Quote:
Originally Posted by Homer
I wonder what else goes out under the table from the Belgians. FN Herstal, MECAR, and FdZ all make a range of NATO standard munitions and material. The Belgians also license built the F-16.
If nothing else hopefully the US Liaison Team got a few days of good food, hot showers, and laundry!
|
I tried to structure it so that the compensation items are things that Belgium produces and was possibly in widespread use in 1997 throughout the alliance, so that FN-marked brass, for example, wouldn't immediately raise red flags if the GRU recovered some. That the burden falls disproportionately on Belgium also is another example of who the senior partner in the endeavor is! The license-building of the F-16 was in cooperation with the Danes; absent their cooperation (and possibly components from the US) the Belgians are unable to build more. (And the Belgian F-16As are Block 5 or 10 standard, unable to fire AMRAAM or use guided munitions; IRL the Belgians started upgrading their F-16 fleet in 1997 but in this environment, with Belgium sitting out the war, they get nothing and their F-16s remain essentially unchanged from late-70s standard. To the USF of early 1998 a dozen of these planes are better than no aircraft at all, but a far cry from what had been coming off the lines at Ft Worth in November.
The head of the US delegation's little brother is a certain DIA colonel we all know...
__________________
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
|