So, the Ukraine Goverment was not elected to office!:eek:

There is a large ethnic Russian minority in the eastern portion of Ukraine. Recent elections have been essentially split between ethnic lines. 30%+ of the polulation identify themselves as Russian.

The global economic situation will definitely impact Ukraine’s ability to modernize its forces. I see them perhaps taking a politically expedient route of combining modernized Russian types with a smaller “top flight” of European or American second hand hardware (Gripen C or F-16’s/F=18’s perhaps?).

This would not be the smart move when it comes to effeciency or maintenance but it would not anger Russia as much as a wholesale change to western kit.

Man, you need to cut back on the medication! Its going to be your undoing…….Accorn efforts are just plain fraud. Even the liberal media can’t deny it. Regardless, spin it anyway you want. They support it and know whats going on………..Let’s take a poor person and give them money to sign somebody up with no supervision. Of course the more names the more money! Then let’s take these same people that are highly supportive of Obama and let them take people of go register. Of course they won’t influence them to vote Obama…….NO THEY WOULDN”T DO THAT! THAT WOULD BE DISHONEST! Just another scam with US Taxpayer Money……..Which, happens to benefit the Democrats and Obama.

So, do we really want to elect leaders to reform Goverment that support such actions! Sounds like Chicago during the Al Capone Era…………………Oh, that’s funny Obama is from Chicago. As a matter of fact he has a house there. Of course I wasn’t making any assumptions. Well, at least no more than the Democrats do with Accorn.:diablo:

With all due respect, Someone from Acorn putting Mickey Mouse on the voters list in Ohio does not mean that Mickey Mouse will be voting in Ohio. There are ID requirements to voting you know. Don’t confuse individual greed and incompetence on the part of an Acord canvasser with voter fraud.

And hearing about election fraud from a Republican is pretty rich…..coming as it is from the party of Katherine Harris, Diebold voting machines and jerrymandering.

The point is that the ESM systems on the F-22/35 are far more sophisticated in notifying the pilots of threats, location of threats, warnings when their attitude is RCS compromising, than the F-117 could hope for(i.e. meaning they can plan routes in real time(or near real time)). That, and the fact that they have a lower RCS than the F-117(as well as greater performance and electronic attack/spoofing), is what is so special about their capabilities. This isn’t to say that they can be reckless or complacent, but they are more flexible than staying on a preplanned route, and then getting out of the area.

Does it have a lower RCS than the Nighthawk?

Can we intelligently speak about the ESM and ECM systems yet of a prototype only recently flying?

Do we know to what level the RCS is going to be degraded for export versions of the F-35?

I would respectfully submit that we cannot at this early stage answer any of these questions accurately. Speculation is fine, just do not pass off speculation as statement of fact.

The FACT is this is in many ways a paper airplane until export spec items leave the production line.

Again I think this thread is getting off course (and I am guilty as charged for helping get it off the rails). I think it is fair to say that the economic downturn will dramatically impact both current American force structure and a number of acquisition programs. McCain to his credit has a record of some positives in this area, and with Obama it remains to be seen.

Either way I really see that only Iraq will be the primary difference between the two. obama wants out soon and McCain wants to set up permanent bases.

Well, I think I know a little about American Politics. Have you ever met Obama, McCain, or Bush………..I HAVE:D

Good for you. I hope you gained insight from your extended discusions with your presidential candidates.

Bush and McCain are nothing a like…………..with all due respect. Just go back to the 2000 Primary Debates. They hardly can stand each other………just the Democratic Spin. Hoping to tie McCain with Bush. Nobody really believes it.;)

Not liking each other personally is beside the point. McCain intends to keep American forces in Iraq indefinitely chasing something called “victory”, whatever that means. That is a Bush policy. I thought it was creating a stable Iraqi government that can defend itself against insurgents and outside aggression. This looks like it is finally taking place as more provinces get handed back to the Iraqis themselves to administer. Iraq has a democratically elected government and Saddam is dead. Obama’s policy of finding reasonable timelines to leave makes a lot of sense to me.

Again I ask my American friends how can you let yourselves be hoodwinked by the same group (the GOP) that has violated your great nation’s principles, soured relations with virtually the entire planet and caused grevious harm to the economic engine of the world?

Do not let yourselves be distracted by Joe the Plumber, robo-calls, Obama’s middle name or gays getting married. This election is about the economy and America’s place in the world. If you feel that McCain is the man to restore these things by all means vote for him. But vote for him for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.

What a retarded statement. I suppose you’d think he’d have had more military experience if he were flipping burgers on an SSBN? :rolleyes:

With all due respect, the way Bush has used and abused the American Military speaks of a man who does not know the true burden of command. Flying a Delta Dagger around the Texas panhandle to keep himself out of the paddies of South-East Asia does not in my opinion qualify as command. Lincoln and FDR, arguably the two greatest American wartime Presidents, never served a day of their lives in uniform.

McCain intends to carry on many of the failed Bush policies. And exactly what does “victory” in Iraq mean anyway?

I think the Republicans deserve credit for one thing more than anything else…that is getting working class families to vote against their better interests time and again by clouding the issues with lies, distortions and fear mongering.

I also am amazed that a vast swath of middle America does not realize out how out of lock step the US is in relation to the rest of the industrialized world.