I think that’s the case - the F-16s warned them multiple times as they approached and fired when the Russian jets crossed the border. Even though a AMRAAM flies at Mach 4, and the Sukhois were probably flying 500mph or so, the stretch of Turkish territory they over flew was small enough that they were back in Syrian…

Everything is gray. The ground is wet. The grass is overgrown. The only thing more Soviet than that picture was the scene from Goldeneye in the park full of old Lenin statues.

Actually, the Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish F-16. I’d guess they used an AIM-120 AMRAAM, which is fire and forget. That would be less likely to trigger a lock-on warning than a AIM-7 Sparrow, which requires continuous radar tracking.

Will it drift?

Earth has a ‘ring’ for certain definitions of ‘ring’, though ‘cloud’ might be more appropriate.

This. A 200hp turbo version of the 2.0L or even the ~175hp 2.5L used in everything else would be enough of an improvement.

My only complaint about Combat Aircraft is that I can’t get every picture they publish as a full size poster.

What of it?

Great articles, thank you. I guess I have to spend more time reading Navy Times now.

The US has done enough morally reprehensible stuff since 9/11 to have a very tenuous claim to the moral high ground, but that doesn’t mean we’re wrong in calling out the Russians for not even trying.

OPFOR makes the most sense, but it just seemed odd to see seemingly foreign camo on US troops, even in training.

Crye’s too rich for my blood, though they have no nice patterns. I just found it odd that US troops would be wearing non-standard camo, but if they’re OPFOR or the super-duper-HSLD types, they can probably wear whatever they want.

The accuracy of the weapon is only as good as the aim of the shooter. Precision of your weapons don’t matter much if you shoot at the wrong target. The Russians don’t even profess to care, which suggests a different - and more callous - mentality than the US government professes*.

In the open desert, sure, use dumb bombs. But in a densely populated urban area? That’s apathetic at best, callous at worst.

There are plenty of videos from the war in Ukraine if you want a taste of that. Massed artillery is terrifying.

I’m at work, so I can’t listen to the sound, so this might be really obvious to someone who has but...

Agreed. I’d like to see a TIE Fighter stop an AMRAAM

Do you have more information on the reliability of the CVNs, and other Navy ships for that matter? I’ve never seen that discussed in open sources.

It looks like chin beard to me, like Tito from Rocket Power:

NP. Buy it and drive it until the rust tears the body apart, then use it as a parts car to keep a less rotting one going.