Politics

[Red Leg]

With rising global tensions and conflict, as well as China's ever growing desire for global domination, maybe Trump can be persuaded to invest all the money DOGE is going to eliminate from wasteful spending, back into the military and global defense? Just a thought.

One would hope, but I would bet a pretty good scotch that DOGE will find cutting defense irresistible. It happens whenever there is an attempt to rein in spending. I think they can go after government infrastructure costs to some extent, but cuts to actual entitlements are essentially impossible. Even the bureaucratic management of them is protected as part of the entitlement appropriation. Thus 66% of the budget, considered mandatory spending, is likely immune to DOGE efforts. Another 8% is payment on the debt. Obviously DOGE will not touch that. That leaves only 26% of the budget as discretionary and which has to pay for everything else to include defense which is the largest segment of that remainder. That 26% is appropriated each year. It becomes the inevitable target of cost cutters.

I would remind that Musk, no doubt a military expert in his own mind, is already opining on X that the F-35 program should be canceled.

Elon Musk Criticized The F-35—Called For Armed Drones Instead

Aviation buffs quickly offered rebuttals highlighting the aircraft's capabilities and noted that China has gone to great lengths to copy the capabilities of the F-35

www.forbes.com

 

[PARA45]

That F-18 should have been squawking a friendly code. Error on the crew of the vessel that didn’t the shooting, error on the F-18 back seater. Who knows, and we will probably never know.

 

[gbflyer]

Really!? I would suspect the odds of a Houthi air defense system (read Iranian/Russian hand me down) actually hitting a US fighter bomber to be about as likely as one being hit by a meteor.

Wasn’t there a F117 taken down by a SA-3 in 1999? Those are a little more sneaky than a F/A-18 I thought. I have no knowledge. I just am not overly optimistic.

 

[Brent in Az]

One would hope, but I would bet a pretty good scotch that DOGE will find cutting defense irresistible. It happens whenever there is an attempt to rein in spending. I think they can go after government infrastructure costs to some extent, but cuts to actual entitlements are essentially impossible. Even the bureaucratic management of them is protected as part of the entitlement appropriation. Thus 66% of the budget, considered mandatory spending, is likely immune to DOGE efforts. Another 8% is payment on the debt. Obviously DOGE will not touch that. That leaves only 26% of the budget as discretionary and which has to pay for everything else to include defense which is the largest segment of that remainder. That 26% is appropriated each year. It becomes the inevitable target of cost cutters.

I would remind that Musk, no doubt a military expert in his own mind, is already opining on X that the F-35 program should be canceled.

Elon Musk Criticized The F-35—Called For Armed Drones Instead

Aviation buffs quickly offered rebuttals highlighting the aircraft's capabilities and noted that China has gone to great lengths to copy the capabilities of the F-35

www.forbes.com

I can appreciate the DOGE initiative to eliminate wasteful spending, even in the military, however, Elon & Vivek need to be cautious and not get overzealous with any military cuts
Now, more then ever, the U.S military needs to keep pace with the other super powers, as not to be left behind in military advancements.
That takes a considerable amount of money.

 

[sgt_zim]

Not unelected, as you quoted it is “unauthorized “. I’d assume anyone from Biden’s side would be presumed to be authorized.

Authorized by whom, and under what authority? It is becoming more and more evident that we've had a president-by-committee for the last 4 years.

This is looking even worse than the last 16 months of the Wilson administration.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Wasn’t there a F117 taken down by a SA-3 in 1999? Those are a little more sneaky than a F/A-18 I thought. I have no knowledge. I just am not overly optimistic.

I believe it was shot down through the application of the Soviet style "steel curtain" doctrine ", whereby massive amounts of lead are shot into the air in the vicinity of an aircraft "hoping" to take it down. I might be wrong, but I don't believe even modern SAMs could "see" an F117, let alone more modern stealth aircraft.

 

[Hogpatrol]

2024 Election fraud uncovered. I'm sure they were recruiting Republican voters, NOT. I'm 100% sure this goes on in every blue city and county in the country.

MEDIA, Pa. (WPVI) -- Two Delaware County residents now stand accused of fraud connected to the 2024 election.

Phillip Moss, 84, and Jennifer Hill, 38, are both facing charges.

Moss is accused of voting twice - once in person in Florida, and again by paper ballot in Pennsylvania.

There's a warrant now for his arrest.

Hill was arraigned this morning on dozens of charges.

Prosecutors say she led a months-long effort to fraudulently register voters, including people she knew were dead.

DA Jack Stollsteimer says she was employed as a canvasser, and did it to appear successful to her boss.

https://6abc.com/post/2-delaware-co...arged-fraud-connected-2024-election/15677793/

 

[Red Leg]

Wasn’t there a F117 taken down by a SA-3 in 1999? Those are a little more sneaky than a F/A-18 I thought. I have no knowledge. I just am not overly optimistic.

Yes, but the 117, though stealthy for its time, was 1980's tech first used in combat in the First Gulf War. The US did not even attempt to destroy the wreckage of the one lost over Yugoslavia to which you refer. The F/A 18E/F Super Hornet is a far more modern design (first fielded in 1999 with periodic upgrades). Though not strictly a stealth aircraft, it uses a balanced design/counter measures array to be very difficult to hit. It is considered a Gen 4+ aircraft.

 

[Brent in Az]

On Friday, Trump filed an amicus brief, to try and stop Bidens attempt to sell border wall materials to private third parties.

 

[Dirtdart]

On Friday, Trump filed an amicus brief, to try and stop Bidens attempt to sell border wall materials to private third parties.

I would be curious if there have been any large stock purchases in companies that would most likely be contracted to sell the same new materials to the incoming administration for full price once the existing stockpile has been given away.

 

[PARA45]

A retire F-15E driver sent this to me in regard to the F-18 shootdown: "IFF would have been checked before takeoff for function and proper codes, especially for a combat mission. Even our Navy brothers aren't that lax. Could have been a malfunction on the cruiser, but that's unlikely. Most likely cause is human error on the cruiser. The defense systems have to be set up and in the correct mode of operation by the crew on the boat."

 

[Brent in Az]

I would be curious if there have been any large stock purchases in companies that would most likely be contracted to sell the same new materials to the incoming administration for full price once the existing stockpile has been given away.

I wouldn't doubt it. Nancy Pelosi specializes in insider trading.

 

[SaintPanzer]

I learn so much reading this forum. Today I learned both that Ukraine is a NATO country, and Michael Flynn previously was convicted and sent to prison for violations of the Logan Act.

Previously, before I was so educated, I had thought that Ukraine was denied in it's request to join NATO (though it is a Partnership for Peace Country, as is Russia), and that only two people have ever been charged under the Logan act, and none has ever actually been prosecuted. But I know better now. Just from reading the last two pages of this thread.

I had also thought that it was SOP to turn off IFF systems where missiles were flying around. The Navy and Marine Corps pilots I worked with didn't want to appear of anyone's RADAR, and called this "strangling the parrot", but I guess things are different now.

Oh, and that F-117? It was shot down not by a radar return, rather the SAM team noticed that the mountain range that normally appeared on their RADAR had a "hole" in it that was moving at 500 knots, give or take. After watching this phenomena over a few days, they realized that something was interrupting their radar returns, and realized it was probably a stealth plane scattering what should have been a solid return. They fired into the hole. Scratch one aircraft.

Lesson learned: If you are scattering radar waves, terrain masking may work against you. Or, as I leaned way back in 1989 or so: "We must guard against overreliance on technology. Technology can enhance the ways and means of war by improving man's ability to wage it, but technology cannot and should not attempt to eliminate man from the process of waging war. Better equipment is not the cure for all ills; doctrinal and tactical solutions to combat deficiencies must also be sought. Any advantages gained by technological advancements are only temporary, for man will always find a countermeasure, tactical or itself technological, which will lessen the impact of the technology. Additionally, we must not become so dependent on equipment that we can no longer function effectively when the equipment becomes inoperable."

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

A retire F-15E driver sent this to me in regard to the F-18 shootdown: "IFF would have been checked before takeoff for function and proper codes, especially for a combat mission. Even our Navy brothers aren't that lax. Could have been a malfunction on the cruiser, but that's unlikely. Most likely cause is human error on the cruiser. The defense systems have to be set up and in the correct mode of operation by the crew on the boat."

Its been over 30 years since I was assigned to a Marine Air Control Squardon (MACS). While I am sure the systems have been upgraded but I bet they operate the same.

All US aircraft have Intruder Friend or Foe (IFF). Civilian aircraft "squak" on Mode III with identifying information. Combat aircraft also squak classified Mode IV. With two-man integrity we would load a new code every six hours into the KIT. The two-man team would punch the new codes in the KIT into the KIR IFF Interogator. The KIT would automatically reset to zero, and two-person integrity was no longer required.

A ship's Combat Information Center (CIC) would present tracks acquired and fuzed together from all sensors to include ships' radars, Marine ground radars if those are close to the ships, AWACS, Navy E-2C, aircraft radars (F-18, F-18 and so on, and gosh knows what else today! The Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) was first used in I believe 1959. The NTDS position data would be fed into the ship's weapons systems fire control system.

In peacetime getting a Mode IV return (squak) from Marine or Navy aircraft on our Marine radars was rare. The aircraft transponders rarely functioned properly. During Desert Storm aboard USS TRIPOLI not far from Kuwait City, on deck with Marine Stinger teams, those Marines would light up (interrogate with Mode IV) every wave of aircraft engressing and egressing into Kuwait. Those Marines had itchy trigger fingers looking for their first kill. Wouldn't you know it that every one of the thousands of sorties overhead provided a Mode IV return.

Note 1: Aircraft Mode IV IFF transmitted or squaked returns IF they received the proper code from a IFF interrogator. In the olden days the code changed every six hours.
Note 2: Mode III IFF was broadcast automatically. I think that's what combat pilots would turn off. Mode IV can be independent or Mode III.

Had a plane not squaked Mode IV, the Stinger Team leader would have needed to call the CIC requesting weapons release authority. Perhaps the recent F/A-18 loss was due to a glitch in the software? Maybe the Mode IV failed to operate. Chances are the Radar Electronics Officer (REO) in the backseat (Goose of Top Gun movie) would be notified. Perhaps the correct Mode IV code for the day and time was not loaded into the aircraft? Human Error if so.

 

[bowjijohn]

IFF - Interrogation friend or foe

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

IFF - Interrogation friend or foe

How the heck did I write intruder?
Thank you for correcting my incompentence...

 

[bowjijohn]

How the heck did I write intruder?
Thank you for correcting my incompentence...

Yup

Fair one

I Didn’t mean to come across as pedantic

 

[Boyd Brooks]

Yup

Fair one

I Didn’t mean to come across as pedantic

I find myself in need of the dictionary app open while reading this thread! Not giving a hoot about schooling in my youth, and had a job, with too much money in my pocket, I chose work over extended schooling.

 

[Wheels]

Iran's economic issues may be getting worse.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1870628942627131714

 

[Tanks]

The Logan act was put in place for a non elected US citizen going to France and negotiating peace without the government’s knowledge or permission. So the law was passed. As long as the citizen is an “Agent” of the U.S. and has a hall pass to negotiate its all good. I think the Logan act is specifically directed towards military disputes between the U.S. and others. I may be off base here.


General Flynn was talking to Russia after trump’s first win. But wasn’t a registered agent. And they sent him to prison. People do it all the time. John Kerry is notorious for doing it. Flynn is the first to be charged in over 100 years.

Ahem, he was charged for lying to FBI, not for the Logan act. Same crime they got Martha Steward for.