So now we get back to the “bigger vs smaller” carrier argument which has been going on since aircraft first went to sea…..and I might add that the small carrier argument has never won out…….:mad:

An Exocet?! Please!

Is there a breakdown on the actual cost of an F-35A as opposed to an F-15SE?

The Marine Corp is part of the Navy. All Marine aviators go through the same flight training as Naval aviators.

Very few local, city, or state PDs train with duty ammo. Very few Sheriff’s departments train with duty ammo. That’s because they have to buy their ammo based on local city, county, & state budgets. None of those agencies you mentioned are Federal, they don’t get their ammo from DHS.

Training with low powered target ammo teaches officers bad habits and doesn’t adequately prepare them for proper use of duty ammo. POA/POI is different between target and duty ammo so you either have to use estimated offsets or you have to zero your sights for target ammo, and then zero again for duty ammo when you are done training. Most officers don’t do that, they just alter their point-of-aim for the low powered target ammo and reinforce bad habits that are very likely to cause more missed shots when their lives depend on it. Follow up shots are more difficult with the higher powered duty ammo and that will also cause more missed shots because they aren’t properly prepared for it.

The point of my last post was that DHS has many agencies and hundreds of thousands of people working for them. This ammunition purchase is a multi year deal that allows a large agency to lock in best prices for an extended period and ensure there is a steady supply to cover their estimated yearly requirements. The U.S. Coast Guard is now part of DHS, and they used to buy ammo in 5 year contracts. Now they will get their ammo from DHS. The Coast Guard has about 40,000 people between active duty and reserves. The Secret Service is under DHS, as is U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FEMA, TSA, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Many of these rounds will be used for training by FEMA first responders who have to go into areas right after a natural disaster and help secure infrastructure and restore services, and don’t forget the Federal agents who are guarding our nuclear facilities and other critical infrastructure. These people do train with duty ammo, and most of them don’t get enough time at the range. Last year the U.S. Marshals Service reduced the number of rounds issued for training to 1000 per year per Marshal. That’s a bare minimum to keep a person proficient for a whole year. The smart ones usually spend a lot of their own money each year on training ammo. (And in their case, by training ammo I mean the expensive high-powered hollow points that they carry on duty.)

TO SUM IT UP:
Local, City, State PDs & Sheriff’s Departments generally DON’T train with duty ammo. (BAD Training, but saves money.)

Federal Agencies generally DO train with duty ammo. (GOOD Training, but expensive.)

Police & Sheriffs have to live within their budgets or else they will have to lay off officers and people will get fired.

The Federal Government doesn’t.

The military kinda does this…..when I was in the Army (M-1 tank crewman. 19k10 mos) when we went to gunnery we fired blue tipped training rounds out of the main gun. In late 90 while deployed for Desert Shield we fired our first “warshots”, black tippped rounds. There was a VERY noticable increase in the violence of the recoil with those things!

It would mostly depend on the pilots.

I would imagine that the SKs really wouldnt need too much help defeating NK. It would be a horrible mess, regardless, but I have no doubts about the outcome.