The FN-6 shoot-down is unconfirmed. There’s something wrong with the video (editing, shading issues) that’s out there of the FN being deployed successfully. Again, I’m not a video or image analysis expert, so I can’t point out specifics, but that’s what I’m being told.

Ah, the C-130 Specter Gunship, recently replaced by the C-130J Ghostrider (I think your picture is the J model— the one they trashed so bad with that inverted stunt that they had to scrap the whole plane due to the damage).

Based on our previous debate on the MANPADS/Syria issue, I looked into your assertions about the system’s being in theater already, and here’s what I found (that I can post publicly).

And what happened to US debt yields after the downgrade?

“...we are discussing the false information that pilots can somehow detect that they are being targeted by an IR missile.”

“Everybody knows that rebels have both IR and radar guided AA (like SA-8), but why would Russia be afraid of something that can’t harm them? That is the very reason for their high altitude bombing - they don’t want some haji scoring a lucky shot on one of their aircraft.”

See, that’s what I thought, too. I have rudimentary knowledge of the Stinger, and it’s Russian counterparts, as part of weapons identification/arms control training. It didn’t seem to me that the system’s targeting via-IR could have tipped the planes off above, either.

“...message will be quite significant in some Mideast nations.”

The Federation itself has low debt because Russia’s credit rating is “junk/investment grade”, meaning it’s a high risk investment for investors— and thus has sky-high interest rates. The Kremlin can’t afford to borrow over the long-term with interest rates like that. Short-term debt is ok, but anything medium-to-long…

Ahahaha!

A little anti-Semitic? Bender was one step from being a full-fledged member of the Nazi party.

You and I are in total agreement about trusting China. I certainly don’t trust anything they do.

Disregard. This post made in error.

That’s total nonsense. How could a country borrow, and thus possess liabilities for, 3x more money than exists in the entire world?

Another dumb comment.

I heard that, too. I also heard the Australians were angling to acquire F-22 Raptors in exchange for US Naval bases down-under. This would match their public statements on restarting the F-22 line, although it’s still seriously unlikely we’d do so.

Honestly, it beats me. Military aircraft is not my speciality, therefore, I’m unable to make an assertion either way on what the MANPADS have/don’t have, or what the Russian jets have/don’t have, either.

I’m sure China would make some move, unless an accord was struck before hand with the South Koreans, and the US, which is what I was alluding to above.

Anything that’s strategically valuable is going to put US forces in jeopardy to hold. That’s just how it is— if it’s important to us, you bet it’s important to our adversaries, too.

I’d suspect we’d relocate forces to the coast of current-South Korea in a series new(er) Naval bases. These could house 5,000-10,000 Marines, and a few assets from the US 7th Fleet, which would take the pressure off US bases in Japan, and keep a credible “triangle” of US forces near the SCS.