An AmeroBabylon fangirl continues:
"They can't.
I am an outlier on the opinion; is the BRICS an existential threat to the "West"? I still stand by it.
One last point The [STPI run] U.S. has been provoking Russia to make a strike against the West. In my opinion, to give them an excuse to either enter the war or call for an Emergency U.N. Security Council meeting.
Let's hope Russian contingent sent to Washington results in settlement. But I don't hold much hope.
U.S. Air Supremacy Beyond Visual Range Air Combat Woes
U.S. was first to have AESA advanced radar. The U.S. is upgrading F-22s and F-35s with a 2nd generation AESA radar.
It took Russia time to deliver a comparable AESA radar that could fit in the nose of their jets.
First put into the SU-57--then added to the SU-35.
Just as an U.S. pilot prefers to fly an F-22 over an F-35 until the F-35 can incorporate engineering changes. The Russian pilots prefer the upgraded SU-35 over the SU-57 until the kinks are worked out.
BUT THE RUSSIAN PILOTS LOVE THEIR IRST RADAR (InFrared Search&target ) radar. The upgraded SU-35s carry both. This IRST can identify and track an airborn missile, jet, helicopter, drone, etc. They have added IRST sensors on the two flanks of the fuselage in addition to the forward facing IRST for expanded capabilities. Russia also can now detect UKRaine jets/missiles (since early 2023) that were blurred against the ground cover down to 50 meters.
Here is the bottom line.
* October 22 the Russians shot down a UKRainian jet at a distance of 124 miles.
Can go to 185 miles. Some say 250 miles. Unheard of. It was using their new R37m air-to-air missile.
The best U.S. air-to-air missile is the AMRAAM ((AIM-120) that goes 85 to 100 miles. A lie. More like 45 to 60 miles.
U.S. has better in development but added even more. The U.S. has 6 new missiles in development and 30 new Hypersonic missiles. Not all will make to phase II or production.
WHAT THEY HAVE COMING:
* U.S. AIM-260 , 185 miles , can maneuver, multi-mode radar.. Production started last year. Will take time to ramp up production.
* MAKO Hypersonic missiles fit in the radar stealth bay of the F-22 and F-35. The manufacturer lost a contract to Air Force due to not meeting range requirement. Now the Navy wants it and is reported being funded by special finance arrangement. Range 220 miles. Hypersonic, maneuverable. Can reach target at 220 miles in 3 minutes.
* U.S. is committed to provide ground-based Hypersonic missiles to Germany by Dec '22. Obviously, they missed that date. BUT a few weekends ago, tested two ground-based Hypersonic missile fired from California base to test range in the Marshal Islands 5,000 miles away successfully!
Also , there are more problems with the F-35s then they let on.
They will get it right... but the "refresh" upgrades are also behind schedule. The Pentagon said the U.S. military has 685 F-35s. Senator Ted Cruz in a Senate hearing 2 months ago asked [Secretary of Defense] Austin how many F-35s the U.S. has? Austin said he would get back to Cruz. Cruz pulled out a report and said; "I have the report here... the number is 385". Cruz then asked Austin how many are operational? Austin again said; "I'll have to get back to you". Cruz said; "don't bother I have the answer. It's 29%! That equates to 111 operational F-35s and about now 135 F-22s. $1.7 Trillion spent on the F-35!!!... and that doesn't count the outrageous maintenance costs after put in use. Plus, they are short on spare parts because the mean time between parts failure is about half then expected . . . . including the Pratt & Whitney engines."
As Sun Tzu said, " he who occupies the high ground...will fight to advantage". The high ground is the sky. It just happens today... for now... Russia holds the high ground.
U.S. could take out Russia in a couple of years... but the problem is the UKRaine military is collapsing NOW.
THE U.S. DILEMMA : WHAT DO THEY DO TODAY?
* RUSSIA NOT GOING TO ACCEPT A CEASE FIRE.
* U.S. NEEDS [a large] QUANTITY OF AIM-260 AIR-TO-AIR AND AIR-TO-GROUND MISSILES
* U.S. NEEDS TO MFG [a large] VOLUME of MAKO, HYPERSONIC AIR-LAUNCH MISSILES.
* U.S. NEEDS TO MFG AND DELIVER GROUND LAUNCH MISSILES THAT CAN TARGET RUSSIAN TARGETS TO NATO (GERMANY).
Don't forget that Russia and U.S. have substantial submarine conventional and nuke capacity.
As I have been saying BRICS is an existential threat to the [STPI] West (U.S.).
The West will create a crisis.
Probably humanitarian. The Nuke power plant, Russia taking out Ukraine electricity (even though the U.S. has done likewise in every conflict since WWII, Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Serbia, etc, etc. Also the (1) Air Force released a paper approving attack on civilian infrastructure (2)
The U.S. DOD War Manual includes attacks on civilian infrastructure.)..."
Continued in COMMENTS.
