I don't mean they aren't militarily prepared, I mean the government isn't ready to fully commit to such an endeavor.

I think the B-52H is more efficient than the B-1B when they're compared (ordinance) pound for pound. The B-52 is also a more versatile platform since it doesn't have the aerodynamic restrictions of the B-1. Takeoff weight is not the only consideration since an increased bomb load will require more fuel throughout the…

The Turks just aren't ready to fully commit their forces to the fight.

The Iranians still (barely) fly the F-14.

It can move aircraft.

That would be the crane that they use to move any aircraft that can't move on their own. Every carrier has one and they typically store it there since it's too large to store belowdecks.

They were there with the 917th fighter group, which was inactivated last summer. I think those A-10s were sent to Davis Monthan.

That Eurocopter X3 would have some serious drawbacks on the battlefield. A quick in and out for the troops would be slightly complicated by having a massive propeller right next to the door. And what if one of them gets knocked out? At least the S-97 has counterrotating main rotors so if it lost the tail…

Oh NASA, the last operator of otherwise long forgotten and retired aircraft. If you look at the NASA wiki page of the various aircraft that they use, it's just a hodge podge of pretty much whatever the other services were looking to get rid of. Everything from recently retired Navy S-3 Vikings to the only remaining…

The T-90 did see very limited combat use in Chechnya/Dagestan in 1999.

Wish to use a tank, no. But their designers would probably like to identify any teething issues that might arise from actual combat. Identifying such problems allows the engineers to improve crew survivability. I don't see how that's necessarily a bad thing.

Nope. It has experimentally carried the AIM-92 (which is much smaller than the AIM-9). Even then it has very little practicality as an air-to-air platform due to its low speed and power.

It just takes a while to get the carrier operations thing right.

The A-10s will arrive in the area in October.

Pretty sure the A-1 was never capable of carrying smart munitions or lobbing those bombs from 50 miles away.

I prefer a mop up with B-52s loaded with smart bombs. They don't even need to be stationed in the area, they can take off from Louisiana or Guam and fly directly to the combat area and then turn around and come home.

There are better UAVs in development. The X-47B has been successfully tested on aircraft carriers landing and taking off as part of the normal traffic. It has a top speed just under Mach 1 and can carry 4,500 lbs. of weapons internally.

They are capable of carrying the missiles, but they aren't capable of effectively engaging in air-to-air combat. A Reaper could maybe shoot down a Piper Cub. Most combat aircraft will be out of range before the operator even gets a chance to fire, and that's only if the Reaper wasn't knocked out of the sky already by…

"This post should be taken down"

I don't think Tyler worded that to mean he was itching for it to go into combat, but that it was about damn time the F-22 was actually fielded after all the delays and setbacks.