TonyDo we know if there is a credible SAM threat from ISIS by the way?
Not sure what weapons ISIS captured when they overran Mosul 2 weeks ago but I believe this includes Stingers and ZU-23-2 which will be dangerous when C-17 and C-130 fly low for humanitarian drops.
….by the way COBRA agreed this morning UK to assist the US with humanitarian aid (no military strikes, just help in refuelling and surveillance).
Anyone have details of ISIS using SA-8 in Syria and what SAMs they “got” from Libyan stocks?
Tony.
TonyISIL is Sunni.
Obama was raised in a Sunni home when he was a boy in Indonesia.
Obama will do nothing to stop ISIL.
Unbelievable what intelligent people believe! ;-)…..as Mrmalaya said “putting djcross on a par with paralay… reliable aviation factoids but shonky politics“
Obama is a Christian (actually atheist but can’t admit that just like any politician that wants to get elected in fundamentalist America!) ….Just to confirm there are no talking snakes who spoke to Adam & Eve! The Earth is not 6,000 years old, Noah, Adam etc. did not live to almost 1,000 years old! The story of Noah and the flood in the Book of Genesis is almost word for word the same as the Epic of Gilgamesh (clay tablets written in ancient Sumerian available for the world to see in the British Museum) written hundreds of years earlier, ironically in the area where Obama has authorised strikes!
And to the tea party loons who say Obama is black…he is actually half white! What part do you like djcross? You do know he was raised by his white grandmother….did he not love his white mother and white grandparents?
He was reluctant to get drawn into situations where American troops would die when one of his election pledges was to bring American troops back home…..still it’s good he has authorised air strikes to help the Yazidis, an ancient people who have lived on the plains of Ninevah for thousands of years.
…any strike against ISIS is great….to think we would have allied to this bunch of murderous thugs had not the last minute vote in Parliament not gone against “no principle” Cameron and “if the baseball cap fits” Hague and stopped them in their tracks (no amount of gallivanting with Angelina Jolie can make us forget the nonsense you had to say to justify arming the Syrian rebels, including ISIS).
To prevent any problems using bases in Sunni countries, as Fedaykin says, Rockwell B1-Bs with the sniper pods can drop precision munitions as can carrier based Shornets….let America do what is meant to do…instead of regime change when it suits, use the most powerful armed forces in the world to be a shining beacon for decent human values and to save lives and prevent the murder of a whole people….the Americans can win a lot of brownie points for this at little cost and recoup a little lost PR by saving the ancient minorities in Iraq (including hundreds of thousands of ancient Christians)…..let’s hope it’s soon.
TonyIt’s ok to have an opinion different from the jury and at the same time respect the verdict of the Court because thankfully you have to provide sufficient evidence in order to convict someone.
The reason why Coulson’s boss and former lover got off is that Newscorp deleted millions of emails….nothing to look at …no trail!
So while there was circumstantial evidence there was not direct evidence linking Brooks.
One can think that Brooks as the boss knew about payments (because as the boss she had to sanction them and the boss knows where company money goes) and it also seems unbelievable that her former lover, close friend and underling did not tell her what was going on in the company she was running and closely supervising….but in the end we have to respect the court verdict because it did not find sufficient evidence to convict her and perhaps unlucky for her subordinate that he was found guilty.
On a separate matter, newspapers have an important role in uncovering wrong doing within the law in the public interest (as Woodwood and Bernstein did in uncovering the Watergate cover up) and any steps to have French style protection for “celebrities” over here will hopefully be avoided here.
It can’t be right that some people use the media when it suits them and then, having the money, can place expensive gagging orders to stop the world finding out when they’ve done something wrong (remember Robert Maxwell stole £400m from the Mirror pension fund and he would sue at a drop of a hat any one who questioned him courtesy of Sue, Grabitt and Runne ; -))
TonyAre you sure these figures you are quoting are not lifetime support costs and including the setting up of infrastructure?
Purchases through the FMS route are transparent (few per cent cost) compared to arms deals elsewhere and less scope for bribes…while purchases elsewhere are wide open to kick backs and commissions (like the recent L-39 purchase for example).
Lifetime cost costs of e.g. Su-35 aircraft would be higher (twin-engine costs compared to single engine and lower life of engines)….not saying Su-35 not a good choice but would not be popular with the Saudis ;- )
The Yak-130 is good (the M-346 analogue serves with IDF)…it’s the restriction on weapons on the F-16s that is would hinder their use to their full potential…these restrictions would perhaps have been eased once Iraq purchased BWR missiles from Russia or China.
Are you sure that T-90s is suitable for the hot deserts of Iraq? (not saying Abrams is the solution).
Anyway, the whole thing may be moot as profits from oil production may not be all available to the central Government after a number oil fields and refineries taken over by ISIS and the Kurds and no longer under central control.
TonyDaesh has popular support in the Sunni Arab heartland of Iraq. It will be very difficult if not impossible to reinforce “central” government control over those areas… so the only thing to do is try and weaken and contain them… starve them out, build buffer zones and kill them if they try to attack… its a VERY long game.
Sheytanelkebir,
Just to be clear Daesh are the Saudi-financed Wahabhi fundamentalists known in the West as Al Qaeda, or its splinter groups like ISIS.
As you say this sectarian conflict has given rise to a de facto partition of Iraq into Sunni ISIS controlled parts of Iraq (& Syria) and Shia southern Iraq.
While the Kurds, who were persecuted under Saddam, have taken the opportunity to consolidate their own state with the recent capture of Kirkuk (will be interesting to see what headway they can make into Kurdish parts of Turkey 😉 ….what a payback).
You mentioned elsewhere that no Iraqi Bell 407s were captured (or rather that’s what it says on the MoD website)….how serious are the reports that an American UH-60 Blackhawk, several Kiowa helicopters and cargo planes stationed at Mosul Airport were captured…that’s why I asked if there were any pilots capable of flying them from amongst the locals who were once in Saddam’s forces?
TonyIAF Su-30 MKI being refuelled mid-air by an Adl’a C-135
What a sleek machine…like a shark ;- )
TonyHAL should step aside and let someone else assemble this. It’s low enough on the skill chain for Airbus Military to hand hold a private sector newbie in this field. I think HAL is trying to monopolize all mil aero assembly work and thereby kill any chance of an Indian peer competitor arising. Killing the baby in the womb, so to speak.
This is the way forward for India….. to develop its private sector in aerospace and train hundreds of engineers and where if you don’t perform you are out….in a public company there isn’t quite the same incentive to expedite work or innovate and less likelihood of losing your job over poor performance (i.e. effectively job for life)….I realise a bit of a general statement and state firms do have a role in development….but private companies tend to be more efficient….of course already rich billionaires will become richer (instead of commissions to foreign companies) but they are the only ones with resources to open up and develop new companies.
The SAAB Gripen model is a good one where not every single component is manufactured in Sweden, but the important thing is the in-house know-how and company culture which can create cutting-edge technologies assembled and put together from various components from sources around the world….they would have been a good development co-partner for India as they will be for Brazil….Dassault are equally good but they will not easily hand over, just like any other commercial company and easily release knowledge that took them decades and billions for them to develop….in the end there is no short cut but to develop in-house teams that this time maintain the knowledge and skills that were previously gained and sadly lost when earlier projects were abandoned in the sixties and seventies and teams split up…question is: is it better to have several private companies (either in partnership or wholly owned) to help develop the aerospace industry, or will the state owned HAL keep its stranglehold and monopoly on aircraft manufacturing?
Tonywell the US withdrew its training mission in Balad today.
The planes have been pre-paid for by Iraq (all 36)… I wonder if the future “sumer & akkad” state (which paid for them) will receive them… or not? who knows… and what flag will they stick on them if they do? questions questions…
Hi Shetanelkebir
Interesting developments in what was the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian kingdoms in Mesopotamia, the “cradle of civilisation” and site of the biblical garden of Eden and birth place of Abraham…(and interestingly the story of the flood and Noah’s Ark in the book of Genesis, right down to the bird bring back a sprig in its beak to indicate land nearby, is based almost word for word on the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was actually written hundred of years earlier in ancient Cuneiform script, miraculously save from crumbling to dust because many of the clay tablets it was written were baked hard in a fire in the library and available to see today in the British Museum…interesting to see the development of all (man-made) religions! ;-))
Is the current training regime for the F-61 based purely on sectarian lines? Were previous pilots in the old Air Force banned from applying to the new Air Force and although a long shot as it would be more than 20 years since they flew, what numbers are of old pilots would be available today?
I understand that in the areas recently lost there are at least 7,000 trained officers and 100,000 highly trained former members of the armed forces who were forbidden to enter the new armed forces due to their Baathist links and to what extent are they involved in recent events in Nineveh province?
TonyI bet no one has seen this.
Weird but definitely Mayall!
Never seen this…when did Rik Mayall do this? ….looks around the time of the New Statesman (also had great writers).
…weird but nostalgic trip down memory lane with the ABBA tunes…can’t believe it was more than 30 years ago
TonySad news to go so young….3 minutes of gold…it’s got the lot.
Thanks bridesmaid…like the beard….gives me something to hang on to!
Nursie…am I pleased to see you or have I just put a canoe in my pocket!
She’s got the tongue of an electric eel and she likes the taste of a man’s tonsils 😉
TonyHi Sheytanelkebir
Do you have any information on what helicopters were seized by ISIS/al Qaeda in Ninevah province as stated by the speaker of parliament?
(I still remember singing the old song in a school play Jonah: “Ninevah City was a city of sin…” ;-))
TonyI agree…though one could argue some recent Swedish scare stories about a resurgent Russia as the reason to have an indigenous sub-building capability is more to do with protecting local employment in a firm that goes back to the 1800s than actual strategic national interests….in the end it’s usually always political (getting local votes) and money than technical reasons.
The motives of the German parent company can be questioned if as suggested they were not happy about Kockums’ proposals for a successor to the A-26 on the grounds of lack of resources (in the Swedish subsidiary) and potential costs over runs….the Germans could say their design is just better.
On the other hand, re hindering the export chances of Kockums and trying to stop them being in competition with HDW, the Germans could contend their proposed U-216 is just a much better design for the proposed Australian approx. $34 billion (US dollars) 12 sub deal to replace the 6 Collins class subs (based on Kockums’ A-19) which have been plagued by problems since they were built resulting in just 1 sub being available at times and suggested real annual running costs almost double that of America’s Los Angeles and Virginia class nuclear subs.
TonySwerve, the concept of maintaining core defence competencies in a country can be in direct conflict with a private company’s principle reason to exist (maximise shareholders’ profits).
In a free market ThyssenKrupp are entirely within their rights to buy a company just to shut it down if it is, or can be, a direct competitor to existing group companies….some people contend the German parent company only bought Kockums to stop it exporting in competition with HDW…..more recently it stopped Kockums bidding in Singapore for new subs and tried to stop it bidding in Australia (where Kockums designed and built 6 Collins-class submarines!) and Kockums were left out of the original bidding.
Similarly, some corporations and vested interests can lobby or pressurise governments to create regulations to protect their interests and put their competitors at a disadvantage because their motives are always narrow and not always in the national interest. In America, where the lobby system is in full swing, a casino billionaire can spend $150 million on the last presidential election campaign to “buy” a president (he did this by giving to non-profit organisations that don’t need to report their donations) or the Koch brothers can spend $400m in the last presidential election to get tax breaks for millionaires! (it’s never enough!)
“FMV stated that the primary purpose of the “Malmo operation” (note it was under armed escort! ….can’t imagine the MoD raiding Bae Systems with gun-toting guards ;-)) was to ensure that the state regained control of all advanced defense technologies attached to the A26 program so that it does not leave the country.”
Perhaps the Swedes didn’t do their homework or the Germans weren’t quite ready to hand over what the raid was set up to obtain:
“….it now appears that FMV officials left empty-handed, failing to locate or secure the classified defense documents and naval technologies relating to the A26, which sparked the raid.”
The thing is even if Saab take over all and buy the physical sites of the sub building subsidiary the intellectual property rights can be held by the parent company or other group company and not necessarily held in the Kockums subsidiary….perhaps ThyssenKrupp are looking to negotiate for a pay-off? (The new build submarine and refit contract is worth $4.5 billion).
TonyHave been following hamburger for years and he does add a lot of value on the humor side of things on this forum..Remember once being sucked into a debate with him over Hamburgers and whether In n Out was better than Mcdonalds 🙂
I agree….a bit of harmless humour by Mr Pizza never malicious….of course sometimes hit or miss….but still he/she’s trying to make us laugh! ; -)
Can’t compare with a troll like h177/star49/JSR….Fedaykin top marks for stamina : -))….Fedaykin I don’t believe JSR is Russian by the way….one of the former central Asian soviet republics maybe or from his posts maybe son of a Afghan member of the former communist government who had to flee when the Taliban came to power in the nineties….FWIW
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