Russia’s newest Su-30 multirole jets and Su-24 bombers practiced attack runs on NATO

Russia has a system that will dissolve the missile as soon as it leaves base, I don't know though what would happen if they were nuclear? But then again, if everyone knew that the missile will fall back on them....

On this site an anonymous Russian officer tells what would happen if the Russian army invaded Ukraine. It's really interesting. I like the part where all the batteries would die, and they wouldn't be able to restart the engines.

http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/01/xyz-what-would-happen-if-russian-army.html

 

I think that would depend on which side they feel would have a better chance of winning and what they would stand to gain. Both of these countries are quite friendly with both Russia and the US, on the whole, so I think their decision would be purely strategic.

 

.

In case you have not noticed:

On pretty well any Thread here on PF there is what you might call ‘Topic Drift’ and
a given Topic will naturally morph, as its related issues are addressed & discussed

Now if I started to discuss, ’The price of chicken in China’ I am sure one of our Mods
here on the PF would pull my tooth. - You are simply using your OT ploy as an excuse
....... to avoid dealing with inconvenient Facts that burden you with an uncomfortable load
............................................................................................... of Cognitive Dissonance


And as to “the realities of business, industry and diplomacy…” which in this case
.... is a Foreign Policy conducted for the establishment of American fascist Corporate
................................ ‘Hegemonic Control’ - & a ‘Full Spectrum Military Dominance’ –

A Policy that your Washington Criminals hope to use to establish & maintained an American
........................................................... Corporate controlled and directed New World Order

These are presently the clearly stated insane goals American Foreign Policy and in order
to achieve them the powers that be in USA, have shown themselves, time and again to
be ready to engage in any kind of War, Covert, Overt, Economic &/or Military.

& why? –
Because they feel they have an entitlement to Control the World – They are American Exceptionalists -
..................... Which is a particularly Malignant variety of the Pathology know as Narcissistic Psychosis

They might get away with that sort of %#@* with Iraq, Honduras, Libya etc - but it is patently STUPID to try it with the Russki's

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 'whys' have all been explained to you “axial” - You just refuse to hear them

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this the post where you believe that you proved Pierre Sprey’s criticisms of the F35 to be in error ?

To save costs!
The original cost estimate was $35 Bil. - That cost is now up to $390 Bil.
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/04...ith-delays-cost-overruns-federal-report-says/

From the Article:
“These are nothing new. This aircraft has been in trouble both with cost and performance
since the start,” Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
told FoxNews.com.




You show no inaccuracy whatsoever – You simply state that Mr Sprey is wrong and that
we are donkeys & poop peddlers for believing him – And then you go on to taut the virtues of
multirole. – Unfortunately Mr Sprey has given you the exact, concise & definitive reasons
that a JSF Multirole is a FAILED concept & is not Survivable in a Combat environment as
it’s STEALTH & ISTAR can and have been defeated.

& It is now up against the Russki KS-172 AWAK killer missile which have a longer range
than anything the F35 can carry. - In a dogfight it is far too bulky & awkward, and in any
ground support or attack mode it is far too soft & vulnerable.

You deal with none of these Concerns nor disprove any of these Contentions

Now if it was only Mr Sprey who was critical of this horrendously expensive piece of
Junk then you might have some ground to stand on. As it is you are on Thin Ice and the
Consensus is that the F35’s problems are Irreparable


1/6 F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER IS A LEMON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQB4W8C0rZI&list=PLo_vqBJIDsBpZmmo27tdmGBFPOpeWRodE


.

 

Eadora, your answer to my reply about the F35 went off about the Ukraine.... that is going OT from the drift LOL, it would be drift if we had a discussion about it I guess but I wasn't talking about Kiev. Just like we were talking about the F35 in a thread about the SU24 incident.... drift is ok, switching the topic as a tactic in what you think is an argument is just childish. You were just changing topics because you've got nothing to add about the F35. I know you don't have anything, especially because you don't seem to be even able to understand I've already addressed the criticism's you keep posting.

No, I pointed out how the use of multiroles had changed since his time. That he was applying an out of date paradigm of weapon system integration to a changed environment of weapon system integration. You seem to be really into the words donkey and poop, but it was not the main part of my point - just an accurate summation.

Anything can be defeated, even the systems which defeat other systems..... but again, stealth and ISTAR are only parts of the package the F35 bring which are above its contemporaries and predecessors.

I'm not sure what the KS-172 has to do with the F35 in particular, but stealth would help in surviving radar homing missiles and the F35 has pretty good coverage in this regards, not to mention electronic and information warfare capable to this new generation of platforms. Why do you say the F35 is bulky and awkward, because its bigger!? In aircraft design you can have bigger frames if you have bigger engines and low drag design... maneuverability comes down to control surface size, airflow and engine operation. The whole topic of dogfighting is mitigated though to some extent by the systems of the F35 for all aspect awareness and engagement but don't think that is an excuse for pretending the thing cannot fly like a fighter. Your argument about ground attack shows you've no idea of my initial point, that the weapon systems integration has changed a lot from when things like the F16 and A10 were up to date. There is already a long recent thread about the A10 in the military forum FYI.

It's Washington, the place is full of commercial interests and lobbying. It's how 'business' works, don't be a sucker for any one line of propoganda - suck em all up and refine it down to find the truth. Your just regurgitating garbage being peddled which you think is sufficient to be informed.. ie a mouthpiece for someone else. How much would it cost to research, develop, design, test and build three aircraft to supply the USN, USMC and USAF each with a multirole aircraft!!!!!???? I can tell you it would be almost 3 times the cost of the F35. The problems incurred by commonality more then make up for the cost of discarding it. This reminds me of the hatred of the MV22 prior to its introduction, just a bunch of fearmongering nonesense by parties with different interests

 

it seems that there's a cult of violence, sadism and lack of respect in russia.
in russia, there was ivan the terrible, he liked to kill the population, he killed the population of entire villages. He has pleasure with the suffering of the people.
today it seems russia is still a very agressive country. in some posts here i notice a likehhod to ivan the terrible.
in the last decades, russia had a lack of respect to neighbours, like czechoslovakia and others. they lie, lie and lie and the military invade. All countries that russia invade in the years 1940-1970 were very poor during the time when they were slavers of russia.

 

It funny that Americans so quickly forget and point fingers. Who was it that moved military blocks towards russian borders? Who was it that tried to erect missile shield next to russia?

What if russia erected missile shields in Cuba and mexico? I wonder what Americans would think about their national security? I'm guessing that Cuba and Mexico would be quickly invaded.

And Russia is the aggressor? Obviously russia has taken advantage of the situation. Who wouldn't when another place wants to join you. A former state no less.

Crimea had a vote; an overwhelming majority chose to join russia. This is undemocratic while a military coup d'etat is? Come on, get real

Americans are supporting neo natzis in Ukraine. Yeh, that's democracy for you. Meanwhile russia is the villain for excepting people who don't want to be part of ukraine. The new government there is killing innocent civilians.

Yeh, russia is the big bad aggressor.

In the real world......

America's President

●Dropped bombs in 7 Muslim countries.

●Bragged about his use of drones - I'm "really good at killing people".

●Planned $355 billion for a nuclear weapons program.

●Initiated, and personally oversees a 'Secret Kill List'.

●Drastically escalated the NSA spying program

●Signed the NDAA into law - making it legal to assassinate Americans w/o charge or trial.

●Signed more executive memoranda than any other president in history.

●Deployed Special Ops to 134 countries

●Started a covert, drone war in Yemen.

●Escalated the proxy war in Somalia.

●Escalated the CIA drone war in Pakistan.

●Sharply escalated the war in Afghanistan.

●Assassinated 4 US citizens with drone strikes.

●America's deadly double tap drone attacks are 'killing 49 people for every known terrorist in

●Waged war on Libya without congressional approval.

Russia can't go to ukraine to help with not killing civilians, while America could conducts Airstrikes in various countries

Russia can't except people who don't want to be a part of a neo natzi regime while America can drop bombs not on 1 but 7 countries? The hypocrisy!

Who's model of democracy should russia follow? Should they make every lower to middle class families reliant on their government? Or should they drop bombs on 7 different countries? Should they support known terror groups?

AMERICAN STOP LECTURING RUSSIA ON DEMOCRACY.

 

It's just the first lesson Russia needs to learn, you know the basics. Once Russia can reach the first grade of being a global participant then they will stop getting lectures. Your list is nice, but meaningless. Transparency is part of the first lesson, it will always reveal the details of the harsh reality so people like you can make up little lists which scare children, meanwhile Russia fights to remove transparency from government and media..... because it knows its truth is much worse.

Russia tried and it did not get 'lectures', but failed under Putin, so now its reverting back to its close minded nationalistic dogmatism which leads to isolationism, confrontations and hopefully not wars and thus is starting to get those 'lectures' because its demonstrating its a child of a nation - a big bully of child, but still a child in the head. I don't think Russian's are that stupid, but the male youth is quick to seek out a side and a fight out of jouvenille ignorance and Putin is happy to play his people as puppets in his plans.

 

Yeh, transparentcy....right....

Is that why there's whistle blowers in america? Because their government is so transparent? Is that why America labels them as traitors?

LIKE I SAID. BEFORE YOU TELL RUSSIA WHAT IT SHOULD OR SHOULDN'T DO; LOOK AT YOURSELF AND ASK IF YOU'RE DOING THE SAME THING

MOD EDIT - Rule 3 You should look at what Putin has done for russia. Then come back; don't spew your baseless opinions



As I said before. Putin never put no missile shield next to a countries boarder, threatening their national security.Putin was never the aggressor. He took in people in people who didn't want to belong to a regime run by neo natzis.

NATO is a military block designed to counter communism. Communism hasnt been a threat for a long time. NATO is a relic of cold war and many Americans still have a cold war mentality.

Putin is the president of russia and is doing everything he can to make russia great. To make their country great is a wish of every leader and has nothing to do with restoring anything.

Americans are stuck in the past and are trying to bully russia for moving on into the future.

If russia decides to drop bombs on ukraine to support the resistance then what is it doing thats diffrent to what American is.

Because they're russian it's automatically bad. Is that the mentality you have?

"I invade other people's counties everyday and kill people there"

"But when you do it it's bad"

tell me. How many bombs have russia dropped on another soil these past 20 years? How much did American?

How many soldiers did russia send to another's soil and killed innocence there In the last 20 years. What about america?

Look at who us tropic bombs where and who is killing who and you quickly realize that the agressor is united states.

If you can prove this point other wise then please do.

 

Fallen, first i must say that i'm not from united states.
the russian invasion in ukraine is a repetition of the invasion in czechoslovakia in 1968.
Yes, russia is the bad opressor that steals the countries it invades.
some people don't accept communist parties, other don't accept nazi parties. nowadays, communis parties are monsters worse than nazi parties, or parties that the enemies said are nazis. There are not really nazi parties nowadays.
the reasons for the ukraine invasion by russia are false, are lies.
in moscow, common people must pay a preotection tax to the mafia. the big businessmen generally are from the mafia. The money to build their business come from mafia activities. Thaat sort of things influence the agressive russian politic.

 

As I said. Cold war mind set.

The fact that you call russia "communist"

And what? Racial appreciation is worse than communism?

MOD EDIT - Rule 3

MOD EDIT - Rule 3

Communism is a socioeconomic system structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and characterized by the absence of social classes, money, and the state; as well as a social, political and economic ideology and movement that aims to establish this social order.

Russia adopted communism because they have already been practicing it. To survive the winters, towns in russia would share resources amongst eachother. What's mine is yours.

To live as a community is the basics of communism.

MOD EDIT - Rule 3

 

Let's see.....you are asking the membership to...."Look at what Putin has done for Russia."...correct?

OK...let's see....Putin has.....

#1. Stolen Billions upon Billions of Dollars from the Russian People.

#2. Putin has seized every large scale Company in Russia and divided it amongst his 110 Buddies who control and own 35% of all wealth in Russia.

#3. Putin has rendered the RUBLE WORTHLESS!!

#4. Putin has BROKEN A DEAL WITH THE UNITED STATES.....something NO NATION IS STUPID ENOUGH TO DO...UNLESS THEY HAVE A DEATH WISH!!!

#5. As a result of BREAKING THIS DEAL....has caused THE COMPLETE COLLAPSE OF THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY!

#6. Under Putin....FOR THE FIRST TIME IN RUSSIAN OR SOVIET OR RUSSIAN AGAIN HISTORY...THE U.S. TREASURY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPLYING AREAS OF RUSSIA IN NEED OF VIABLE CURRENCY AS THE IMF AND WORLD BANK HAVE ASSIGNED THE U.S. TREAUSURY AND U.S. DOLLAR AS THE CURRENT MONETARY SYSTEM IN RUSSIA!!

#7. Under Putin...the average Russian Family is almost as bad off as when Hitler was within a few miles of Moscow!!!

#8. Putin is making a mistke that PUTIN HIMSELF said was a mistake that should never be made....that being allowing China unfettered access to Russian Oil and Natural Gas Reserves.

#9. Putin for the purpose of getting the average Russian Families mind keeps talking about possible WAR with the U.S. and NATO....a WAR that Russia would lose so quickly it would be over almost before it began.

#10....BUT WORST OF ALL...PUTIN HAS PI$$ED OFF....the ONLY NATION.....capable of restoring the Russian Economy.....THE UNITED STATES!!!

This list could keep going on all day!!

AboveAlpha

 

We do have weapons systems that can LIMIT a Nuclear War and within less than a decade....STOP A NUCLEAR WAR...but not yet.

AboveAlpha

 

Correct...BUT....there does not currently exist any F-22 like Aircraft flying.

Oh I know the Chinese and Russian's have said they have them.....they don't.

An F-35 has much better Stealth Capabilities than the very best Chinese or Russian Designs and an F-35 could SHOOT AND SCOOT well before either the Chinese or Russian Aircraft even knew they were being Targeted!!

AboveAlpha

 

“…..your answer to my reply about the F35 went off about the Ukraine....”
How you can contend that a confrontation involving an alleged ‘Act of War’ commited by Russia
against the USA in the Black Sea, does NOT involve the Ukraine ? - That is for any Rational person
........................................................................................................................ a bit of a - s t r e t c h out
........................................................................................................................ come those Bungie Cord arguments again


“… You were just changing topics because you've got nothing to add about the F35”..”
I added Spery’s & Wheeler’s & Rand Corps critiques +++ all of which you have still failed
.............................................................................................. to address, or did you miss-em


“…….but stealth would help in surviving…”
Your much vaunted stealth has been defeated and with the F35 it was only ever good head on with
............................................................................................... a low freq. Radar - The Russki's use High


“…bigger frames if you have bigger engines....”
You must have missed the RAND Corporation,s evaluation, given in one of my Links :
QUOTE: - “Can’t turn, Can’t climb, Can’t run”


“……Your just regurgitating garbage being peddled..”
Garbage TRUE ! --- Garbage peddled by US Foreign Policy Statements


“…….You seem to be really into the words donkey and poop…”
It was you who first used those words when addressing your honorable adversaries “axial”

Everytime you resort to an attack like that I will shine a light on you, in hopes that you will begin
...................................................................................... to see, what a cheap Gutter tactic it is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Anyway – in debate – a strong adversary is a strong Friend
.........[ Because only a strong Adversary makes you Think

& Friend “axialturban” is way better than any of ‘one liner’ cheap shots who hang out here on the PF
....................................He at least mixes it up with a little bit of content. - I just wish he’d pay attention

.................................................................... Gotta Go for a day or two – I’m getting Beamed Up
........................................................................Address all Emergency Challenges to my other friend Klaatu

.

.

.

 

The Russian Sukhoi T-50 is still under development but to far along to stop ( has L-band devices in the wings looking forward), the F-35 has enough stealth to get to where it can then get into trouble but with that big, hot all powerfull enginebut not enough to get out without a cold burning fuel & we do not know yet what US 6th generation aircraft will be available to ride shotgun on F-35 missions. Might be best to wait untill more is known before making wild claims of invencibility, could be several years.

 

It's stubby and chubby because it can carry a lot of fuel, and some weapons, internally - not because it's trying to be three aircraft at once. It was designed that was to increase it survivability while retaining a capacity to fight - because external loads really kill off the stealth. No use sending A10's, F16's, FA18F's up to just see them dump their external tanks and bombs and RTB when the enemy air shows up. The F35 is designed to hunt and kill alongside the F22 as a team, and other systems are meant to be developed to fill the other capability weak areas... but in the meantime the F35/F22 mix should excel most of the strike fighter taskings which cannot be met by existing indirect or unmanned systems.

 

lies

Russia's economy collapsed when communism collapse. With it the ruble. Putin has nothing to do with it. The fact that russia is where it is today is a testament of his skill.

During Putin's first premiership and presidency (1999–200 real incomes in Russia rose by a factor of 2.5, while real wages more than tripled; unemployment and poverty more than halved. Russians' self-assessed life satisfaction also rose significantly. Putin's first presidency was marked by high economic growth: the Russian economy grew for eight straight years, seeing GDP increase by 72% in PPP (as for nominal GDP, 600%). This growth was a combined result of the 2000s commodities boom, high oil prices, as well as prudent economic and fiscal policies.





Fueled by the 2000s commodities boom including record high oil prices (in nominal terms), under the Putin administration from 2001 to 2007, the economy made real gains of an average 7% per year, making it the 7th largest economy in the world in purchasing power. Russia's nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 6 fold, climbing from 22nd to 10th largest in the world. In 2007, Russia's GDP exceeded that of Russian SFSR in 1990, meaning it overcame the devastating consequences of the 1998 financial crisis and preceding recession in the 1990s.

A fund for oil revenue allowed Russia to repay all of the Soviet Union's debts by 2005. Payments from the fuel and energy sector accounted for nearly half of the federal budget's revenues. Under Putin russia is doing exceptionaly well. I dare to say that no one else could have don't it.


As Russia's president, Putin and the Federal Assembly passed into law a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. As Prime Minister, Putin oversaw large-scale military and police reform. His energy policy has affirmed Russia's position as an energy superpower. Putin supported high-tech industries such as the nuclear and defence industries. A rise in foreign investment contributed to a boom in such sectors as the automotive industry. However, capital investment recently dropped 2.5% because of the crisis in Ukraine according to forecasts by economists from the IMF.


Under Putin as President and Premier, most of the world's largest automotive companies opened plants in Russia, which Putin encouraged via tax incentives, as well as protectionist measures which discouraged imports.

In 2005, Putin initiated an industry consolidation programme to bring the main aircraft producing companies under a single umbrella organization, the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC). The aim was to optimize production lines and minimise losses. The UAC is one of the so-called national champions and comparable to EADS in Europe.

In a similar fashion, Putin created the United Shipbuilding Corporation in 2007, which led to the recovery of shipbuilding in Russia. Since 2006, much efforts were put into consolidation and development of the Rosatom Nuclear Energy State Corporation, which led to the renewed construction of nuclear power plants in Russia. In 2007, the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation was established, aimed to boost the science and technology and high-tech industry in Russia.

In the decade following 2000, energy in Russia helped transform the country, especially oil and gas energy. This transformation promoted Russia's well-being and international influence, and the country was frequently described in the media as an energy superpower. Putin oversaw growing taxation of oil and gas exports which helped finance the budget, while the oil industry of Russia, production, and exports all significantly grew.

Putin sought to increase Russia's share of the European energy market by building submerged gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine and other countries which were often seen as non-reliable transit partners by Russia, especially following Russia-Ukraine gas disputes of the late 2000s (decade). Russia also undermined the rival pipeline project Nabucco by buying the Turkmen gas and redirecting it into Russian pipelines.

On the other hand Russia diversified its export markets by building the Trans-Siberian oil pipeline to the markets of China, Japan and Korea, as well as the Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok gas pipeline in the Russian Far East. Russia has also recently built several major oil and gas refineries, plants and ports. Additionally, Putin has presided over construction of major hydropower plants, such as the Bureya Dam and the Boguchany Dam, as well as the restoration of the nuclear industry of Russia, with some 1 trillion rubles ($42.7 billion) allocated from the federal budget to nuclear power and industry development before 2015. A large number of nuclear power stations and units are currently being constructed by the state corporation Rosatom in Russia and abroad.

Sigh...it just keeps going.....

A construction program of floating nuclear power plants will provide power to Russian Arctic coastal cities and gas rigs, starting in 2012. The Arctic policy of Russia also includes an offshore oilfield in the Pechora Sea is expected to start producing in early 2012, with the world's first ice-resistant oil platform and first offshore Arctic platform. In August 2011 Rosneft, a Russian government-operated oil company, signed a deal with ExxonMobil for Arctic oil production. "The scale of the investment is very large. It's scary to utter such huge figures" said Putin on signing the deal.

The construction of a pipeline at a cost of $77bn, to be jointly funded by Russia and China, was signed off on by President Putin in Shanghai on 21 May 2014. It would be the biggest construction project in the world for the following 4 years, Putin said at the time. On completion in 4 to 6 years, the pipeline would deliver natural gas from the state-majority-owned Gazprom to China's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation for the next 30 years, in a deal worth $400bn.

Under Putin, Russia's relationships with NATO and the U.S. have passed through several stages. When Putin first became President, the relations were cautious. After the 9/11 attacks when Putin quickly supported the U.S. in the War on Terror, the opportunity for partnership appeared. However, the U.S. responded by further expansion of NATO to Russia's borders and by unilateral withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Since 2003, when Russia did not support the Iraq War and when Putin became ever more distant from the West in his internal and external policies, the relations continued to deteriorate. According to Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen, the narrative of the mainstream U.S. media, following that of the White House, became anti-Putin. In an interview with Michael Stürmer, Putin was quoted saying that there were three questions which most concerned Russia and Eastern Europe: namely, the status of Kosovo, the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and American plans to build missile defence sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, and suggested that all three were linked. In Putin's view, concessions on one of these questions on the Western side might be met with concessions from Russia on another. In a January 2007 interview, Putin said Russia is in favor of a democratic multipolar world and of strengthening the systems of international law.

In April 2008, Putin became the first Russian President who visited Libya. Putin condemned the foreign military intervention of Libya, he called UN resolution as "defective and flawed," and added "It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades." Upon the death of Muammar Gaddafi, Putin called it as "planned murder" by the US, saying: "They showed to the whole world how he (Gaddafi) was killed," and "There was blood all over. Is that what they call a democracy?"

In August 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili attempted to restore control over the breakaway South Ossetia. However, the Georgian military was soon defeated in the resulting 2008 South Ossetia War after regular Russian forces entered South Ossetia and then Georgia proper, then also opened a second front in the other Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia against with Abkhazian forces. During this conflict, according to French diplomat Jean-David Levitte, Putin intended to depose the Georgian President and declared: "I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls".

Despite existing or past tensions between Russia and most of the post-Soviet states, Putin has followed the policy of Eurasian integration. Putin endorsed the idea of a Eurasian Union in 2011, The concept was proposed by the President of Kazakhstan in 1994. On 18 November 2011, the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement setting a target of establishing the Eurasian Union by 2015. The Eurasian Union was established on January 1, 2015.


Big bad Putin

 

It took awhile for the USSR to recover from its own collapse yes, but Russia was always going to supply oil to Europe if it remained peaceful to Europe. Now Putin is deciding it no longer needs to be peaceful because it thinks people will continue to use their oil anyway.... he might be right, but he has done nothing special that was positive, certainly nothing you listed there. A wealthy Russia is a positive thing, but a nationalistic Russia which uses its military to expand its borders is not.

 

It's not bad if that county wants to join them. At least in not overthrowing regimes and install a puppet leader.

 

Should Putin follow Mexico's strategy of instead of using it's military to expand it's borders they use Mexicos losers to expand it's borders through illegal immigration ?

Putin want's Russia to be a superpower again or at least a regional superpower which it already is. What Russia doesn't want in NATO on it's southern border. They aren't happy campers with the expansion of NATO that took place during the 1990's in which they found NATO on their western border.

Look at France, they also want to be a superpower or at least the big kahuna in Europe.

Where as Obama believes that there should be no superpowers or regional superpowers. That's why we are no longer a superpower like we were back in 2008. No world leaders listen to Obama, they just shake their heads and turn to Germany.

 

PUTINISM

During the 1930's fascism was the craze and became popular throughout the world.

Today Putinism is becoming popular throughout the world.

 

I see that you don't take into account COST OF LIVING INCREASES or INFLATION or DEFLATION...etc.

Putin has destroyed Russia.

AboveAlpha

 

The U.S. Military will no longer be building Human Piloted Aircraft.

They will be Robotic Self Autonomous Fighter/Attack Aircraft.

Super Fast....agile in the extreme and able to stay on station of flight for 24 to 48 hours.

Extremely stealthy and capable with out the added weight of Human Life Support....of carrying more weapons.

The F-22 and F-35 will be the LAST of the Human Piloted Military Aircraft.

AboveAlpha

 

Russia does not even have a viable mechanism for choosing their own leader anymore. Putin is really just the face of the present iteration of the KGB, they lost all credibility to any sane person when it became clear the only person Putin answers to is his handlers in that state intelligence apparatus. He clearly is no longer answerable to the people, since they've had a revolving door presidency there for over a decade to keep him at the helm. The thing is the mafia running Russia know that nation states become less and less relevant in a free market globalized world, and they desperately desire the 'superpower' capacity not to ensure peace, but to ensure their own growth.

 

That would have to be one very inteligent combat drone to reliablely complete missions & do it without a lot of friendly fire mistakes & collateral damage, although they might start getting zapped by the FEL lazer before they get that smart.

Taking the pilot out of the F-35 & turning it into a drone would not be the worst thing that could happen to that airframe.

Freddy.