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F-35s will be updated for decades so fighters aren’t going away, I’d just expect improved cca’s and a continued shift away from “our manned fighters vs their manned fighters” mentality. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app
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Let’s be honest, each President since 2005ish (so yes, including Bush) didn’t want Afghanistan to fail under their watch because Afghanistan for the longest time was seen as the legit/supported war. As public support for more activity decreased, Trump was wanting to wind it down substantially, as was Biden. In the end, Biden made the call to end it, most likely when his advisors told him that the government/Afghan military could at least hold things together for a while…which obviously didn’t happen. And anyone who did any sort of close advising in Iraq or Afghanistan knew that this wasn’t going to work out, especially in Afghanistan. BL: As M2 states above, we absolutely suck at nation building. It might sound good on paper, but it’s not worth it. So no, staying in Afghanistan after the first few years was most definitely not worth it. I’m all for going in and breaking things if we think it will net positive the interests for American citizens, but then that’s where things need to stop. But hey, the defense contractors made some serious money.
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In Afghanistan, the DoD knew how to kill people and break things; but the US government never had a clue as to how to build a stable government and society. Not one fucking clue. 2459 killed, of which 1922 were in combat. 20,769 wounded in action. Countless others suffering the psychological impacts. Afghanistan will never be "done."
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Just for comparison, as of the latest reports, it is estimated that over 71,000 Russian soldiers have been confirmed killed in Ukraine. The actual number is likely higher due to the challenges in verifying all casualties. It hasn't even reached the three-year mark...
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No inside knowledge but seems likely it with tech and operational trends known in the open world I think there’s still a place for a traditionally sized fighter with pilot/crew but to be relevant it probably would need to be built specifically to always or almost always operate with CCAs Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I hope Luke stays around. I think he can be a big time QB if we can protect him and give him WRs who can actually hold onto the ball.
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Glad you were able to attend the game. Other than going to Pasadena for our last National Championship in '13 and us beating Florida in the swamp 38-34, some of my most memorable games I've attended were in the early 2000's against UM. I think we may be in for a long couple of years. All of our blue chip talent has decommitted. Some are asking if Deion might be an answer to at least attract some talent. No opinion on that but clearly we need something to change.
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They’ve openly said the B-21 is the first 6th gen aircraft…I just assumed the CCA capes were a given. The F-35 will be the last traditional fighter we produce. Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile app
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This is a pretty shitbag comment, bro.
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Not much of a surprise. I’m sure Trump groped a lot of women from the 70s to the 2010s, and his voters won’t care. There could be video of it, and his voters wouldn’t care.
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Evolution of NATO-Ukraine relations Dialogue and cooperation started when newly independent Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (1991) and the Partnership for Peace programme (1994). Relations were strengthened with the signing of the 1997 Charter on a Distinctive Partnership, and further enhanced in 2009 with the Declaration to Complement the Charter, which reaffirmed the decision by NATO Leaders at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Ukraine will become a member of NATO. The 1997 Charter established the NATO-Ukraine Commission as the main body responsible for developing the NATO-Ukraine relationship and for directing cooperative activities. In 2023, the Commission was replaced by the NATO-Ukraine Council, where Allies and Ukraine sit as equals. This change demonstrates the strengthening of political ties and Ukraine’s increasing integration with NATO. Cooperation has deepened over time and is mutually beneficial. Ukraine has a long track record of active contributions to NATO-led operations and missions. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm ---------------------------- VILNIUS, July 10 (Reuters) - As NATO nations try to agree on Ukraine’s push for membership at a summit in Vilnius this week, an earlier gathering casts a long shadow. At a summit in Bucharest in April 2008, NATO declared that both Ukraine and Georgia would join the U.S.-led defence alliance - but gave them no plan for how to get there. The declaration papered over cracks between the United States, which wanted to admit both countries, and France and Germany, which feared that would antagonise Russia. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/natos-ukraine-debate-still-haunted-by-bucharest-pledge-2023-07-10/ --------------------------------- "The White House’s messaging on the Ukraine war is built around two simple-yet-powerful adjectives: “We are united in our condemnation,” said President Joe Biden almost two years ago in a joint statement with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “of Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.” The “unjustified and unprovoked” line has been used numerous times by a chorus of top U.S. officials and allies, quickly becoming a rhetorical mainstay of Biden’s maximum pressure campaign against the Kremlin." An explosive New York Times exposé by Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz sheds light on major developments preceding the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the report, the Ukrainian government entered into a wide-ranging partnership with the CIA against Russia. This cooperation, which involved the establishment of as many as 12 secret CIA “forward operating bases” along Ukraine’s border with Russia, began not with Russia’s 2022 invasion, but just over 10 years ago. The problem, rather, is one of basic security perceptions. Moscow repeatedly warned — for many years before 2014 — that it was and remains prepared to take drastic action to prevent Ukraine from being used by the West as a forward operating base against Russia. Yet that, as recounted in lurid detail by The New York Times, is precisely what has happened over the past 10 years." https://responsiblestatecraft.org/cia-ukraine-russia/ ------------------------------- lots of information to unpack. it's a complicated situation and cannot be boiled down to "Putin Bad, USA innocent and good". Like most of international politics there is lots of nuance which does not make for good prime time TV ratings. my summary: the US has provoked a post cold war russia unnecessarily by pushing nato to the border of russia. a red line that putin has said for decades russia will not stand for. russia is acting as expected and trying to prevent a nato border state...while preserving their black sea access via crimea. basically russia called nato's bluff. their invasion was not done out of left field for no reason. many on here like to argue that putin is the next hitler and a wild man who must be stopped before he rapes paris. i obviously disagree and think he is a very rational actor.
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FAB-21 sounds glorious....
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A lot of that was the 12-13 that they were technically aligned with us. Their 2020 “deployment” wasn’t really anything to say other than it was Covid and we were all doing weird stuff. Go sit in a place so they can say they have Apaches there. We’ve been doing that in CENTCOM for half a decade now. Not really tip of the spear for that. I went through flight school with a half a dozen guys out of that unit well before the wars had been turned down from boil. I think all of them combined have less combat time than any of the active guys in the same class. They just have some seriously old farts in that unit that refuse to go find another job. That said it’s sad to see some 30 year CW5 with all of 3 combat stripes on his sleeve. As I’ve said to a lot of peers in the Air Force Active/Reserve/Guard, the Army has a very different relationship with those entities especially now that we’ve gone back to the Divisional model. An aviation brigade exists to back its specific division because depending on type they fight very differently. Army Guard aviation is supposed to be a harvest point for bodies and aircraft to us to feed the machine, but when we actually try to do that it’s screaming about their organic make up.If they ever deployed a guard division we might give a crap, until then put some aviation dude on mobilization like we do all the other branches (engineering, med, etc). Until then they can shut up and stop pretending, I don’t ever and will never need an organic battalion of guard guys at the cost of having an active unit undermanned. But hey, when it’s time for the big fight the Guard staying home means we can’t be tracked by our link16… because 10th mountain won’t have any. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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Relight thread Reading this https://www.twz.com/air/b-21-taking-on-some-of-ngad-fighters-missions-on-the-table-air-force-says Reminded me of Stillion’s article https://csbaonline.org/uploads/documents/Air-to-Air-Report-.pdf Now it’s not an official announcement but it sounds like alluding to adding / developing a CCA controlling capability / mission for the Raider, I’d like to see that same concept applied to a light fighter but that’s another thread…
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So, I am unfamiliar with the intimate history of NATO courting Ukraine for membership. But, I did just read the Wikipedia article dedicated to the subject, and it seems like the only recent (in the last decade) time Ukraine seriously considered joining was after they were invaded by Russia in 2014. So, while I continually hear the narrative that this is NATO/West's fault for seducing Ukraine into the organization...I'm not seeing it that way. But, I am open to learning if you care to refute the Wikipedia article and educate a mostly uninformed individual on your counternarrative.
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bro i have no idea what their plan was. i know they were not going to let NATO establish influence in ukraine. something we kept pushing over and over foolishly. the lack of critical thinking skills from our professional officer corps and diplomats is shocking. and the dismal foreign policy results back it up.
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That unit was so on its ass in maintenance to spool up for a deployment we gave them an entire active duty battalions aircraft out of Forscom so they could go. While on said deployment they had not 1 but 2 inadvertent fuel starvation flameouts (idiots doing idiot stuff) a long with a host of bungling across RC North. This is the unit that tries to sell its self as something special for doing all the quick reaction testing when really that’s a 2 aircraft every couple years requirement to fly canned test scenarios. They don’t deploy often enough and when they do it’s largely a series of small disasters. We should have changed them over to Hawks and kept Idaho or Penn. Yet somehow because of the strength of the guard through its senators that unit is getting brand new EV6 aircraft before active duty units that are deploying with D’s. That last part isn’t unique to them either, for some reason we’re going to let an active Army divisions have their supporting aviation brigades use a lot of old airframes while we upgrade the guard with virtually no deployments on its calendar (the CENTCOM E-Cab always uses an active duty Apache Battalion) to the newest E’s rather than give them the old stuff they are already qualified in. There are anemic D models still flying at Carson and Bliss while these guys pretend to do high altitude gunnery in easier conditions. And one of them that could have been had just burned it in giving an F-35 guy a tour of how the other half lives. Way to go Utah… but again no surprises. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Fuckin' A. Cheers and good work.
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I'm still trying to interpret if you really think this was their plan all along or ?
- Yesterday
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and you're still trying to relearn how the russian bear fights wars.
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to make ukraine a neutral state and deny them entry into nato. secondary objective to "liberate" eastern ukraine from "oppression".
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Mighty Mighty changed their profile photo
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