stealth scout chopper was a very legit idea. Now, I don’t know what vast force of thousands of tanks it could even hope to meet in open combat. Like Arthur said above, watch for the flurry of off-the-shelf proposals to take up the armed scout job. The need is still there, so something will be puchased to perform it. I think the Kiowas have outgrown their design limitations for the job, so it would seem a new type will be sought. Agusta’s A-109 looks ideal-larger and more powerful, already tested and fielded in this role, and a platform which can accept some of the advanced equipment tested with the Comanche. Partnered with a U.S. firm like Bell (traditionally) or even Sikorsky to ease the cancellation impact, it looks very attractive. Same goes with the V-22, ditch it and move on. The US-101 (with LockMart and Bell) or the S-92, again to make up for the -66 loss, should be seriously considered.

Well, are we saying the “East” meaning Russia and China, or just Russia these days??? Russia has traditionally focussed on field reliability and ease of manufacture, so, they have generally been cruder built and finished machines. This, honestly, still seems to be the case even with the latest Mig-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 families. Ever hear the stories of -29s built with custom patterns? Often, no two aircraft will have the same exact build details-fasteners out of line or seems slightly out of place etc. These aren’t items which often dog Western types. Russian sourced avionics are generally more limited and less reliable than their Western counterparts. I’m curious to know the exact reasons why India is apparently dropping the -29 in favor of the Mirage 2000 as seems to be indicated. Generally poor overall performance would seem to be the only reason why. Also, the Eastern European nations seem to be surely moving away from the Russina types they have so much experience with in favor of more expensive, but mroe capable, Western aircraft. Now, China on the other hand, it’s hard for me to be so sure. Up until the J-10 you could say they were definitely behind the curve in almost every way. But, this is a huge leap for them which may signal a real philosophy change for them in terms of build quality and overall capability. Easily, the J-10 is as big a jump for them as the F-22 is for the U.S….

I know that there was use of “kinetic” weapons in the Irag War-i.e., a basically inert guided bomb casing filled with concrete or ballast of some sort which was used against aircraft among other things. The idea being to render the plane useless without a great amount of collateral damage to the surroundings. Due to the lack of a crater here, it would appear that something similar to this was used here. As for the scorch marks, well, I’m not sure what happens when a 500lb. dead weight falls out of the sky from several thousand feets and lands in the middle of an airplane..so? And yes, it definitely appears to be the remains of a Mig-29…

I recently read an article in another defense magazine stating that the U.S. Army has determined that it has probably gone too far in recent years with unmanned battlefield concepts and is planning to re-emphasize the manned platform-with the Commanche being central to that. The jist of the article was that the Army basically wasn’t going to budge any further on the Commanche and other manned projects in the works. As for the F-22, how can it be cancelled??? A decade and billions of dollars have already been invested in it as a (partial?) replacement for the F-15. Without it, where does the Air Force’s next super air-superiority aircraft come from? It would simply take too long to do much in the way of relaunching the competition for an Eagle replacement and what savings could really be obtained by spending billions more and another decade trying to reinvent the Raptor into an “economy” version-which by the time it entered service in 15 more years would cost as much, if not more, than the all out version currently flying. U-CAVs are not advanced nor trusted enough to be any type of backbone air-defense system, so that’s not a factor within the next ten years or so. Ahhh, and the Osprey. Where do we begin with that one…??? The same reason I stated above is what’s keeping it alive-the promise of a great return from such advanced technology. But, it has now been flying in test form for 17 years and it is still a development and maintenance nightmare. There are 34-year old CH-46s being tasked with frontline duty which are going to be asked to soldier on with spit and bailing wire for up to ten more years before being replaced:mad: While it is a wonderful concept and it will surely become reliable and affordable at some point, that time doesn’t appear to be reasonably soon. IMHO, an aircraft like the Merlin or even the S-92 would be a more than adequate replacement for the Sea Knight in much more resonable time and much cheaper. Regardless, either would provide a sizable increase in performance over the current CH-46 and do it quickly and economically. Oh, but, I better quit before I get to agitated. Thanks for letting me vent again..:(

Great Britain….

Hello, guys, I’m new to this forum but a long time reader of “AFM”. As I perused the posts, I couldn’t help but notice this one being an American and seeing the discussion of a “Great Britain” and it’s American ties. Great Britain has led the world from a monarchial, chaotic past to the roots of today’s democratic based worldwide society. America did embellish upon these principles, but is was a English background in public representation that initiated that whole affair for us colonials, if you will remember;) . For that, England is “great.” As for it’s ties to American foreign policy and recent events, well… I don’t see nor do I assume that the U.K. will be our “bitch”. Most Americans don’t either. We appreciate the support and generally mutual goals that our countries have shared in recent history. I’m not a fan of Labour, but Blair has my utmost respect. As for power projection, there is no doubt that the U.K. has lost some of it’s teeth. This is no insult to Britons, it’s a statement of political and military fact. Recent initiatives (surprisingly by a Labour government) are attempting it seems to reverse that. The return of the “blue water” carrier. The AWACS and equivalent J-STARS types. The new MRTT deal. These are no small things for a country the size of Great Britain. Is the U.K. the pre-eminent global force to be heard and dealt with in all regions? Unfortunately, no. Is the U.K. a non-insignifigant force for many near-term conflicts and will it continue to be? Yes. Could the U.K. mount another Falklands-type operation unilaterally? Yes, but just. However, the U.S. was faced with a similar situation on the eve of the Iraqi invasion-our military being roughly 1/3 smaller than 1991. We are, thankfully, dealing with many of those deficiencies and funding shortfalls now, as it appears G.B. is doing to some degree. But, hey, I don’t mean to ramble:p . P.S.-Is it just me, our are there relatively few American posters on this board…???