This is an important essay about our military offensiveness. I suppose it strikes home to me especially because it reminds me of my uncle Ken who was a major pilot in WWII, and I know he would agree with everything Bill says here. All Ken wanted to do when he was a boy was to fly, he was born just as planes were being invented. When WWII started, Ken was that rare thing at the time - an airline pilot! Weren't many airlines then. When WWII broke out he immediately volunteered for the Army air force and became a trainer of one of the first bomber squads. He knew how to fly and, as an engineer, he knew how to fix them. Ken went to Europe with the squadron he trained and stayed there throughout the war leading squadrons in bombing runs all over Europe and Africa. When the war was over the Army wanted him to stay ( he was now a full col. and had been for a while) and they wanted to make him a general. Ken said "no thanks" and went home to his wife and three kids. After that he really didn't want to get on planes any more. I thought it was because he was so used to being pilot he didn't fully trust anyone else to do it, but I think it was more than that. He had fulfilled his dream of flying and had found the terror and destruction it could bring and it brought back memories he'd rather not recall. I gave him a copy of "Catch22" as a stocking gift one xmas, and then worried that he might not like it (Ken was a staunch republican), but it turned out to be one of his favorite books.
Thank you Bill for reprinting this essay. We really do need to be reminded of our arrogance!
Ranney, maybe your Uncle Ken had the same feelings as the American Historian Howard Zinn:
Wiki: "Eager to fight fascism, 23-year-old Zinn joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and became an officer. He was assigned as a bombardier in the 490th Bombardment Group,[13] bombing targets in Berlin, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.[14] As bombardier, Zinn dropped napalm bombs in April 1945 on Royan, a seaside resort in western France.[15] The anti-war stance Zinn developed later was informed, in part, by his experiences.[16]
Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, and effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by G.I.s during wartime.[19] Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan, Tokyo, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Hanoi during the War in Vietnam, and Baghdad during the war in Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in Afghanistan during the war there. In his pamphlet, Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence[20] written in 1995, he laid out the case against targeting civilians with aerial bombing."
Six years later, he wrote:
"Recall that in the midst of the Gulf War, the U.S. military bombed an air raid shelter, killing 400 to 500 men, women, and children who were huddled to escape bombs. The claim was that it was a military target, housing a communications center, but reporters going through the ruins immediately afterward said there was no sign of anything like that. I suggest that the history of bombing—and no one has bombed more than this nation—is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like "accident", "military target", and "collateral damage".[21]
Thank you Dennis, I think you are right. Certainly the history of US bombing in WWII was horriffic and if anything, it has gotten worse over the years. I think the bombing of the Iraq air raid shelter was a terrible thing showing how little the US knew about Iraq and how little we cared. I note it doesn't get mentioned any more. Author Kurt Vonnegut memorialized the Dresden disaster, so more people know about that - also Dresden was full of white people and Iraq is full of brown people who don't count for as much in our media. I'm happy to say that my uncle was not selected to lead the bombing run on Dresden though his name was on the short list. He was very happy not to be picked for that, but his close friend was.
Ranney, as I posted on a previous Lt. Cols blog.....The U.S. and its allies have dropped more than (326,000) bombs and missiles on people in other countries since 2001, including over (152,000) in Iraq and Syria. That’s an average of (46) bombs and missiles per day, day in day out, year in year out, for nearly 20 years. In 2019, the last year for which we have fairly complete records, the average was (42) bombs and missiles per day.
The thing that struck me the most about Your article, Bill, was the statement regarding “high ground”: “the Air Force’s most basic precept, that MASTERY OF THE AIR MEANS MASTERY OF THE GROUND.” [Emphasis added.]
Correct me if i am wrong, but History tells us that ~ with the exception of the early days of Vietnam when Hanoi still had its own Air Force, such as it was ~ in every War that America has waged since the end of World War II, the US has enjoyed virtually total and complete domination and control of “the Air” by virtue of its unchallenged tactical [from A-10s to the latest jet fighters] and strategic [from B-29s to B-52s to B-1s, etc] superiority in support of ground operations.
And yet, the United States has lost every War that it has fought everywhere in all of those 78 years.
So the Air Force’s basic precept about “mastery of the Air” is complete and total Bullshit. At least when it comes to that being the secret to winning a [or, in the case of the US, any] War on the Ground.
But if there is one thing that America’s MICC is totally dependent upon, it is the American People’s total ignorance of ~ or willfully ignoring ~ exactly how all of America Wars over these past 78 years have turned out.
And that ignorance or willful ignoring is one of the major keys that keep the Cash Cow giving milk to that MICC, regardless of the results in the Real World. All the result of another fine job by this government's two-part propaganda machine, its public education system and its media.
Have been appreciating your articles for years, Bill. Happy to hear you've joined the advisory board of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space!
Leaving aside the technical effectiveness of any military craft, machines, and weaponry, I take issue with the simple concept of dominance. What gives U.S. military leadership the right to seek domination? It's not a fundamental question of capability, but rather of morality. Who died and left them God? Makes me ashamed to admit I'm an American.
That belief is sick and twisted, Bill. But yes, I think you’re correct about its presence in this country. After all, how many "Christians" are white supremacists, misogynists, and homophobes? Their prejudices don't square with actual Christ-ian teachings, so why would American God-centered supremacy be any different?
The U.S. Navy training manual states the mission of the U.S. Armed Forces is - "to be prepared to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest. The Navy's five enduring functions are: sea control, power projection, deterrence, maritime security, and sealift."
The "power projection" bit is I think what bothers a lot of non-Americans. As you say....."Who died and left them God?"
"It is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force on the littoral zone of the world, engage in forward deployments during peacetime and rapidly respond to regional crises."
A "littoral zone" is the part of a sea that is close to the shore.
So "to project force......aaargh.......on the shores of all regions of the World!"
The Mission statement of the United States Navy. "To recruit, train, equip, and organize to deliver combat ready Naval forces to win conflicts and wars while maintaining security and deterrence through sustained forward presence."
"Forward presence"- wherever we determine "forward Prescence" to be eh!
"Provide Maritime Security and Sea Control" - The old self-appointed World's policeman.
It's all a bit vomit inducing eh!
It reminds me of the English crossdressing comedian Eddie Izzard. His skit on the English Navy colonizing the world. Planting the Union Jack flag..."I proclaim this land in the name of King George... turns around...."who the f*ck are you guys!" LOL
btw, that new jet needs an engine that does not run unreliable hot in normal mission mode, a new digital backbone in tech refresh 4, and a new radar that throws too much data.
and it is no where near ‘getting into’ user driven operational test,
but it is best fighter ever
pushing 15 year behind schedule and similarly out of date…
Ed, it's embarrassing reading American commentary about their “superior” F-35 fighter jets. Americans who we read talking about their own aircraft, or any of its military weapons, are invariably clueless. And jingoistically claim that all Russian jet fighters are “rubbish” and use computer chips from old washing machines! Its amazing how often you hear this phrase on the internet posted by American kids online. It's as if they were all taught the same phrase in their Air Force propaganda classes!
They all prove how little they know or even understand, because none of them have ever asked themselves the most obvious, how can the F-35 stealth fighters detect, track, or target any other stealth aircraft from beyond visual range (BVR)? “Stealth” alone, only defeats high-frequency short wave radar, by absorption and deflection.
Stealth does not detect, track, and target other stealth aircraft from BVR. You need long-wave radar, enhanced to remove all background clutter, to do that. And neither the APG-77 radar, used in the F-22, or the APG-81 radar, used in the F-35, can detect any other stealth aircraft from BVR as they are not long wave radars.
When the F-35 radars were being designed 15-years ago, there weren't any other stealth aircraft to think about as a potential threat! So, how can anyone possibly consider these US stealth aircraft as any sort of real threat to either Russia or China, who both have these US stealth aircraft technically beaten today? They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets BVR. While the US stealth jets can't even detect them BVR?
The reality of this Russian “rubbish” they all claim, is that Russia has 5th generation fighter jets with enhanced long-wave radar. Their Byelka 2-band radar as used in SU-57 can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets from BVR. Russia has designed, and developed, the first L-Band fighter radar in the world. They've embedded L-band AESA radars into the leading edges of the wings, the L-band AESA radar "data" gets processed in real time through powerful Russian computers, meaning they can detect, track, and engage enemy stealth aircraft from BVR.
This Russian technology, along with its very impressive range parameters, and it's jamming ability over very large areas make this aircraft deadly to all other aircraft types. And they interact in ''real-time'' with each squadron member, auto selecting the best placed BVR missile being carried by any of them that can be fired by anyone of them.
They can also take full control of surface-to-air (SAM) missile defense systems. That alone is lethal. And they can detect, track, and target enemy stealth fighters from much greater distances today with the "real-time" data from all their massive Russian ground long wave stations that are all protected with their networked of S-400 ground-to-air missile defensive systems.
These Russian stealth jets always know exactly where the enemy stealth fighter aircraft are, and they approach them head on, being able to shoot down the US stealth jets from BVR while remaining undetected. The US stealth fighter jets would not even detect them coming!
And let's not forget this is the same American Air Force who lost 382 (!) of their latest highly touted, "superior", air dominant, all singing and dancing F-105 Thunderchief's, escorted by F-4s, in losing the war in Vietnam.
And let it not go unnoticed that since our esteemed author penned this piece in 2008, 15-years ago now, the Russians have developed, deployed, and used Mach-10 hypersonic missiles in the Ukrainian conflict. Their Kh-47M2 Kinzhal "Dagger".
The U.S. currently has no defense system to take down hypersonic missiles. Air defense systems, such as Patriots and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, are not capable of taking down ballistic missiles that reach hypersonic speeds.
Russian MIG-31K's can carry and launch the Kh-47M2 air-to-ground Kinzhal as has been demonstrated to great effect in Ukraine. It is claimed to have a range of 2,000km. The US Naval F-35C has a combat radius of 1,100km. Would a carrier-based F-35C be able to defend its carrier against a Kinzhal attack? Has the invention of this class of missile by the US's enemies rendered all US Naval surface vessels vulnerable?
As for the US's development of hypersonic missiles: In March we learned that the U.S. Air Force isn’t going to buy the Lockheed Martin hypersonic AGM-183A Mach-5 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon after the prototyping phase ends, following failures during testing. “While the Air Force does not currently intend to pursue follow-on procurement of ARRW once the prototyping program concludes, there is inherent benefit to completing the all-up round test flights to garner the learning and test data that will help inform future hypersonic programs,” the service’s acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in written testimony in March.
And we know the Chinese have hypersonic missiles. Analysts say the successfully tested Chinese YJ-21 missile is meant to deter American intervention if China invade Taiwan. (BTW another common meme you will read the kids posting on the internet - "All Chinese planes are made of Cardboard and Sellotape." The same Chinese who in 2022 just launched their Tiangong permanently crewed space station constructed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency.)
And just this last June, Iran announced its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile. Iranian media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.
"The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defense shields," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace force, was quoted as saying. "Fattah can target the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles. It can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel's Iron Dome." Fattah's top speed is Mach-14.
The World is changing my friends. Does the United States still hold a technological advantage in war weaponry dominating the Air?
And don't you think the million-dollar question is:
If in a moment's humility the usaf admits the truth that the F-35 has not met any goals by any criteria - are they going to be able to afford the next boondoggle - a US$2.0-trillion so called "6th Generation" jet fighter?
When the nation is US$32- trillion in debt, and US$ dangerously close losing its position as the World's Reserve Currency.
I think back to Brits in the 60's with its state-of-the-art Avro Vulcan strategic bomber, one of the most innovative aircraft of the Cold War period, being the last ever bomber it manufactured. Same with their English Electric Lightning interceptor being the last world-leading state-of the-art fighter they built.
Did the UK people suffer in any way because of them abandoning their air dominance efforts? Were the people suddenly less secure? Did the UK economy suffer on account of this one factor? Were these jobs absorbed by other industries? I'd say the answer to these questions is that the UK did not suffer.
And surely the same applies the USA. If Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman went away - would the US people be worse off? Looking at those thousands of warplanes rotting away in the Arizona desert it would be hard to say the US benefitted from turning all that aluminum into what was to become junk. Providing jobs, you say! Weren't there better things that could have provided these jobs? The Chinese are providing jobs with 35,000kms constructing high-speed-rail.
the Brit’s, and west Europe are resources restricted in talent and physical resources in war industry, for example, the Germans used the dutch fokker factories during WW ii.
it is interesting to observe that before the war between the states war matériels was made in federal arsenals. with the massive industry of the north making money supplying the federal military war profiteering became a trade.
imagine if army air corps aircraft plant #4(?) ft worth now run by Lockheed making f-35 were still an air corps run arsenal?
the excuse for “for profit” arsenals was innovation, and efficiencies neither apparent since 1950’s
Thanks Ed, I did not know about Plant 4 in Fort Worth Texas.
Wiki: Air Force Plant 4 is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility in Fort Worth, Texas, currently owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.[1] It is home to the F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft.[2] Military aircraft have been manufactured at the plant since 1942.
Air Force Plant 4 is one of the largest employers in the area with a staff of approximately 17,000 people.
Plant 4's origins begin in May 1940 when the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce was trying to convince aircraft manufacturers to build an aircraft assembly plant in the Fort Worth area to support the massive expansion of the Army Air Corps. Fleet and Consolidated Aircraft, wanting to build in the area, suggested to the Air Corps that they jointly build an airfield adjacent to the heavy bomber plant they wanted to build in Fort Worth. It was suggested that the Air Corps would benefit by having a joint facility. Local officials promised to spend money to build an airport on the land next to the plant and lease it to the Air Corps. On 16 June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved $1.75-million to construct a military airfield (Fort Worth Army Airfield) next to the Consolidated manufacturing plant."
Thanks for that. I notice B-24's, B-29's, B-36's, XB-58, F-111, F-16 , F-22's as well as the F-35 have been assembled in this plant.
And that Air Force Plant 4 has been listed as a Superfund site since 1990. It was discovered a significant trichloroethylene plume had contaminated local soil and groundwater. Remediation efforts are still underway. Oh dear!
Thinking further about my earlier post re: American Air Power and All Its Lost Wars…
…and based on my experience in Vietnam [August 1966-68] ~ first as an infantryman in the Coastal Plains and Central Highlands, and then as a door gunner on assault helicopters in the Mekong Delta ~ i can totally honestly, sincerely, and unequivocally say the following:
If American, South Vietnamese, and “Allied” ground troops had not had both close tactical air support [as in aerial machine gun strafing and bomb runs of steel, napalm, white phosphorus, etc]; and sometime close and always perpetually constant distant strategic air support [as in B-52s], the Viet Cong would have defeated and destroyed them very early on, with very little, if any boots-on-the-ground support from Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnam Army [NVA].
In light of all that ~ in Vietnam and with what has happened in all of America’s Wars since Vietnam ~ one of the officially operative mottos of the US Air Force should not be “MASTERY OF THE AIR MEANS MASTERY OF THE GROUND” [sic]. It should be:
“WITHOUT MASTERY OF THE AIR, AMERICAN GROUND FORCES ARE SHIT.”
I like this comment on James Howard Kunstler's CLUSTERFUCK NATION – BLOG today:
"Our mighty fleets will be reefs within minutes of WW3’s beginning because the Ruskies (& Chinese) operate a weapons producing system, not a front for diverting Middle Class money to the 1%. Hypersonic missiles are a game-changer, but Pentagon hustlers failed to develop them… and, further, can’t even keep up with “8 cents on the dollar” Russia in old fashioned artillery shells!"
Does Kunstler bother to explain the cost to the Russian and Chinese People [do they even have a "Middle Class"?] of their rulers' magnificent "weapons producing systems"?
This is an important essay about our military offensiveness. I suppose it strikes home to me especially because it reminds me of my uncle Ken who was a major pilot in WWII, and I know he would agree with everything Bill says here. All Ken wanted to do when he was a boy was to fly, he was born just as planes were being invented. When WWII started, Ken was that rare thing at the time - an airline pilot! Weren't many airlines then. When WWII broke out he immediately volunteered for the Army air force and became a trainer of one of the first bomber squads. He knew how to fly and, as an engineer, he knew how to fix them. Ken went to Europe with the squadron he trained and stayed there throughout the war leading squadrons in bombing runs all over Europe and Africa. When the war was over the Army wanted him to stay ( he was now a full col. and had been for a while) and they wanted to make him a general. Ken said "no thanks" and went home to his wife and three kids. After that he really didn't want to get on planes any more. I thought it was because he was so used to being pilot he didn't fully trust anyone else to do it, but I think it was more than that. He had fulfilled his dream of flying and had found the terror and destruction it could bring and it brought back memories he'd rather not recall. I gave him a copy of "Catch22" as a stocking gift one xmas, and then worried that he might not like it (Ken was a staunch republican), but it turned out to be one of his favorite books.
Thank you Bill for reprinting this essay. We really do need to be reminded of our arrogance!
Thanks, Ranney.
Ranney, maybe your Uncle Ken had the same feelings as the American Historian Howard Zinn:
Wiki: "Eager to fight fascism, 23-year-old Zinn joined the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and became an officer. He was assigned as a bombardier in the 490th Bombardment Group,[13] bombing targets in Berlin, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.[14] As bombardier, Zinn dropped napalm bombs in April 1945 on Royan, a seaside resort in western France.[15] The anti-war stance Zinn developed later was informed, in part, by his experiences.[16]
Zinn said his experience as a wartime bombardier, combined with his research into the reasons for, and effects of the bombing of Royan and Pilsen, sensitized him to the ethical dilemmas faced by G.I.s during wartime.[19] Zinn questioned the justifications for military operations that inflicted massive civilian casualties during the Allied bombing of cities such as Dresden, Royan, Tokyo, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II, Hanoi during the War in Vietnam, and Baghdad during the war in Iraq and the civilian casualties during bombings in Afghanistan during the war there. In his pamphlet, Hiroshima: Breaking the Silence[20] written in 1995, he laid out the case against targeting civilians with aerial bombing."
Six years later, he wrote:
"Recall that in the midst of the Gulf War, the U.S. military bombed an air raid shelter, killing 400 to 500 men, women, and children who were huddled to escape bombs. The claim was that it was a military target, housing a communications center, but reporters going through the ruins immediately afterward said there was no sign of anything like that. I suggest that the history of bombing—and no one has bombed more than this nation—is a history of endless atrocities, all calmly explained by deceptive and deadly language like "accident", "military target", and "collateral damage".[21]
Thank you Dennis, I think you are right. Certainly the history of US bombing in WWII was horriffic and if anything, it has gotten worse over the years. I think the bombing of the Iraq air raid shelter was a terrible thing showing how little the US knew about Iraq and how little we cared. I note it doesn't get mentioned any more. Author Kurt Vonnegut memorialized the Dresden disaster, so more people know about that - also Dresden was full of white people and Iraq is full of brown people who don't count for as much in our media. I'm happy to say that my uncle was not selected to lead the bombing run on Dresden though his name was on the short list. He was very happy not to be picked for that, but his close friend was.
Ranney, as I posted on a previous Lt. Cols blog.....The U.S. and its allies have dropped more than (326,000) bombs and missiles on people in other countries since 2001, including over (152,000) in Iraq and Syria. That’s an average of (46) bombs and missiles per day, day in day out, year in year out, for nearly 20 years. In 2019, the last year for which we have fairly complete records, the average was (42) bombs and missiles per day.
https://www.juancole.com/2021/03/missiles-countries-recently.html#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20and%20its%20allies%20have%20dropped%20more,year%20in%20year%20out%2C%20for%20nearly%2020%20years.
The thing that struck me the most about Your article, Bill, was the statement regarding “high ground”: “the Air Force’s most basic precept, that MASTERY OF THE AIR MEANS MASTERY OF THE GROUND.” [Emphasis added.]
Correct me if i am wrong, but History tells us that ~ with the exception of the early days of Vietnam when Hanoi still had its own Air Force, such as it was ~ in every War that America has waged since the end of World War II, the US has enjoyed virtually total and complete domination and control of “the Air” by virtue of its unchallenged tactical [from A-10s to the latest jet fighters] and strategic [from B-29s to B-52s to B-1s, etc] superiority in support of ground operations.
And yet, the United States has lost every War that it has fought everywhere in all of those 78 years.
So the Air Force’s basic precept about “mastery of the Air” is complete and total Bullshit. At least when it comes to that being the secret to winning a [or, in the case of the US, any] War on the Ground.
But if there is one thing that America’s MICC is totally dependent upon, it is the American People’s total ignorance of ~ or willfully ignoring ~ exactly how all of America Wars over these past 78 years have turned out.
And that ignorance or willful ignoring is one of the major keys that keep the Cash Cow giving milk to that MICC, regardless of the results in the Real World. All the result of another fine job by this government's two-part propaganda machine, its public education system and its media.
Have been appreciating your articles for years, Bill. Happy to hear you've joined the advisory board of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space!
Many thanks!
Leaving aside the technical effectiveness of any military craft, machines, and weaponry, I take issue with the simple concept of dominance. What gives U.S. military leadership the right to seek domination? It's not a fundamental question of capability, but rather of morality. Who died and left them God? Makes me ashamed to admit I'm an American.
God is American, Denise. Even Jesus is American. And He gave us permission to dominate everywhere because we're the best and most free country.
This is, in essence, what many Americans appear to believe.
That belief is sick and twisted, Bill. But yes, I think you’re correct about its presence in this country. After all, how many "Christians" are white supremacists, misogynists, and homophobes? Their prejudices don't square with actual Christ-ian teachings, so why would American God-centered supremacy be any different?
I agree 100% Denise.
The U.S. Navy training manual states the mission of the U.S. Armed Forces is - "to be prepared to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest. The Navy's five enduring functions are: sea control, power projection, deterrence, maritime security, and sealift."
The "power projection" bit is I think what bothers a lot of non-Americans. As you say....."Who died and left them God?"
"It is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force on the littoral zone of the world, engage in forward deployments during peacetime and rapidly respond to regional crises."
A "littoral zone" is the part of a sea that is close to the shore.
So "to project force......aaargh.......on the shores of all regions of the World!"
The Mission statement of the United States Navy. "To recruit, train, equip, and organize to deliver combat ready Naval forces to win conflicts and wars while maintaining security and deterrence through sustained forward presence."
"Forward presence"- wherever we determine "forward Prescence" to be eh!
"Provide Maritime Security and Sea Control" - The old self-appointed World's policeman.
It's all a bit vomit inducing eh!
It reminds me of the English crossdressing comedian Eddie Izzard. His skit on the English Navy colonizing the world. Planting the Union Jack flag..."I proclaim this land in the name of King George... turns around...."who the f*ck are you guys!" LOL
btw, that new jet needs an engine that does not run unreliable hot in normal mission mode, a new digital backbone in tech refresh 4, and a new radar that throws too much data.
and it is no where near ‘getting into’ user driven operational test,
but it is best fighter ever
pushing 15 year behind schedule and similarly out of date…
Ed, it's embarrassing reading American commentary about their “superior” F-35 fighter jets. Americans who we read talking about their own aircraft, or any of its military weapons, are invariably clueless. And jingoistically claim that all Russian jet fighters are “rubbish” and use computer chips from old washing machines! Its amazing how often you hear this phrase on the internet posted by American kids online. It's as if they were all taught the same phrase in their Air Force propaganda classes!
They all prove how little they know or even understand, because none of them have ever asked themselves the most obvious, how can the F-35 stealth fighters detect, track, or target any other stealth aircraft from beyond visual range (BVR)? “Stealth” alone, only defeats high-frequency short wave radar, by absorption and deflection.
Stealth does not detect, track, and target other stealth aircraft from BVR. You need long-wave radar, enhanced to remove all background clutter, to do that. And neither the APG-77 radar, used in the F-22, or the APG-81 radar, used in the F-35, can detect any other stealth aircraft from BVR as they are not long wave radars.
When the F-35 radars were being designed 15-years ago, there weren't any other stealth aircraft to think about as a potential threat! So, how can anyone possibly consider these US stealth aircraft as any sort of real threat to either Russia or China, who both have these US stealth aircraft technically beaten today? They can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets BVR. While the US stealth jets can't even detect them BVR?
The reality of this Russian “rubbish” they all claim, is that Russia has 5th generation fighter jets with enhanced long-wave radar. Their Byelka 2-band radar as used in SU-57 can detect, track, and target the US stealth jets from BVR. Russia has designed, and developed, the first L-Band fighter radar in the world. They've embedded L-band AESA radars into the leading edges of the wings, the L-band AESA radar "data" gets processed in real time through powerful Russian computers, meaning they can detect, track, and engage enemy stealth aircraft from BVR.
This Russian technology, along with its very impressive range parameters, and it's jamming ability over very large areas make this aircraft deadly to all other aircraft types. And they interact in ''real-time'' with each squadron member, auto selecting the best placed BVR missile being carried by any of them that can be fired by anyone of them.
They can also take full control of surface-to-air (SAM) missile defense systems. That alone is lethal. And they can detect, track, and target enemy stealth fighters from much greater distances today with the "real-time" data from all their massive Russian ground long wave stations that are all protected with their networked of S-400 ground-to-air missile defensive systems.
These Russian stealth jets always know exactly where the enemy stealth fighter aircraft are, and they approach them head on, being able to shoot down the US stealth jets from BVR while remaining undetected. The US stealth fighter jets would not even detect them coming!
And let's not forget this is the same American Air Force who lost 382 (!) of their latest highly touted, "superior", air dominant, all singing and dancing F-105 Thunderchief's, escorted by F-4s, in losing the war in Vietnam.
And let it not go unnoticed that since our esteemed author penned this piece in 2008, 15-years ago now, the Russians have developed, deployed, and used Mach-10 hypersonic missiles in the Ukrainian conflict. Their Kh-47M2 Kinzhal "Dagger".
The U.S. currently has no defense system to take down hypersonic missiles. Air defense systems, such as Patriots and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, are not capable of taking down ballistic missiles that reach hypersonic speeds.
Russian MIG-31K's can carry and launch the Kh-47M2 air-to-ground Kinzhal as has been demonstrated to great effect in Ukraine. It is claimed to have a range of 2,000km. The US Naval F-35C has a combat radius of 1,100km. Would a carrier-based F-35C be able to defend its carrier against a Kinzhal attack? Has the invention of this class of missile by the US's enemies rendered all US Naval surface vessels vulnerable?
As for the US's development of hypersonic missiles: In March we learned that the U.S. Air Force isn’t going to buy the Lockheed Martin hypersonic AGM-183A Mach-5 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon after the prototyping phase ends, following failures during testing. “While the Air Force does not currently intend to pursue follow-on procurement of ARRW once the prototyping program concludes, there is inherent benefit to completing the all-up round test flights to garner the learning and test data that will help inform future hypersonic programs,” the service’s acquisition chief Andrew Hunter told the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee in written testimony in March.
And we know the Chinese have hypersonic missiles. Analysts say the successfully tested Chinese YJ-21 missile is meant to deter American intervention if China invade Taiwan. (BTW another common meme you will read the kids posting on the internet - "All Chinese planes are made of Cardboard and Sellotape." The same Chinese who in 2022 just launched their Tiangong permanently crewed space station constructed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency.)
And just this last June, Iran announced its first domestically made hypersonic ballistic missile. Iranian media published pictures of the missile named Fattah at a ceremony attended by President Ebrahim Rahisi and commanders of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps.
"The precision-guided Fattah hypersonic missile has a range of 1,400 km and it is capable of penetrating all defense shields," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards' aerospace force, was quoted as saying. "Fattah can target the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles. It can bypass the most advanced anti-ballistic missile systems of the United States and the Zionist regime, including Israel's Iron Dome." Fattah's top speed is Mach-14.
The World is changing my friends. Does the United States still hold a technological advantage in war weaponry dominating the Air?
usaf air dominance is a sham concept to red herring its hyper expensive unilateral disarmament.
it has succeeded in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
from b-1 and b-2 in the heavies, to f-16, f-22 and f-35 in the high low fighter mix, to c17, and c-46 in transcom…..
usaf fielded, late, expensive, unreliable aircraft.
all obsolete when finally fielded with abyssmal combat readiness.
and army navy air and missile defensive costs millions per shot, to fail to hit low cost missiles….
Ed, great comment.
And don't you think the million-dollar question is:
If in a moment's humility the usaf admits the truth that the F-35 has not met any goals by any criteria - are they going to be able to afford the next boondoggle - a US$2.0-trillion so called "6th Generation" jet fighter?
When the nation is US$32- trillion in debt, and US$ dangerously close losing its position as the World's Reserve Currency.
I think back to Brits in the 60's with its state-of-the-art Avro Vulcan strategic bomber, one of the most innovative aircraft of the Cold War period, being the last ever bomber it manufactured. Same with their English Electric Lightning interceptor being the last world-leading state-of the-art fighter they built.
Did the UK people suffer in any way because of them abandoning their air dominance efforts? Were the people suddenly less secure? Did the UK economy suffer on account of this one factor? Were these jobs absorbed by other industries? I'd say the answer to these questions is that the UK did not suffer.
And surely the same applies the USA. If Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman went away - would the US people be worse off? Looking at those thousands of warplanes rotting away in the Arizona desert it would be hard to say the US benefitted from turning all that aluminum into what was to become junk. Providing jobs, you say! Weren't there better things that could have provided these jobs? The Chinese are providing jobs with 35,000kms constructing high-speed-rail.
Wadda yuh say?
good points, all!
the Brit’s, and west Europe are resources restricted in talent and physical resources in war industry, for example, the Germans used the dutch fokker factories during WW ii.
it is interesting to observe that before the war between the states war matériels was made in federal arsenals. with the massive industry of the north making money supplying the federal military war profiteering became a trade.
imagine if army air corps aircraft plant #4(?) ft worth now run by Lockheed making f-35 were still an air corps run arsenal?
the excuse for “for profit” arsenals was innovation, and efficiencies neither apparent since 1950’s
Thanks Ed, I did not know about Plant 4 in Fort Worth Texas.
Wiki: Air Force Plant 4 is a government-owned, contractor-operated aerospace facility in Fort Worth, Texas, currently owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.[1] It is home to the F-16 and F-35 fighter aircraft.[2] Military aircraft have been manufactured at the plant since 1942.
Air Force Plant 4 is one of the largest employers in the area with a staff of approximately 17,000 people.
Plant 4's origins begin in May 1940 when the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce was trying to convince aircraft manufacturers to build an aircraft assembly plant in the Fort Worth area to support the massive expansion of the Army Air Corps. Fleet and Consolidated Aircraft, wanting to build in the area, suggested to the Air Corps that they jointly build an airfield adjacent to the heavy bomber plant they wanted to build in Fort Worth. It was suggested that the Air Corps would benefit by having a joint facility. Local officials promised to spend money to build an airport on the land next to the plant and lease it to the Air Corps. On 16 June 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved $1.75-million to construct a military airfield (Fort Worth Army Airfield) next to the Consolidated manufacturing plant."
Thanks for that. I notice B-24's, B-29's, B-36's, XB-58, F-111, F-16 , F-22's as well as the F-35 have been assembled in this plant.
And that Air Force Plant 4 has been listed as a Superfund site since 1990. It was discovered a significant trichloroethylene plume had contaminated local soil and groundwater. Remediation efforts are still underway. Oh dear!
Thinking further about my earlier post re: American Air Power and All Its Lost Wars…
…and based on my experience in Vietnam [August 1966-68] ~ first as an infantryman in the Coastal Plains and Central Highlands, and then as a door gunner on assault helicopters in the Mekong Delta ~ i can totally honestly, sincerely, and unequivocally say the following:
If American, South Vietnamese, and “Allied” ground troops had not had both close tactical air support [as in aerial machine gun strafing and bomb runs of steel, napalm, white phosphorus, etc]; and sometime close and always perpetually constant distant strategic air support [as in B-52s], the Viet Cong would have defeated and destroyed them very early on, with very little, if any boots-on-the-ground support from Ho Chi Minh’s North Vietnam Army [NVA].
A ps: and conclusion…:
In light of all that ~ in Vietnam and with what has happened in all of America’s Wars since Vietnam ~ one of the officially operative mottos of the US Air Force should not be “MASTERY OF THE AIR MEANS MASTERY OF THE GROUND” [sic]. It should be:
“WITHOUT MASTERY OF THE AIR, AMERICAN GROUND FORCES ARE SHIT.”
I like this comment on James Howard Kunstler's CLUSTERFUCK NATION – BLOG today:
"Our mighty fleets will be reefs within minutes of WW3’s beginning because the Ruskies (& Chinese) operate a weapons producing system, not a front for diverting Middle Class money to the 1%. Hypersonic missiles are a game-changer, but Pentagon hustlers failed to develop them… and, further, can’t even keep up with “8 cents on the dollar” Russia in old fashioned artillery shells!"
Does Kunstler bother to explain the cost to the Russian and Chinese People [do they even have a "Middle Class"?] of their rulers' magnificent "weapons producing systems"?