The interesting thing about that is if things are as you say, the Red Army could send “Volunteers” in to protect the “Ethnic Chinese Citizens” in East Russia. Like Russia did with Ossetia and Ukraine - playing by the same playbook is a BITCH!

The F-130... launching and recovering drones our the back, slinging long range missiles via hardpoints..., launching IRST probes for WVR recon. good times.

I think for that to happen there has to be a new “killer app” for it, some weapon or capability that will reveal this plane head and shoulders above the rest.

The “probe” missile is here! (At least for ground attack) The missile that looks for targets for other missiles. We just need an A2A variety too.

Found the writer:

Exactly. A Gay Pride parade could break out at any moment, Russia needs these vehicles to quickly respond to internal threats from civilians.

I couldn’t find it in my quick search, but there was another still that caught some kind of lens flare which was supposed to be evidence of a missile impacting the tower right before the airplane impacted.

Actually that pic made me think of the 9/11 conspiracy theory that the airplane launched a missile at the tower right before impact.

Um, to support your claim that Germans banks aren’t holding Greek debt, the second paragraph says:

Like how the current Greek government wasn’t in power either... until the last election? If the grass looks greener in Greece after it leaves the EU, that could provide the push for a similar movement in Spain who also faces incredible debts to German banks.

Again, Greece wins by running to Russia! How is getting showered with money NOT in Greek interest? The only way they lose is by staying in the EU and staying in NATO... if they start heading for the exit though... KA-CHING!

We have bases all around Russia, but Europe only has Russia to its east. If Europe had Russian missile bases to it’s south as well, that changes things up considerably. We are crapping our pants at Iran getting the SA-400 system... what if Greece and Spain have them too?

Right now Greece is pretty open with who they will trade with since their economy is in the crapper, and Russia has interest in gas fields in the Med. Greece could export tons of food to Russia - who WERE a primary customer before the sanctions kicked in. Greece could also veto continuing sanctions on Russia in…

It would be really interesting if Greece left NATO as well as the EU, then Russia moved in with an alliance. It would make sense so it could back away from Syria, yet still have the warm water port it needs in the Med. If Putin played it right, he might even be able to peel Spain away too. What would NATO look like if…

Now that is interesting - the drone is the missile truck, the manned craft has clean wings to maximise stealth and fuel efficiency. Drone craft constantly cycle into the conflict zone so you always have 12 AMRAAMs to shoot, no matter how many you have already shot.

The “Man in the Swarm” model seems like it would be the best path, as control would be local and not from the other side of the globe (no lag). But what would the Fighter Drones do? They would have to be intelligent enough to fly and perform specific actions. As they are unmanned they can do some crazy stuff too.

Well, take that IRST pod that is already being developed and mount it on an air breathing cruise missile - like the new stealthy one we are developing. Then it is small. Without electronic emissions (until it finds some targets) it’s hard to locate unless you start turning on the radars that light yourself up as well.

No, I disagree with trying to add anymore capabilities into the F-35... that ship sailed Many years ago. Instead, we should focus on something new - and I’m not talking about a 6th gen fighter. What you need for the F-35 is a “probe” to quote Star Trek terminology. To quote US terminology, it would be a pylon mounted…

Maverick isn’t heading off into the sunset peacefully as an instructor at Top Gun, where he routinely lives his days getting kills on fellow pilots rather than teaching. He gets his comeuppance from a new young pilot who he see’s himself in.

Change of strategy at the rear - we don’t drop a precision guided nuke, we drop a precision guided cake and drop it a few feet from the door.