So it turns out that having the most *expensive* military tech in the world may not be the best strategy, huh?
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@artemis Asymmetric warfare is a real thing.
Just one example.
The British RAF celebrates taking down two drones (I'll take those to be Shahed-136 drones, unit cost about $35.000) with two ASRAAM (Unit cost >£200,000) by scrambling a F35 (probably the F-35B Lightning II, unit cost $109 million to $135 million+) and two Typhoons (unit cost about $200 million to $300 million).
So that's roughly (not calculating fuel, deployment, training, personnel, etc. and taking the cheapest known costs)
$264.857 + $264.857 + $109.000.000 + $200.000.000 + $200.000.000 =
$509.529.714 versus $70.000.
LMAO.
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@artemis The Pentagon failed 7 audits in a row, and is currently unable to account for 63% of its budget.
63%.
I don't think this money is going into weapons or geopolitical strategy meetings.
UK pioneer #Hacker Gary McKinnon fought an extradition to the US for 10 years.
Where he would be charged with crimes totalling 70 years jail.One of the things McKinnon allegedly saw, were offworld personnel crew rosters.
This was back in the modem days and he was loading screens, so no files (before digital cameras)Its potentially plausible the "missing" Pentagon budget is off-world special programs.
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@artemis Oh, it always has been. See also the F-104 Starfighter.
That plane was so bad it got the nickname "widowmaker" from the Germans because so many pilots died flying them. The reputation was so bad that the US (or Lockheed?) paid for an entire Top Gun knock-off movie to be made about them to try and salvage their reputation.
Fix the problems? No. Just make a movie about how awesome our fancy plane is.
@faithisleaping @artemis Chief designer Kelly Johnson so regretted that plane that he threatened to quit Lockheed if they kept selling it. I guess the compromise was they would only sell it overseas
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@artemis Oh, it always has been. See also the F-104 Starfighter.
That plane was so bad it got the nickname "widowmaker" from the Germans because so many pilots died flying them. The reputation was so bad that the US (or Lockheed?) paid for an entire Top Gun knock-off movie to be made about them to try and salvage their reputation.
Fix the problems? No. Just make a movie about how awesome our fancy plane is.
@faithisleaping @artemis If there’s any saving grace, it’s that the #MST3K episode on Starfighters has one of the most hilarious lead-in skits of all time
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@faithisleaping @artemis If there’s any saving grace, it’s that the #MST3K episode on Starfighters has one of the most hilarious lead-in skits of all time
@Simplicator @artemis Oh, that whole episode is a riot. One of my all-time favorites. The movie riffing and the host segments are all top-notch.
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@sidereal @TeflonTrout @artemis This thread is giving me life right now
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@artemis i was watching a video on how well the US tanks were doing in Ukraine. Aside from the fact 90+% of them have been destroyed, one little nugget of info made me understand so much about US military doctrine and it's overwhelming weakness.
An M1 Abrams tank, if you fill the fuel tank in the morning, and it sits idling all day (to power target systems and weapons etc...) by sundown the tank is empty, even if it doesn't move. How do you provide the logistics for that madness ?!??
one of the things about tanks is that, without a continuous supply of fuel, that's what will happen. that's partly why Hitler's tanks didn't fare well in Russia.
another thing is that a tank's armor only protects against shrapnel and small arms fire at best. if you can't go hull-down anywhere, you're an easy target for artillery and other tanks. every tank game of the past ten years has made this a crucial part of surviving the round. if you treat it like an impenetrable suit of armor, you will die.
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The US is a hollow nation. Hollowed out over decades. In the coming years, everyone is about to find out that there is not much left.
We haven't quite reached the point where they try to strip the last of the drapes & furniture out of the White House to sell, but it feels like we're close, doesn't it? They are stealing & grifting absolutely anything & everything that they can.
@artemis nobody bothered with that kind of tedious work, they demolished part of the White House instead. i think they should just leave the rubble there and call it a day.
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@artemis Oh, it always has been. See also the F-104 Starfighter.
That plane was so bad it got the nickname "widowmaker" from the Germans because so many pilots died flying them. The reputation was so bad that the US (or Lockheed?) paid for an entire Top Gun knock-off movie to be made about them to try and salvage their reputation.
Fix the problems? No. Just make a movie about how awesome our fancy plane is.
@faithisleaping @artemis pilots didn't want the F-35 because it's like a flying pipe organ, it has so much dashboard.
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Delusional racism...
These motherfuckers think they are the Master Race so they can't actually comprehend that brown people could beat them. They think they win by default.
Their brains are so cooked. They did not fucking believe this could possibly be difficult.
@artemis But it's happened before, look at Vietnam!! People power.
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I think the entire world is going to watch as it is proven that for all its swagger & all its fancy equipment, the US military is perhaps not *quite* the unstoppable juggernaut it claims to be.
@artemis remember the overconfidence of “shock and awe”?
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So it turns out that having the most *expensive* military tech in the world may not be the best strategy, huh?
Who could have known that having very expensive equipment & arms/ammunition that take a long time to make might not be an advantage?
@artemis And we spent how much on all this junk?
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Iran appears to be using shortwave radio to send cyphered messages. It's an old school Soviet method of communication. And guess what? It works. None of it goes through a computer, so there is nothing to hack. It's inexpensive & easy to do, & you can just keep changing frequencies when your opponents start interfering with the one you're using.
All the fancy spy equipment the US has? Not meant to deal with that simple, low-tech tactic.
And if the apocalypse comes it will probably be the HAMs that will keep us all connected as we try to rebuild.
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Would you honestly believe that there is a single part of the federal government that is not currently being stripped for parts & sold off? Is there a single part that isn't filthy with fraud & bribes & payouts?
They have been destroying the ground beneath their (and our) feet for a while.
@artemis
Spot on
While we continue to pay taxes -
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