Drawdowns and other Problems.

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JOHN THURSTON
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Joined: Sat Nov 28, 1998 6:01 am
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Drawdowns and other Problems.

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

Hi, well no body appears to be interested in commenting, but this is an informational site as much, if not more than, a discussion sit. But in the event I can induce it to shoft a bit I offer the following question:

How many Troops should we maintain overseas, or, comment on what type you feel are most important, where are the most strategic sites for placement of overseas assets.

I made the comment once before, seeing as the first planes to reach Ground Zero, were from Otis and the were F-15, should Otis remain operational. My opinion was to use the retiring F-14's to base as assets at this site and, if you will, other "underplane-ed" AB's. the Pentagon has gone to great length prior to this post, to destroy the aircraft and its components to keep them out of Iranian hands. How do you think this effort will pan out? Should we continue to deny Iraq fighting assets when they are trying to "clean up our mess" in Iraq. A high ranking Iranian Army officer was killed in Iraq by ISIL this week and a Jordanian F-18 shot down and it pilot captured.

The "Arms/Contras" trade scandal reared it's ugly head by showing us once again, that once the genie is out of the Bottle, it is difficult to put it back in. This remark, or opinion, was made when I viewed a picture of an Iranian F-14 with 2 Hawk Missiles strapped under its wings in flight. Also a Picture of a US Carrier Group was put on the web. It was taken from high altitude from, allegedly, an Iranian drone.

The Technology traded by the Reagan administration to get arms to the contras was that for the "A-HAWK" (advanced short range (?) anti aircraft system. This will make a rather huge extension of Iranian aam capabilities as the Hawk missile itself is not small exactly, and is certainly not smaller than the AIM-180 Phoenix Missliles that, apaparently could not longer be maintained by the Iranians. Their F-14's could be expected to last longer than those belonging to the USN, in that they are not subject to the "controlled crashes" of carrier ops.

ISIL is now meeting increased resistance to it advances from Sunnis and Sunni Militias due, one would think, to the fasct that ISIL is, if anything, worse (or more effective and 'retro') than the Taliban's efforts in Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union is gone, but the Russians are in the midst of declaring a second maybe not so cold new cold war. In an analysis of Military power, the soviets field more Tanks, Infanttry and AFV and IFV's than the US. However, the US has been very canny about restoring and updating to today's standards, its Abrams Main Battle Tank. This is done on a rather large deassembly, cleaning and ressasembly operation at the US army base in Anniston Alabama.

In terms of total population the Russian Federration weighs in (according to what was provided to me, with a population in the area of 230,million. The US, at about 350 million. Aircraft number I will check on and get back to the forum.

In the meantime, the public seems hazy as to understanding the fact that US fighting ships continually take on wear and tear to complete their missions. The Los Angeles Class is a bit long in the tooth, but recall that it was the best in the mid 80's. The Seawolf class was cancelled and replaced by the Virginia class.

Most critically I am making the assumption (without talking about the state of the boomer fleet) that the attack classes are usable in many roles: shadowing enemy boomers and surface groups, escort US Boomers, escorting US surface assets. This, like a lot of things the military needs, are expensive toys.

I also think we need a good Medium tank. The 105mm gun used by us and the Brits in many form (ie: some rifled cannon and some smooth bored, is sufficient to defeat the armor of any present likely MBT's. A 105 "kit" has been successfully tested atop several "amored cars" and would be the the logical choice for a medium tank gun, especially a Chobham amored MBT and especially in view of the main weakness of the Abrams, it's a fuel guzzler that can at least, be recycled. To my knowledge, only the Brits, in their "Challenger" MBT has such armor. Only 300+ Challengers have been built. I also loudly suggeggest that said medium tank should (as is the British Challenger) be powered by diesel. I have owned and operated at length a large Perkins Marine diesel, and I think it is the best in the world.

Note, however, that the Brits no longer export the Perkins twin turbo diesel.

Mote later. Do stir up debate as I feel I am merely preaching to the choir.

Also, there are 2 reasons for the loss of population in Russia, the loss of territories it may have considered its own, and a declining birth rate. I can't be relied to help solve either problem.


John
"All Enlightenment Gratefully Accepted"
JOHN THURSTON
Posts: 2445
Joined: Sat Nov 28, 1998 6:01 am
Location: MARSHFIELD, MA. USA
Contact:

Re: Drawdowns and other Problems.

Post by JOHN THURSTON »

PS-did you know that a "littoral " class or brown water navy destroyer (such as, I believe, the one constructed from, at least in part, steel recovered from the twin towers is more expensive to build than a "Arleigh Burke" Class.

Did you know that the Arleigh Burkes, known as destroyers, share the SAME hull as the fleet's Ticonderoga class Cruisers.

The myriad of escorts, frigates, destroyers and destroyer leaders ssuch as the Spriances, Oliver Hazard Perry, Garcia, and may others----just aren't in service anymore, except for the 2 enhanced Spruances originally ordered by the Shah of Iran, but now transferred to Taiwan.

Also, the Phillipines, despite is determination to be able to defend itself, and therefore expel the US from some very Strategic Bases (Subic, Cavite etc) are in NO position to defend themselves from an expanding "zone of influence" that the Chinese wish to establish. The Vietnamese may become our allies in constricting these desires, but it may be that they depend too much on Chinese aid??? The Filipinos have around 60 "marines" living on a grounded and rusting LST, where the Chinese have taken a number of the unoccupied Spratly Islands, and made one LARGE island.

Undersea energy may present to much for the Chinese to keep from their aggressively expanding manufacturing machine.

Thoughts? I will tell you I am worried.
"All Enlightenment Gratefully Accepted"
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