The next weapon the US is going to use in the fight on terror is the newly developed Death Star space battle fortress….. :rolleyes:

Maybe they want it as a flagship – it is a cruiser after all. Cruiser implies power and prestige though not as much as aircraft carrier (e.g. Thailand and Spain). Destroyer and frigate do not.

(I don’t have a clue about naval capabilties).

[B]…that may help win the war on terrorism.

I still think this is the stupidest title given to any conflict ever (apart from War On Drugs, War On Obesity and War on Bob Saget :diablo: ).

Only the US would think that they can defeat people’s dissatisfaction through military power. :confused:

Does anyone know what the status of the F-2 is? Last I heard it was being tested but that was several years ago. Has it entered operational service yet, or are the F-1’s continuing to soldier on?

Isn’t that the Spanish Eurofighter that went splat last year?

That perception is by no means universal or widespread. People like Pauline Hanson unfortunately blow matters out of all proportion, when they make bold and unjustified statements about the country been over run in parliament. This is just not true! And her One Nation party, which she no longer leads, suffered a major swing against it in the latest Queensland election. People have grown tired of her and the crap she stands for. I think every nation suffers from some degree of racism, as we do, but it is NOT a widespread feeling in the general Australian community in my opinion.

True – but look at things such as the illegal refuge issue which was a major election issue last time. Most Australians appear to be scared of foreigners. Ask the average person on the street and he or she still fears Asians and now people of middle eastern origin. I had a friend who lived in Alice Springs and he was amazed at how much racism was directed to Aboriginals.

Here in Tasmania where I live, I often get the following response when discussing immigration: “All these bloody immigrants are stealing jobs and destroying Aussie values. They should stay in their own countries.”

And then they click on to the fact that I’m a migrant and they say: “Oh, but you’re alright.”

Many people pretend they’re not racist, but they often reveal their true colours when serious issues such as illegal immigration appears.

This is natural, as most people fear that which is different, but I don’t like the hypocrisy that Australia shrouds itself in by pretending to be accepting of other cultures.

A sad thing about Australia is that many Australian’s still believe the Asians are gonig to overrun the country (you’d be surprised how many Aussies still think that Japan is an enemy). Australians are a pretty racist bunch deep down inside, and have been paranoid about Asia since the country’s inception. It’s also a bit strange but a few Aussies I know have strange delusions that we’re in NATO…

I agree with the force multipliers and advanced technology theory of US dominance.

The annual US military budget is greater than the next 20 top military spenders budgets combined. Hence the USAF have not only some of the most high tech and high performance equipment but they also have it in large numbers and are backed by force multipliers that other countries can only dream of.

US pilots don’t need to be the best – they simply have to be capable of operating within the US military system.

The US has not fought against an equally matched enemy since perhaps the Korean War. I am referring to techological superioiorty. The Vietnamese for example had inferior equipment on average when compared to the US. The Iraqi’s in 1991 had some decent equipment but most of it was crap such as MiG-21/-23/Su-7 etc. Also Iraqi weapons were mainly downgraded export versions and were utilised in a highly rigid and inefficient manner (as witnessed during the Iran-Iraq War).

Furthermore the US numerical superiority ensured that decent weapons such as the Mirage F1 were not effective because they could be swamped by F-15’s supported by AWACS.

Since 1991, the US has only fought in failed states (Somalia, Afghanistan) or third rate military powers such as Iraq and Serbia who’s military capabilities were already being diminished by continued conflict and sanctions.

I am quite certain that if the USA tackled a relatively well equipped, trained and motivated military, then US kill ratios would be downgraded and larger casualties/losses would be sustained (though in the end US might would prevail).