Vladimir Putin's Nuclear threat to the west

[Stanny]

Originally Posted by XabbaRus

As for AESA radars the Russians are ahead of Europe, christ we can't even get one in the Typhoon and Rafale.

I am afraid that you are watching russian Channel One and making wrong conclusions.I repeat,even people at russian message boards are very concerned about the fact,that Russian military has little success in chasing U.S. military.SSNs,5th generation fighters,AESA modernizations of the present fighter aircraft in service-that is all they are having constant problems with.Russians have developed Irbis-E AESA radar for SU-35 BM,but they still cannot launch it into mass production as they initially have troubles fitting it into the body of SU-35.That is your aforementioned "ahead" of all Europe.That is the lovely slogan of russian TV show "Strike Force" on Channel One-"has no analogues in the world".On serious russian military forums like Sukhoi or Balancer's Airbase people stopped thinking so a long time ago.There are even such discussions if ten Su-35BMs could possibly kill one F-22.You see,USAF is in 5th generation with their F-22 and F-35 already while the rest of the world is just in 4++,and Rafale with Typhoon are not an exception.

Quoting wikipedia as a primary source isn't the best IMO.

Well,people who fill Wikipedia in do it primarily from Global Security and FAS sources.

but to say all other places are in extreme poverty is a joke.

It is not a joke but severe reality.My observations are based on stories that people who go to Russia on vacation/visiting relatives tell.People are returning frightened and shocked from there.Harshness and inmodesty are everywhere in the life of Russia.Insulting people is a normal example of behaviour for any local russian official in any russian government institution.Why does russian police carry AK-74 assault rifles on regular basis daily?Is that a standard issue weapon and why does police need such weapons?Is ordinary pistol not enough for maintaining order and enforcing law?In Lithuania,for example,policemen carry just Glock-17s and nothing else.I think it is just a normal policy for russian authorities to demonstrate the official power to their citizens and keep them controllable.