Robert Gates steps up to the plate. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Robert Gates steps up to the plate.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 13:51
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009 11:34 AM

I knew keepin Gates on was a good idea, I said as much and now I am doubly sure.

Gates Follows Through
http://www.slate.com/id/2215491/

He's choppin out some of the more obvious pork, while rolling as much as he can into the human costs, finally backing some of the military's often unkept promises - and gave them a bigger stick to fight for their share by baselining them.

I'm not too happy about being stuck with the F35 JSF for the foreseeable future, but we really don't have another strike fighter platform to work with, and it IS currently superior, tho not by much, to what everyone else has - most of our edge comes from our pilots, only the IMI even comes close in training or skill.

For 4GW you mostly need light air superiority and close support recon, which drones are damned useful for, from the heavier predator all the way down to unit level drones which are often naught more than RC Aircraft with a camera attached.

For anything heavier, the A-10 backed up by medium-light helicopters gives the most bang for the buck, and his budgetary choices seem to reflect his knowledge of this.

He also appears to be trying to work around the bullshit which stuck us with KBR, Haliburton and other pricks who take the money and leave the job undone.

Gates has always struck me as a guy who will carry out orders, to the best of his ability without concern as to what they are, or even how possible they are, without any real political factor in his decision making, this being one reason I didn't flame him even under shrub - he KNEW how stupid what he was being ordered to do was, but it was his job to do it, and went about trying to accomplish the ridiculous in the most realistic manner possible.

Where it counts, the man is a good soldier, a good administrator, and now that he's being allowed the leeway to use his own judgement in how to best configure our forces for the future, I hafta say he's a right good Secretary of Defense.

Keepin the guy on was one of the better decisions the new administration has made.

-Frem

It cannot be said enough, those who do not learn from history, are doomed to endlessly repeat it

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009 12:55 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Gotta agree - for an Aggie, he ain't half bad! ;)

As impressive as the F-22 Raptor is - and it IS damned impressive - it's still a plane without a mission. It's something that seems dreamed up just to counter the devastating capabilities of the Russian Su-37 and MiG-35 - but those are also planes without a real mission now, and since we really don't anticipate fighting the Russians soon, or starting up the Cold War again, there's just no real need for the Raptor. I'll be sorry to see it go, but glad Gates killed the program.

Mike

Just lying smiling in the dark,
Shooting stars around your heart,
Dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple every time.
Now you're crying in your sleep;
I wish you'd never learnt to weep.
Don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple every time.
"Pure", by Lightning Seeds

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 10:32 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Read a pro / con piece just this morning on the very issue of the F-22. Despite its fantastic name, I'm sort of leaning toward the view that we don't need to extend the program. The claim that 'jobs' will be lost if we don't keep spending 140 million per plane is not reason enough to justify it's continuation.

On the pro side, the claim is that every F-22 takes the place ( job wise )of two F-15's, so there's the presumed 'savings' of getting 2 planes in 1. Fewer planes means fewer pilots and fewer parts while still achieving mission viability.

Then there's the counter, that the F-22 was built to answer a proposed Russian design, but that plain never made it to production.

There is no question, that SOME plan will have to fill the void of the F-15, and I'm not sure the JSF is the right plain for the job.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 12:50 PM

KWICKO

I'd like to read that piece, if you've got links handy.

And I definitely hear what you're saying on the pros & cons.

There's supposed to be some footage floating around of the F-22 being put through its paces, up against 4 F-15s flying in the "enemy" role - and the Raptor just flies circles around the Eagles until it "downs" (virtually, not really) every one of them, all while never being in their sights or being locked onto with a missile track.

Like I said earlier, it's a damned impressive plane, and there's speculation that anything comparable will be built by anyone in the foreseeable future. But right now, I think we need to find a better use for that money. Up-armored HMMWV's might be a good start...

Mike

Just lying smiling in the dark,
Shooting stars around your heart,
Dreams come bouncing in your head
pure and simple every time.
Now you're crying in your sleep;
I wish you'd never learnt to weep.
Don't sell the dreams you should be keeping
pure and simple every time.
"Pure", by Lightning Seeds

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009 1:51 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

It was in today's AJC ( Atlanta Journal/ Constitution ) In the op/ed section.

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/04/08/proconed
_0408.html

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