America is different to Europe though in that whilst the biggest obstacle for an army moving through all of Europe is the English Channel (and the Swiss Alps) America has only two land based borders, one of which is held by a competent military power, and the other...well...the less said about that the better. Only an absolute fool would conduct a land war in either Asia or America, trust us on this, we've had bitter experience :O:

The A-10 has gotten lucky twice once in the Gulf War it got a reprieve because it got to do what it was designed for.Then it was realized that it made a pretty darn good observation and COIN platform and it saw use in that role for roughly 15 years starting in 1992 over Bosnia.

Now the time is coming along where it has run out of a job again(or soon will be).

The problem the US has had is figuring out what exactly is the military role post Cold War.This is very tricky after 65 years of military spending.As a collective whole we do not know what the hell to do.And then politics gets tied up into politicians what some pork barrel military spending in their state.Thing is it all costs a crap load of money for no real result short of adding to an already massive debt.

I think it is part of how the US will go down we'll just keep having a large expensive military and sooner or later bankrupt our selves.Kind of like in Total War if your military is too large it just eats up all of your money.

Ducimus is right there is a ton of fraud waste and abuse out there as well.Trust me you'd be shocked.One example the USAF contingent at Lakenheath RAF the AGE flight there they decided that they needed a ultra mega ridiculous break room so they made one on federal coin of course.this thing wound up costing over $200,000 dollars it had big screen TVs and a freaking running fountain no joke.That happens all the time.

If we talking about USAF , the air force has lots of front line fighter to balance "the slider".Some still in production or the older ones which are upgraded at this time.
When it comes to f35 or f22 those fighters have their role to play and most likely will be used with adequate care to maximize their effectiveness.
After all im sure there are enough people in this business who know what they are doing.

History also shows that technological advantage wights a lot.
The WW2 example might be good one or bad depends at what aspects you want to look..
It is true that the ratio was against Germany but this was war Germany started too early and could not win later on.
The technological innovative mood came later on , when Germany was already in trouble - out of necessity.
Too late.
Yet the kill ratio of some German units was impressive.

There are also more recent examples where technology ruled the battle field.
Gulf war for example...

So USA may not have the necessary edge to conquer China for example..or whole world.:doh: but may maintains enough superiority for everyone to know that screwing with american military will not pay off.
I think that what is all about.

We have the pain rays waiting in the wings. The Navy is set to field and use lasers and rail guns. Pretty soon troops will become obsolete in preference to drones. Zeitgeist.

You gave those Mars'huns hell and saved the Earth, so you're okay in our book. :cool:

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...underchild.jpg

Come on Thunder Child! :rock:

I promised meeself I was going to bed early tonight. Now I can't, I'm 20 minutes into it. And you're to blame.:D

:haha: Oh, been there, done that. Enjoy it, it's well made. :yep: James Nesbitt is a very good, oft underrated, actor, as is Nicholas Farrell, nice chap Farrell is too, met him once years ago.

This is because the Luftwaffe typically did not rotate pilots to the rear as a result the ones that survived flew a substantially larger amount of sorties than an American or British who flew a tour got rotated to the rear often to pull a stint as an instructor and then back again.

A Luftwaffe pilot for the most part flew either until the war ended or his luck ran out and he got killed or injured the only rotation he saw was from one front line unit to another and every so often he might get a month or so or R&R.

Many also had the advantage to have flown a portion of their careers against the Soviet Union which honestly for the most part was a shooting gallery from 1941 until well into 1943.Not to say that the high scoring Germans where not unskilled but they did have many things in their favor that allowed them to rack up a high score which in turn means that each unit a long serving Luftwaffe pilot served in will have a high score.Again their units have an advantage as some where in constant combat from 1939 to 1945.

I'm pretty sure China "told" us to get rid of the A-10. :03:

I'm aware of the fact.
The majority of top scoring german aces of ww2 who survived won most of their victories on eastern front.
Actually by reading some memories of those guys it seems that western europe was to this airmen what eastern front was to german infantrymen.
In the late stage of the war all though swamped by russian air force the german pilots had great rate of success.
Many died after transferring to the west where the odds diminished due to the Allies having better skilled pilots , the technological superiority on average ....and the numbers.

Nice one.
Might keep it as my wallpaper. :up:

Quite a few there:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wa...w=1680&bih=925

so totally agree. it was bad enough we forgot the cold war was over (to some extent)