The Ospreys operating cost/hour is the problem. Its cool and provides an enhanced capability but its killing aviation maintenance budgets.

Ok, Ukraine gets it. Let them into NATO tomorrow.

I think what we are overlooking is the loss of pilots that are dedicated to pure CAS missions. The guys that fly the A-10 are absolute masters of the role and once you replace them in a generic F-35A squadron then you get a pilot that is a jack of all-master of none. Its the same with the Wild Weasel community.

There are a lot of problems with a military solution. Seoul is in long range artillery range and NK has chemical weapons. If you evacuate Seoul prior to an attack, lil Kim knows its coming and pre-emptively strikes with thousands of heavy artillery/rockets. His artillery along the DMZ is in hardened structures and can…

I see Pierce Brosnon is returning for more James Bond.

China is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to upgrade their military with new aircraft, a blue water navy, reorganized army and new munitions. You don’t spend that kind of money on defense and not use it. Sometime in the near future China is going to start a shooting war with one of its neighbors. They will…

Ithink the best way for Turkey and SA to do a ground incursion is to use the Russian model Hybrid warfare. Send in the troops a few at a time with no uniforms or insignia. Give them loads of soviet era MANPADS and excess tanks, then deny their existence utterly. As the hybrid units gain successes, equip them better…

Sure makes sense, except nothing over there makes sense.

I can see the Russians declaring a no-fly zone over all of Syria in the very near future.

Just more factories for Israel to bomb when they get tired of the Nuke deal.

If the coalition is going to succeed against ISIS and Assad, the US needs to support a Hybrid style war against Assad in Syria supported by Saudi, Egyptian and Turkish troops. Make sure they have plenty of ex-Soviet era MANPADS and tanks from Egypt.

Last week Russia claims to have identified an ISIS terrorist training camp in Georgia (the one they invaded in 2008 and not the one with the peaches). They are claiming Turkey violated the open skies treaty by denying Russian overflight rights. Not to mention things are heating up in Ukraine again.

Great post. The sound of all the raw power being held in check is just such a thrill. I remember my AH-64 unit training for a battalion level deep attack at Ft. Hood back in the 90's. Every rotor that could turn was spinning up all at once (16 Apaches, 2 Blackhawks and 5 Kiowa). Gives me goose bumps thinking about it.

Fantastic link. Thank you.

Very interesting. Any idea what capability they will use to replace the Bone’s role? The range, bomb load, speed and accuracy seems perfect for the theater. Played a big role in the Iraqi attack on Ramadi recently if I remember.

Well remember the US did this during the siege at Khe Sanh. Dropping tons of ordinance regularly demoralizes an enemy. Hitting the same area over and over can also deny the enemy certain terrain key because the know its going to be bombed three times a day.

Bravo. I think the Brits are still pretty effective but they are shamefully small. The German military is a disgrace at this point. The French are probably the most effective partners right now followed by the South Koreans and Japanese.

As much as I would like to see more Raptors, it would take a decade to restart the line, upgrade the aircraft, and start getting production models out to the fleet. Plus the plane would still be 225mil per copy. Its just not happening.

Fantastic series Tyler.

Just to kind of add to this: