Another arm of our military dwindles away...

[Gilligan]

This is sadly typical. Smaller Navy..smaller Air Force...smaller everything. But the price tag for each piece continues to skyrocket...

Ugh.

http://warisboring.com/articles/the-u-s-air-forces-dwindling-bomber-fleet/

 

[Larry Gude]

Makes for a more dangerous world when our options are fewer, increases chances of using the scary stuff.

 

[Gilligan]

.. increases chances of using the scary stuff.

Exactly. And that underscores the fundamental reason why thinking that Iran, North Korea, etc would NOT ever use their scary stuff is flawed. They have it..and they will use it...exactly because they do not have the capabilities for a symmetric/conventional attack or response.

 

[Larry Gude]

Exactly. And that underscores the fundamental reason why thinking that Iran, North Korea, etc would NOT ever use their scary stuff is flawed. They have it..and they will use it...exactly because they do not have the capabilities for a symmetric/conventional attack or response.

Not thinking about those folks. More so China and Russia. Things start bumping around, getting a little rough, Taiwan, maybe Poland after Ukraine, the next US potus beholden to the neocons, limited options... I guess I count on our subs as being the bulwark although I'd imagine their lead has dwindled too.

 

[Gilligan]

I guess I count on our subs as being the bulwark although I'd imagine their lead has dwindled too.

While the numbers have dwindled quite a bit since the "cold War" days, the sub fleet is still healthy and still a very credible deterrent. So we do have that, at least....

The F-35 program is sucking so much oxygen out of the defense budget compared to about everything else, it's amazing. And it's a very long-term spend commitment too.. And of course all the recent capital ship programs...LPD..CVX..DDG-1000....are HUGELY expensive. We get one ship for the cost of four..

 

[Gilligan]

More on the subject.


http://weaponsman.com/?p=29264