The problem I see with developing a slower, less maneuverable platform that will destroy missiles... is that missiles won’t be thrown at it. What happens when railguns start being deployed as a weapon system? Now the fancy new fighter has no way of evading OR defending against incoming hypersonic rounds. Once it’s…

For A2A, I think the middle step will be stealth sensor drones that will penetrate enemy airspace and loiter, looking up to find targets via passive radar and IRST. It will send that info back to missile trucks that can launch from the maximum distance of a weapon system - never bothering to turn on their own active…

It looks like the front end of Battlestar Galactica

Big Trak! I used to lay waste to my army men with this thing.

The sailors will then have to acknowledge orders with: “By your command”

The Iraqi government want’s to expel a foreign force on it’s sovereign territory. HAHAHAHAHAHA... haaaa... oh, that is a good one. I’m not even going to touch them going to the UN to get something accomplished. What a farce a united Iraq is. No one takes it seriously.

Answered my own question:

Do we have any idea which model this was? Was it an older Strela (SA-7), Igla (SA-18), or newer Verba?

This is from a Strategy Page article

No, the Kurds don’t have their own land. The Iraqi Kurds do. The Syrian Kurds do. The Turkish Kurds don’t, neither do the Iranian Kurds.

The Russians don’t need to create a Kurdish state, they just have to support its creation. The US won’t support it because of Turkey, but really that’s it. They have already carved out and successfully defended their own state in Iraq, and they’ve done the same in Syria. The tipping point for them would be recognition…

Of course they are friendly to us, we are giving them guns and protection... well, some guns and no protection would be a better way of putting it. We bring Turkey in to fight ISIS with us and the first think they do is bomb Kurds... Kurds who were fighting ISIS. I’m sure they were really thankful for our help that…

Exactly... Russia can go slow with the support with weapons that will directly affect Turkish incursions, so it can still sell weapons to Iran. They would have to tell the Kurds to backburner any efforts in Iran until they solidify their Turkish territory.

Well, there is the Nuclear option for Russia:

What a great spot to insert a Spetsnaz team and a few helicopter gunships, not to mention a big cluster bombing + WP run to precede it!

Remember Crimea - how effective Hybrid war is for Russia? How about a whole new Hybrid war:

Imagine the possibilities if Russia started supporting this. It’s already a fact on the ground in 2 of the 4 countries listed on this map - Syria and Iraq.

I think the interesting scenario is this:

Well, nice work on your analysis of the Nov 7 and Nov 9 launches! I agree with some of your assessment of the launch site, but that raises some questions.

Wow... what we need right now is a globe and a triangle square! We could then figure out roughly how high the image you have would be over the area approximately 400 miles off Point Mugu! Alas, I’m traveling now.