Aircraft In 2000

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Raellus

With only a couple of years for the major combatants to gear up for total war, there wouldn't be nearly enough replacements to fill the gaps left by the casualties.

Besides that which was necessary for prosecution of the war in China, the Pact had very little "gearing up". Besides the minimal amount of preparation over a very short space of time by Germany, NOBODY in the west was even thinking about war, let alone preparing for it.
This from both 2.0 & 2.2:

From the very beginning, this is a "come as you are" war; neither side is adequately prepared. The German Army has just finished a period of very rapid growth and rebuilding, many of its units being equipped with tanks and vehicles which have sat idle in warehouses for four or five years. The Poles and Soviets are at the end of several years of very limited military spending capped by a war in the east which has drawn off much of their best equipment already.

V1.0 could well be different given we know next to nothing prior to 1995 from canon sources. My guess is the cold war just rolled on and there wasn't the drawing down of forces seen in the early 90's IRL and in 2.x.

Even so, the west had little reason to see war in Europe coming so why would they prepare for it? Sure they may well be supplying China, however it's very unlikely anyone would be providing China with the best they have available for fear of the Pact getting their hands on it and reverse engineering.
In V1.0 EVERYONE was kept in the dark about the coming reunification of Germany, except those handful of people actually involved in the talks.
In 2.x we see Germany activating reservists in 1995, but that alone does not justify production of new equipment and canon specifically states in the quote above where the vehicles, etc are coming from. It's not until June 1996 that secret talks are commenced with German ethnic organisations within Poland, and the rest of the world sees nothing more than posturing and minor border clashes until the 27th of July 1996 to indicate war is coming.

Note border friction is a daily event world wide. Some borders are obviously a lot quieter than others, but some are downright deadly (take Korea as an example). The world doesn't mobilise and ramp up production based on friction.

Getting back to the topic of aircraft, I read a short story years ago (can't remember the author or more than general details) about a future where corporate wars were the only way to settle disputes, takeovers, etc. Technology was restricted to pre 1900 (I think) with black powder weapons predominant, no vehicles, and certainly no aircraft. Often the "war" would be won without a shot being fired as the larger company could afford to amass a larger mercenary army and essentially guarantee victory.
Our hero chose to join the smaller side, promising victory to the board of directors by use of an undisclosed advantage in return for a massive reward when he delivered.
His plan? Using something like a hang glider (the first one in history flew just before the tech cut off date - a fact only a handful of people knew) as an observation and command and control post. It would allow his side to spot the enemy much sooner and manoeuvre to greater effect, thereby negating the enemy's greater numbers.

This short story highlights the impact effective reconnaissance and superior intelligence has in war. Air power of any sort greatly aids in the rapid and efficient gathering of battlefield information and so any commander worth his rank will move heaven and earth to maintain even one prop driven light plane if they possibly can. Even a hot air balloon is better than nothing (although you wouldn't catch me volunteering for that duty as a slow moving aerial target!!!).