Laughing all the way to the Bank

The first 12 aircraft of the F-22 Raptor advanced tactical fighter entered service with the U.S. Air Force in mid-January 2006. The delivery of the new U.S. fighter triggered a heated debate regarding the U.S. technological superiority over the armies of other countries. Russia has traditionally built military equipment on a par with U.S.-made military machines. Now, the Americans also have the Chinese who are now not far behind the Americans in military aviation technology.

In the past, Russian military equipment exceeded the American one in terms of combat efficiency. In July 2006 the Russian's will field a new fighter capable of competing against the F-22 Raptor.

Experts say that the F-22 Raptor is a milestone in the development of the U.S. Air Force. The fighter is equipped with the radar that uses an active electronically scanned antenna array of 2,000 transmitter/receive modules, which provides agility, low radar cross-section, and bandwidth. The F-22 Raptor can fly at sustained supersonic speeds without the use of afterburner. The aircraft has a high multi-mission capability in ground attack as well as air-to-air roles.
The U.S. military information website Strategypage released a previously unpublished report by now defunct British Defense Evaluation and Research Agency. The report says that the F-22 Raptor is superior to Russia’s newest Su-35 fighter. A real combat casualty ratio between the F-22 and the Su-35 would be 1 by 10 at the very least. However, the report did trigger a gusher of euphoria in the U.S.
One F-22 Raptor costs $133.1 million while one Su-35 costs $30-$38 million. Even the U.S. can not afford such huge costs.

To save up $2.6 billion for funding 180 F-22’s, the Pentagon has already cut 33 reconnaissance aircraft U-2 Dragon Lady, 55 strike aircraft F-117 Stealth (the entire fleet), and 76 passenger aircraft C-21 Learjet. The military also reduced the fleet of bombers B-52 Stratofortress by 40 percent. The USAF had an initial plan for purchasing 648 aircraft.

The F-22 Raptor was originally built for combat against similar enemy aircraft, which were built only in the Soviet Union/Russia. The lack of the enemy resulted in a decrease of the number of F-22’s purchased by the Pentagon.

The USAF has recently conducted a joint exercise with the Indian Air Force. The U.S. F-15C/D’s simulated combat against several Russian-made Su-30MKi, MiG-27, MiG-29 and even pretty obsolete MiG-21 Bison, which defeated the U.S. F-22 Raptors totally and utterly. U.S. General Hal Homburg, head of the USAF Air Combat Command, said that the result of the exercise was a big surprise to the American pilots.

Commander in Chief of the Russian Air Force Vladimir Mikhailov said recently that Russia’s reply to the “American miracle” would be on the wing at the end of 2006. The demonstration prototype aircraft, designated I-21, has been successfully tested in a wind tunnel. The aircraft’s avionics and engine were on display at last year’s air and space show in Zhukovsky, near Moscow. Russian designers maintain that the avionics and engine of the new aircraft are not worse, and probably even better than those used in the U.S. aicraft

In the End..the Russians are laughing all the way to the Bank!!!

America's Inferiority is becoming Apparent

New Asian Naval Exercises Announced!

February 15, 2006 Amid persistent warnings about China's growing military clout, the US military said Tuesday it would hold one of its biggest naval exercises in the Asia Pacific this summer.
The large-scale operations will involve several carrier strike groups, each of which includes at least three warships, an attack submarine and a support ship.
Four carriers would be involved in three military maritime exercises -- one of them touted as the world's largest -- between June and August in the region, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet Admiral Gary Roughead said in Washington.

Two of the exercises are expected to be largely confined to US forces and held in the Western Pacific while the third involving navies from at least eight countries, including Australia, Chile, Japan, South Korea and Peru, would occur near the Hawaiian Islands.

While the war games would boost bilateral and multilateral cooperation and improve military preparedness, it "and clearly shows that American military might is still a deterrent for anyone who would wish us ill," Roughead told a forum organized by the US-based Asia Society, which aims to bridge ties between the two sides of the Pacific.

A major Pentagon review of US military strategy earlier this month singled out China as the country with the greatest potential to challenge the United States militarily.
The Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), conducted every four years, said a key goal for the US military in the coming years will be to "shape the choices of countries at a strategic crossroads."
The QDR report noted China's secretive military buildup since 1996.

Some analysts also see recent China-Russian joint war-games as an unmistakable sign of China's semi-secret desire to wrest military and economic power in the Asia-Pacific region from the United States.

It has been at least 10 years since four aircraft carriers have operated in the Pacific Ocean at one time. His spokesman Navy Captain Matt Brown said it could be the largest combined aircraft carrier operations in the Pacific since the Vietnam War.

Aside from the Japan-based Kitty Hawk, the other carriers to be involved in the exercises are the San Diego-based Ronald Reagan and one more each from the Pacific and Atlantic fleets.

Elaborating on the exercises, Brown said, "As the QDR mentioned, it is important for us to be focusing on the our ability to wage war in the Pacific theater.