Quote:
Originally Posted by Panther Al
The war with Georgia isn't as much as a glowing example of how good the russians are.
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I didn't meant it that way and agree with you about the political debate. I said they had done slightly better not much better. I only thought of military performance and don't argue that it was outstanding. I'm neither saying that the West is performing baddly. I'm only saying that neither the West nor the Russian, Chinese or Indian have had much experience with large scale operation against a challenging foe.
Back to the fighter/equipement part. Over the past 70 years, the advantage has moved constantly and neither side had the oportunity to really test its best against the other side's best. When they first appeared over Israel Mig-25 outrun everything Israel had (that was a surprise that conducted US to produce its best aircrafts: F14, F15, F16, F18 and the other way around). These are terrific warbird and IMO Rafale, Grippen, Mig-29 or Su-27 are equally impressive. Still all these aircrafts had been created using a technology dating back 30-40 years. They are as old as I'm and we have yet to see the next generation at work.
F-16 outmatch Mig-21 and 23
Su-27 outmatch Mig-29
NATO loses little aircraft as it conducts long range strike, operating away from the threat of air defense (fair but what would be the result if it had to face Patriot/SA-10/SA-20 missiles?)
The Russian lose a Backfire to a SA-11 when they had to mount improvised recon missions (relevant only to their own long range capability at the time)
A F-117 is shot down by a SA-3 Goa being tracked by a WW2 technology radar (that's a surprise but it simply means that every technology has its drawback).
A10 Thunderbolt would have been retired if not for the 1991 Gulf War.
US aircraft could freely flight over USSR until a certain U2 was shot down by an SA2.
In time, SA6 proved a real threat to Israeli aircrafts.
We are now making a big deal about all these MRAP vehicles but we forget that the South Africans have used them for almost 40 years as the rest of the world was looking at them with amusement. Nobody laughs anymore.
Things change
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