There is also the fact that by 2020, pretty much ALL civil aircraft will have ADS-B installed and operating at all times. Most do already. It should be a fairly simple thing for the types of SAM sites that can reach a airliner at 40k feet (usually radar guided) to pick up the ADS-B transmission.

He said, she said. Both sides say it happened. That is enough to warrant it legally, yes, whether you or I disagree with what happened. I am not sure why you’re arguing something that is black and white.

Negative. I am saying that a ground attack airplane penetrated Turkish airspace. They had legal justification due to the fact a warplane was there unauthorized, and for all they knew it was there to bomb their own citizens or people on their side of the border.

From what I’ve read, it uses a compressed air bottle (re-chargeable) to start the APGS (built around a standard G-250 Turbine APU), then the APU starts the engines. The SES exhausts out the door at the bottom, and the APU inlet AND outlet are on the top (the 2 doors on top).

I find the idea of fighter drones appeals to me. Projectiles could be dangerous for people in crowds, so they should use chain flails.

We don’t really have enough of them to keep them overhead, and they probably don’t want to spend to keep up that kind of sortie rate anyway.

What’s your point? A hand grenade is far better than a 500lb bomb in close contact. You realize they use a computerized aiming system that even stabilizes the motion of the aircraft (PAC) using a 2-stage trigger right? Pull to the first stage and the system engages, allowing precision control of where the nose is…

All I am saying now, is go back and read what I have written previously until you can comprehend it. This isn’t about selling weapons to Iraq. This is about selling weapons to lots of people that are improved using some rather sleezy means.

So much wrong here. The GAU-8 is so accurate that it is often used in danger-close situations in lieu of precision-guided weapons for taking out personnel, even when the A-10s have precision weapons onboard. Look at some of the actual pilot interviews and data collected on it.

Actually that was you completely changing the subject by saying “But the US does THIIIS!!!” I said France’s actions were pretty crappy for an ally, and that still stands true. I make no further claims or opinions, and you’ve failed to show anything to the contrary.

Ah, I didn’t realize you were so ignorant to the whole concept of how wars are fought to begin with.

Yikes guys, I was only trying to be punny... Don’t take it so seriously :P

I’d rather see Warthogs on a carrier ;)

I’m sorry, do they get paid for their weapons deals in donkeys or something? I assumed Iraq paid for the nuclear reactor and IADS and fighters they bought from France using money.

No matter what, how you treat your allies does reflect on you. Allies exert pressure on each other all the time, but selling your allies out for cash is a different story.

Drones from the Iowa class battleships in the Persian Gulf flew missions to assist aiming their big guns during the first Iraq War. That was in 1991, or over 2 decades ago. We’ve had target drones going back to the 50s as well.

Honestly, if I had a friend that I invited to a party, who spent the entire time watching everyone else drink, coaxing secrets out of them to sell later, and casing my house, I wouldn’t invite them back.

All Russian planes look bizarre. At the same time they all look awesome (much like the A-10 and Buff)

Sure, it was merely a coincidence that WWII followed our ramping down of forces and isolationist attitudes after WWI. And then our buildup with Russia poised constantly threatening Europe resulted in no WWIII.

Geostationary orbit is only available over the equators because of physics. The satellite has to be moving in the same direction the Earth is rotating to remain stationary. All objects falling fall toward the center of Earth’s gravity, which is the center of the Earth.