Article

2007-02-09 Afghanistan

Germany also to provide six surveillance planes, no bombs allowed

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Posted by Seafarious 2007-02-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 My old shop Chief used to say," Any military jet without bombs is just another unscheduled airline."
I tend to think of them as potential targets and will probably cost more defense assets than they can provide offense info. but at least it is a start, and maybe the Germans will take their balls off the mantle and realize they were made for a purpose.....

Posted by USN, ret. 2007-02-09 01:35|| 2007-02-09 01:35|| Front Page Top

#2 And not to be flown by anyone with the surname von Richthofen.

Posted by Howard UK 2007-02-09 03:39|| 2007-02-09 03:39|| Front Page Top

#3 Not so much the Red Baron , maybe the Yellow Baron , or Pink Baron

Posted by MacNails 2007-02-09 04:22|| 2007-02-09 04:22|| Front Page Top

#4 or Salmon

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-02-09 05:33|| 2007-02-09 05:33|| Front Page Top

#5 Do us a favor, keep them at home. Germany and France are useless. Thet pretty much means most of Europe is useless. They are not our "friends", they are not partners, they are millstones. Since they can't be real help let them stay home and live in fear.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2007-02-09 06:10|| www.sockpuppetofdoom.com]">[www.sockpuppetofdoom.com] 2007-02-09 06:10|| Front Page Top

#6 The pilots will never have a sudden nerve twitch just as a finger happens to sweep past the bomb-release button? How very frustrating that will be for them. Still, with the German budget as strained as it's been, I s'pose they can't afford to replace expended ordinance.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-02-09 06:35|| 2007-02-09 06:35|| Front Page Top

#7 Green Baron soaring on solar power and a righteous air of superiority.

There are plenty of well armed F-15s, F-16s and A-10s in Germany.

Anyway, there are already too many western forces. The Afghans need to carry the fight or devolve again into civil war. Their choice. A small western force can ensure the Taliban and their Pakistani sponsors never again take over Afghanistan.

Posted by ed 2007-02-09 07:17|| 2007-02-09 07:17|| Front Page Top

#8 Green Baron soaring on solar power and a righteous air of superiority.

LOL !

Posted by MacNails 2007-02-09 08:44|| 2007-02-09 08:44|| Front Page Top

#9 ...We should have figured out long ago that at least where the continental European allies were concerned, they pretty much based their defense plans on doing nothing more than defending their homeland in the event of a Soviet invasion - and even then, most of them only did the bare minimum or even less. (One thoroughly unknown NATO scandal from the mid 70s on was that exactly ONE continental NATO army - Germany - had enough ammo on hand to last for 30 days of fighting. The others had far far less, and I was told that the average was 5-8 DAYS). When it became clear that the Soviets weren't coming across the inner German border, the continental allies gutted their militaries, probably beyond any reasonable hope of quick recovery. The NATO militaries now are a few token units that are nothing more than a fig leaf and allow our politicians to still say we're part of an alliance. If the truth were told - not likely, unfortunately - the demands for an American withdrawal from Europe would be overwhelming. These Allied 'contributions' will need American transport to get there, American logistics to bring in their parts and American fuel to burn.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2007-02-09 11:41|| 2007-02-09 11:41|| Front Page Top

#10 Hey! That's Fred's plane in the pic, IIRC.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2007-02-09 12:19|| 2007-02-09 12:19|| Front Page Top

#11 Fred flies, too? Is there nothing that man can't do? ;-)

Posted by trailing wife 2007-02-09 12:34|| 2007-02-09 12:34|| Front Page Top

#12 Nice Photoshop on the Neptune: Did not know the Army operated Navy aeroplanes and still kept the Navy BuNo (serial number for non NAVAIR-types)

Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-02-09 14:00|| 2007-02-09 14:00|| Front Page Top

#13 Are they still gonna do haircuts though?

Posted by Captain America 2007-02-09 14:56|| 2007-02-09 14:56|| Front Page Top

#14 Is thatn one of them dark Neptunes that lived in Europe?

Posted by Shipman 2007-02-09 17:39|| 2007-02-09 17:39|| Front Page Top

#15 Ship: Did a 'Goodsearch' search via the Buno; got several hits. All pix showed this a/c in the dark paint and most of the duty stations listed were Pacific coast, but there were a few in Europe. Listed as a P2V-5 variant. Not as well versed in this a/c as I should be, but learning all the time (I think its due to a lack of a tailhook)

Posted by USN, ret. 2007-02-09 21:01|| 2007-02-09 21:01|| Front Page Top

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