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2011-04-13 Africa North

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Posted by Steve White 2011-04-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11126 views ] Top

#1 The Saab Gripen, aka "Griffin", the mythological flying lion.

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2011-04-13 00:38|| 2011-04-13 00:38|| Front Page Top

#2 the mythological flying lion

So can I take it that noone has seen one fly yet? ;-)

Posted by gorb 2011-04-13 00:42|| 2011-04-13 00:42|| Front Page Top

#3 The Gripen will fly fine on JP-5 (see F-18) but the Swedes were too cheap to certify it for JP-5. After all the the Gripen is land based, therefore needs only Jet A-1/JP-8. Coalitions? The Swedes don't need no stinkin' coalitions.

Posted by Zebulon Thranter9685 2011-04-13 01:17|| 2011-04-13 01:17|| Front Page Top

#4 ION WAFF > B-1B LANCER UPGRADES [MER] WILL TRIPLE PAYLOAD, espec as per JDAMS munitions.

USA Official = the B-1B can already carry 2X the payload of a BUFF B-52, MER Upgrades will increase same to 4X a B-52.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2011-04-13 02:37|| 2011-04-13 02:37|| Front Page Top

#5 Re: fairness of the British/French complaints,

military capability entails more than just buying equipment. Logistics matter a lot, as do doctrine, training and political clarity about military operations.

NATO has atrophied in all those areas. Both the US and Europe are complicit in this - the US asserting a dominating leadership (for good historical reasons) and the resentful free-riding Europeans having, as Fred wrote a while back, their hands in our pockets while also criticizing the style and color of our clothes.

Posted by lotp 2011-04-13 07:53|| 2011-04-13 07:53|| Front Page Top

#6 ...Not to mention that one reason (of several) that the F-22 isn't patrolling the skies of Tripoli is that its secure comm system can only talk to other F-22s and US AWACS (E-2, E-3) - it can't talk to Allied aircraft except over an open channel, which is like, you know, dangerous in combat. For some reason, our Allies never decided to develop a secure comm unit that would talk to the airplane that was intended to defend their butts. (There is a US unit in low rate production that can do it, but we're pretty much paying for the whole program and we're equipping our birds first) There was a VERY strong concern that an Allied pilot, being sneaky and all that, might somehow track a -22 (it can still be seen visually, it does have an IR signature albeit a small one, and there are any number of possibilities that could create an increased radar signature) and blow it out of the sky thinking he'd just whacked one of Qadaffi's finest. Wouldn't have looked at all good for the USAF to be explaining a $135,000,000 hole in the ground caused by one of our Allies.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2011-04-13 08:45|| 2011-04-13 08:45|| Front Page Top

#7 Interoperability bites back. One of the key functions often overlooked in Coalition warfare is the ability of members sharing logistic support. Gas quality, size of the gas nozzles to feed equipment, size of the loaders to reach the place to transfer material, size of bullets, ability of radio communications to talk to each other, etc etc etc. It's hard enough to get our own services to cooperate, image the teeth pulling to get NATO members to play and then again to non-NATO. That creates its own army of administrators and bureaucrats.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-04-13 09:59|| 2011-04-13 09:59|| Front Page Top

#8 My, how things change. The Russians were late in getting to Austerlitz because nobody noticed that they were still on the Julian, not Gregorian calendar. That, and the Prussians were not too cool about three Russians armies crossing their turf.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-04-13 10:48|| 2011-04-13 10:48|| Front Page Top

#9 I had a Saab in the late 80's awful car. You can't drink and drive when the ignition is in the floorboard, one spilled drink and you have buy a new ignition.

Posted by Beavis 2011-04-13 11:02|| 2011-04-13 11:02|| Front Page Top

#10 The most common equipment is US and ex-USSR. IF you wish to sell into a market dominated by giants like that you should be certified to be able to eat the same supplies. If you don't... your stockholders should EXECUTE your Board and make the CEO eat his bennies.

Posted by Water Modem 2011-04-13 14:28|| 2011-04-13 14:28|| Front Page Top

#11 Water Modem: I strongly suspect that the whole situation was contrived by some people in the Swedish forces who really didn't want to get involved in the cluster$$$$ and used this as a way of dealing with the situation.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-04-13 14:37|| 2011-04-13 14:37|| Front Page Top

23:32 Sgt. D.T.
23:16 JosephMendiola
23:12 JosephMendiola
23:07 Procopius2k
23:03 JosephMendiola
23:01 Sgt. D.T.
22:58 Bill Clinton
22:55 Bill Clinton
22:53 JosephMendiola
22:52 Free Radical
22:50 Bill Clinton
22:43 JosephMendiola
22:29 JosephMendiola
22:26 Rambler in Virginia
22:25 Rambler in Virginia
22:16 JosephMendiola
22:12 JosephMendiola
22:03 rjschwarz
22:01 rjschwarz
21:52 Besoeker
21:39 trailing wife
21:31 trailing wife
21:28 Thing From Snowy Mountain
21:26 Barbara Skolaut