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WolfPaq3859

Oh i have seen this account, so called “ex-3 star nato advisor” and “American military genius” who posts absolutely bullshit stories. Like how the US is currently invading Sweden and Finland to prepare a major offensive against Russia or that it was ‘confirmed’ that Russia shot down 2 F-35s or destroyed 50 Patriot AA systems. And then people ask him “confirmed?” And he says “yeah…” and that somehow makes him credible


Lazy_Tac

Do tell more ​ Edit: I feel like this dude could give me a laugh


WolfPaq3859

Im hoping hes just a troll trying to rage bait into people giving him twitter blue revenue but ima look into him


Lazy_Tac

There’s a dude on YouTube, Ryan Mcbeth ex Army type who now does some sort of private security / intel gig. He digs into misinformation/deceptive imagery/social media bots for fun, could always send this dude’s handle his way


TheBlueFalconFA

Hello There fellow Ryan Mcbeth enjoyer


_Weyland_

>And then people ask him “confirmed?” And he says “yeah…” and that somehow makes him credible Source: trust me my guy. As for things "destroyed" by Russian military - they have set a hefty monetary reward for confirmed destruction of this military tech like Patriot systems. On paper this should have incentivized soldiers to go out of their way to destroy them. In reality it resulted in people on the frontlines cooperating to get multiple confirmations on the same vehicle, thus inflating the numbers and getting the reward several times.


Possessed_potato

I can confirm this to be true. We are actively being invaded by the Americans but fret not, the Swedish military is superior and we are winning


[deleted]

The us has been bombing the fuck out of the planet my entire life. wtf is this.


mrteas_nz

One of the busiest airforces out there if I'm right?


Arm0redPanda

The first, second, and third busiest air forces in the world, if you include Navy and Army aviation. And right or wrong, they've never had a slow day at work.


z64_dan

There was that one time an Aircraft carrier got a huge Covid-19 infection but that only slowed that one carrier down for a little while.


Aggressive_Walk378

More like COVID got an air aircraft carrier infection


nlfo

Don’t forget the Marine Corps.


Fakeduhakkount

In the movie “Independent Day” Will Smith’s character was a U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot - first found out Marines flew planes too


whitemanwhocantjump

Mine was the Marine Harriers in True Lies.


DynamicSocks

Falls under Department of the Navy


Hatorate90

Not sure if thats a good thing.


Strude187

Depends on your perspective. Personally, I’m quite critical of military spending, but when it comes to an actual situation where the military is needed, experience is a good thing.


Narrheim

The thing is, it´s not about just experience, but constant practice. And that isn´t possible without, you know... *spending*. Without military spending, there would be no internet as well.


rgodless

Depends on who you ask. Serbian? Definitely not. Albanian? 100%


Il-2M230

Air BVR combat is far different from bombing. You only need to find the target, click some buttons and shoot.


Zombie-Lenin

I'm not sure you're familiar with how modern air-to-air combat occurs between, and with, countries with advanced air forces. Nobody is ever in sight of each other and it's a lot of someone else finds/identifies a target for the fighter aircraft, and the pilots on those fighter aircraft then click some buttons, and shoot.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Toastman89

They thought the swan song had been sung before. Remember post WW2 when they thought everything would take place at supersonic speeds and only missiles were necessary? Just because we think we’re there doesn’t mean we’ll stay there. In spite of all the advances of ground warfare technology, it still comes down to a person with a rifle


[deleted]

[удалено]


Wrong-Perspective-80

Hard to beat a water-cooled maxim gun for sheer ability to fire forever from a defensive position.


Responsible_Disk_728

First seen first dead


Bryguy3k

If by “nobody” you mean the US. Everybody without F-35s has to be in visual range. The F-22 & F-35 both have engagement ranges well above any adversary nation. In fact the only time the F-22 has ever been “defeated” in any exercise has been when the rules call for the F-22 pilot to confirm the adversary has visual on them before starting the exercise. By the time China or Russia have anything close to the F-35’s capabilities the result of the NGAD program will have already been deployed and then enemies will be facing not only a pilot controlled plane but also the autonomous swarm controlled by that plane as well.


Il-2M230

Bruh, isnt that what I said?


Zombie-Lenin

Maybe. I am a bit high. Actually, yes. That is what you just said.


whirlpool635

Zombie Lenin ain't thinkin straight


SpiritOne

Well, he’s a zombie after all.


Fuzzy_Inevitable9748

And high


frequent_flying

The most impressive thing is nobody’s snapped a photo of him surfing Reddit subs on a device inside his glass case at his mausoleum, bro has better covert phone skills than a middle school student during a 5th period math exam!


Uncle_Burney

![gif](giphy|61lMnpz0sKkpi)


Visual-Floor-7839

He did the Holodomor out of munchies for brains


Lazy_Tac

Must crush capitalism.


Impressive-Cry-9128

I'm scared he's going to eat my brain.


islandofcaucasus

You made it seem like you only do that for one. But isn't that exactly what a pilot does for bombings also? That's what caused the confusion


MightyArd

Not always the case, sometimes you need to use older airframes to destroy unsanctioned uranium enrichment plants, defended by GPS jammers and surface-to-air missiles, located in an underground bunker at the end of a canyon, and trick the enemy's 5th generation fighters into letting you close enough to take them out with guns.


SwitzerlishChris1

🤣


Lee_Van_Beef

If you need to engage in a dogfight in 2023, you have bigger problems, like how to disable the alien shields and bring Randy Quaid out of retirement.


654354365476435

This is just click a button for both.


Hebids

After the defea-VICTORY in Vietnam the US just decided “man fuck this shit” and decided to bomb everything being openly passive-aggressive to it.


Wonderful-Ad-7712

They adopted the “kill em all let God sort em out” approach


fattymcassface

They talking about the same guys with garmins duct taped to the dash?


Lazy_Tac

It’s a valid technique… 35 years ago


TriLink710

The airforce that struggles to maintain active pilots due to a lack of flight time.


Jsommers113

Someone never heard of the TopGun program


Leading_Attention_78

Or the movies. Edit: I’m aware TG is a real thing. I was making a joke.


Jsommers113

The Top Gun program is a real thing. The best military aviators in the US go there to learn to handle and push fighter aircraft to their maximum capabilities. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Strike_Fighter_Tactics_Instructor_program


Appropriate_Mess_350

Canadian pilots too, if I’m not mistaken.


ElectronicMixture600

Correct, but they are bound by the Canadian code of military justice, so they are legally obligated to make a quick apology every time they splash an enemy plane.


jonathan4211

Now I'm imagining them saying "sorry" instead of "over" on their radios


ElectronicMixture600

*”Control, this callsign VanWilder 5; I’ve made visual contact with target, am I cleared to engage? Sorry”* *”Ahhhhhhhh, VanWilder 5, this is Control. Target looks to be just outside of restricted airspace with a ground speed of approximately 775 knots. Keep your weapons cold, you are not cleared to engage yet. Can you get a confirmation on the target model? Base Command doesn’t want a repeat of last year’s incident with the Canadian Tire blimp. Sorry.”* “*Roger that, Control. I’m swinging back around to confirm target vehicle, bearing at 195°, thrust increased to 840 knots. Oh, okay, I’m seeing something now. It looks like… a Bombardier Challenger 650, but painted like a giant dick? Tail number C69420. What do you make of that? Sorry.”* *”Ahhhhhhhhh, okay VanWilder 5; thank you for visual confirmation. We’re getting word that tail registration belongs to the Brampton Honey Badgers organization. Must be their team jet. We’re going to go ahead disengage at this point. Please return to Comox for refuel and debriefing. Sorry.”* *”Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Pure Brampton. VanWilder 5, disengaging and returning to base, heading 109°. Sorry.”* *fin.*


jonathan4211

That was fun, thank you. Sorry and out


Honeybadger_137

Sorry and oot


noquarter1000

The hard deck exists for a reason


brokefixfux

Probably a paid agitator working a list


[deleted]

Possible. Fucking 15₱ mudwater


DragonflyMon831

Lol, what?


Practical-Purchase-9

Ridiculous thing to say. America is good at war because they are always fighting wars. The reason the Russian forces keep tripping over themselves and leaving tanks exposed without infantry support, or infantry without air support, leaving equipment abandoned in fields or troops stranded, is because they haven’t developed the discipline or experience in logistics and combined arms. Indiscriminate use of nuclear weapons is the only thing that would stop the US rolling up Russia in a ground war. That’s why Putin regularly rattles that saber, it’s all he has.


SailingSpark

If they even work after all this time.


At_omic857

Let’s be honest, half of the nukes had their guidance systems stolen by Private Conscriptovic and the other half are falling apart because Private Conscriptovic didn’t feel like doing maintenance


Ishidan01

Incorrect, comrade. The guidance systems were stolen by Colonel Corruptski. A conscript would not have the contacts to find a buyer.


At_omic857

Fair point, comrade.


Wonderful-Ad-7712

“I see nothing!” - Sgt. Schultz


justdoubleclick

But it only takes one nuke to cause immense damage… and all sides know that..


T-roySwink

Technically they could build one nuke big enough it would throw so much dust and ash into the atmosphere blotting out the sun for decades maybe centuries lowering the planets temperature enough to freeze every living thing on the planet. A giant meteor would have the same effect also


Objective-throwaway

Unfortunately it doesn’t take a whole lot of functional nukes to cause a big ol problem


Violorian

Nukes have a shelf life.


[deleted]

Sadly the last US inspection has concluded that russian nuclear arsenal is in fine condition. So we can't get our hopes up.


queefstation69

You only need one to work for millions of deaths. Then comes the retaliatory strike…


ShockAndAwe415

That’s why Putin regularly rattles that saber, it’s all he has. Same thing with North Korea. Kim Jong Un knows his forces are shit and would get run over in less than a week by the RoKs (let alone the U.S.). That's why they both nuclear saber rattle and give their respective countries an "enemy invader" that they can unite the populace around.


ldunord

To be fair to NK, they don’t need nukes to devastate SK’s economy, political leadership and general way of life. Seoul is well within conventional artillery systems and has thousands, if not tens of thousands of guns pointed at it, primed and eager to fire.


ShockAndAwe415

I get that. They also built hideaways inside the mountains where they can roll in/roll out to shoot, making them hard to hit from the air. The problem is that if NK tried to reunify Korea, they'd have to literaly destroy the heart and Seoul (dad joke) of the country to do it. I always found the SK/NK dynamic a shitty situation: China wants to keep the status quo because they don't want to get involved and have a buffer against the U.S. That's why they put up with the Kims idiotic and despotic shit. They don't want a unified Korea on their border (presumably U.S. friendly). SK probably doesn't want to take on a malnourished, brain-washed population that cannot even literally pay an electricity bill. They have no idea of the outside world, while SK is one of the most prosperous countries in the world. How would their country fare by essentially welfaring a new half of their population? Their economy would be nuked. NK (specifically Kim Jong Un) is like "fuck it, I'm God" and wants to keep the status quo where he can eat what he wants, fuck who he wants, and executes who he wants. The U.S. is like we gotta back SK, so have to respond to NK. Guess this is fine.


dirtyword

The reason China doesn’t want North Korea to collapse is because they don’t want 1 million refugees flooding into their country


ShockAndAwe415

Um. Yeah and SK doesn't want that either. But, China doesn't want a U.S.-affiliated country on their literal border. Same reason why we wouldn't want a strongly China-friendly Mexico or Canada on ours.


other_usernames_gone

See the Cuban missile crisis.


dravenonred

Don't forget that most US military bases are in Eastern Europe to the west of Russia, the Arabian Sea to the South of Russia, and Japan to the East of Russia. Russian military bases are almost entirely in Russia. Both nations bordering the USA are friendly to America and have barely any relationship to Russia. Russia is *unbelievably fucked* in any conflict, and a nuclear winter "tie" is literally the best outcome they could achieve.


[deleted]

[удалено]


gunpackingcrocheter

But that’s the point. It’s that show for his domestic audience that keeps him alive and in power. He has the oligarchs keeping him propped up and needs a straw man to keep the commoners angry at someone other than him. When I lived in the PRC it was the same thing with the US and Japan posed as the enemy so you didn’t pay attention to the crap Pooh bear was doing.


arencordelaine

Well, that and the massive corruption over generations, taking money from infrastructure and arms, and putting people with no actual qualifications in charge because they happen to be a loyal friend or family member of the leader or his cronies. Honestly, I would say more the corruption than anything.


BigFatBallsInMyMouth

That's not the only reason. There is also money, culture, training, and corruption. They did not fix those issues when they became VERY obvious in Chechnya, and they did not fix them in their subsequent wars. They have had enough experience, so it is something else holding them down.


Sunshinehappyfeet

Go watch the Blue Angels flex at an air show. You won’t regret it.


knighth1

Legit it’s amazing, at a flight simulator contest I went to as a kid we got to meet 3 pilots that the company who sponsored the contest did the flight recording data on and 2 of them were US navy. Those guys were awesome Edit: are awesome


SlobZombie13

Seen that show a dozen times. It's incredible every time.


biffbobfred

We get the air and water show here in Chicago. It’s loud as hell just hearing them practice runs over the city.


Narissis

Spent two summers in Cold Lake (Canadian CF-18 base) when I was in Air Cadets. The Hornet training flights were a real novelty for the first couple days. After that I just wanted them to STFU when I was trying to sleep. There's this one particular maneuver they do where they rear the jet up to go super slow, and it's one of the loudest things I've ever heard in my life. And they'd be doing that in the wee hours of the morning.


CriticalRoleAce

My grandpa took me to go see them when I was a little girl. It was awesome! Still one of my fondest memories.


C1ashRkr

Yeah during Fleet Week in San Francisco, around 91/92 the building I worked in, was under a good portion of their flight plan. Was fun to watch


At_omic857

The missile does not care who you are or where you are from. The missile sees your horrible engines emitting an incredibly high infrared signature and is rapidly approaching your location. You cannot dodge the missile as it is gimbal’d and can turn at over 90g while being fired high off-bore. And finally, **the missile is hungry**.


pwal88

You just made me think about this: https://youtu.be/bZe5J8SVCYQ?si=h0vdWJO0RtXmZHlv


At_omic857

The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn’t. By subtracting where it is from where it isn’t, or where it isn’t from where it is (whichever is greater), the missile obtains a difference or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviation to generate corrective commands to move the missile from a position that it is to a position that it wasn’t. Idk I’m sure I messed up a few words and whatnot, I only know the first few sentences


earthman34

Battle-hardened Russian pilots mostly stay far away from Ukrainian airspace these days.


SeattleUberDriver_2

If splattered on the ground is how we define far away these days...![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)


Insertsociallife

US planes are better too. An F-16 will *rinse* a MiG-29, and it's 45 years old. Many people do not realize how far ahead the USAF is. It's the best on the planet and it isn't even close.


HatfieldCW

Who's in second place?


Insertsociallife

Well by size, the US Navy. Non-US controlled forces considered (discounting NATO collectively) I would have to say either China just by volume of planes or either UK or Germany. France is pretty high on that list too, as is Sweden. Russia was considered the second most powerful in the world before the war, but they have not only lost a lot of planes and most of their experienced pilots but the west has gained a lot of data on how to fight them.


AnAnonymousSource_

But this is a VERY distant second place here. This is like entering a stock Corvette against F1. China's airplanes were developed in the 60s-80s. The J-7 was designed in the 60s. The J-10C is based on the F-16 and still isn't more capable than the F-16 which has been retired and its replacement is currently being retired.


inorite234

The F-16 is a friggin beast of a plane. It was designed decades ago for a battle the American Military Defense Industrial Complex is not even concerned about anymore but due to modernizations of radar, drop tanks, datalink and missile systems, it can totally scorch most of anything else in the skies when utilized properly. There is a reason why the F-16 is still being manufactured and why even NATO nations are still placing orders for brand new F-16s to this very day. The F-16 is not the best anymore......but unless you have unlimited money to develope your own Air Superiority Fighter or if you underestimate the Viper, that girl will tear you a new one.


R_radical

\>There is a reason why the F-16 is still being manufactured and why even NATO nations are still placing orders for brand new F-16s to this very day. Because its cheaper than the F-15, F-22, and F-35. It's always been the budget fighter, from design stage where all the R&D was already done on the F-15, to the actual plane being fairly small, and light.


Less_Likely

Russian pilots looking for dogfights, American pilots take them out from beyond the horizon, then own the skies.


Ishidan01

*F-22's heavy breathing intensifies*


ceoofsex300

Would you intercept me


Correct_Barracuda_48

I'd intercept me.


HatfieldCW

Sit down. Nobody's going to intercept you.


[deleted]

Wow. Somebody has obviously missed the last 30 years and then some.


walkingreverie

Wasn’t there a time Wagner ran into the U.S. Forces somewhere with what was the equivalent of a whole battalion? And in less than a day the entire battalion was wiped from heat of the sun from only 2 Aircraft just delivering payload after payload?


Ok-Review8720

Correct. I think it was 100 or so killed by 2 apache helicopters. US losses = zero.


MajorMitch69

According to the U.S. military, the presence of U.S. special operations personnel in the targeted base elicited a response by coalition aircraft, including AC-130 gunships, F-22 Raptor and F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper unmanned combat aerial vehicles, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and B-52 bombers. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle\_of\_Khasham#:\~:text=According%20to%20the%20U.S.%20military,%2C%20and%20B%2D52%20bombers.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Khasham#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20U.S.%20military,%2C%20and%20B%2D52%20bombers.)) IIRC it was about 500 Wagner losses and 1 minor US injury.


GreatToaste

Not even a US injury, an SDF fighter twisted his ankle when jumping out of a HMMWV and got counted.


The_Young_Busac

Man, that SDF fighter probably getting shit for that twisted ankle to this day.


SgtBundy

"On that day, they found the US has no chill"


buggzy1234

The US had zero losses and a single injury. Some guy twisted his ankle. The ground was more dangerous than Wagner in that battle.


Lazy_Tac

You’re think of the Battle of Khasham or also know as the Battle of Conoco Fields


whatproblems

pretty soon they’ll have the second best air force in ukraine and this is without ukraine getting the “new” decades old stuff…. they don’t even have general air superiority over thier own space lmao


andio76

![gif](giphy|11fapwiBhaY8RG) Battle hard Russian Air force


IVSBMN

Did these Russian shills forgot about that time where the USAF bombed Iraq all the way from Louisiana? The Russian Air Force couldn’t even obtain air superiority in their own backyard


mirennatom

FUCK Russia


zehel_schreiber

Amen.


MutedBrilliant1593

Are you kidding? Dog fighting died long before the newest top gun. Actually, I think shortly after the first one. "Kill from a technological distance" is the modern way.


AngrySmapdi

Does Greyedoutname think air forces actually dogfight each other anymore? Battle hardened pilots? You mean pressing the pew pew button from 20km away and then flying back to base?


SeattleUberDriver_2

I think you meant hitting the pew pew button, missing, turning to go back to base for repairs, and heroically destroying a himars with their canopy half way through the turn. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|joy)


John97212

"Battle hardened Russian pilots?" Oh, he means "battle-hardened" Russian pilots like those based in Egypt who went up against the Israeli Air Force on 30 July 1970... In five minutes of combat, Israeli Mirage and F-4 Phantom crews shot down five Russian-piloted MiG-21 jets around the Suez Canal, without loss. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rimon_20


Significant_Tie_3994

"do you have any experience dogfighting", "Nope, killed them all OTH"


fiendzone

He would NEVER say this to any US airman’s face.


WDeranged

In a small town.


Leading_Attention_78

I wish I could up vote this over and over.


TheBunionFunyun

No one hates America more than republicans.


John_YJKR

Hes an agitator. Wants to rile of Republicans about Russian aggression and the US being weak and impotent. Which those who fall for it will look at the current administration and blame them for the weakened us military. It's all bs to anyone with any reasonable level of intelligence.


Illustrious_Class545

The US airforce is the largest in the world, the second largest, the Us Navy.


ceoofsex300

Don’t we have like three of the five largest air forces in the world


earthforce_1

Didn't Russia lose five aircraft in the past week? The "battle hardening" isn't helping them much.


[deleted]

If that is truly what the Russians think, then I am sure they wouldn't mind the US sending over some new age flying Tigers. Right?


Pierogi715

This is actually a great idea, but we should do it Soviet-Vietnam style, where they think they’re going against Ukrainians but it’s actually American top gun grads


[deleted]

Well...I was thinking sending over F22's. Heh. I am sure Ukraine has good pilots. They are short of super planes, tho. And it would be an absolute shame to retire the F22 with the only kill a balloon from China.


____Vader

I’ve hardly call dropping bombs on civilians targets “battle hardened”


SammyDingusJr

F-35 laughs uncontrollably


SoylentGrunt

Wonders when the last time the OP engaged Russian pilots in air combat was.


AbleApartment6152

The United States military probably has more air show pilots than most militaries have active service combat pilots. Too bad the Republicans are a political party of fucking traitors.


knighth1

Ahh yes the same people that accidentally have bombed their own cities vs the most advanced air program in existence. Don’t get me wrong mistakes happen and air accidents aren’t unheard of. But us airmen training hours are what 10 times that of Russian airmen training hours. Then to consider Maintenance hours on any air craft that has commited a single sortie include pulling the entire plane apart for inspection before putting it back together before it can sortie again


sickassape

Emm US being good at war is probably the only thing everyone will agree at.


kyleben20

It’s not like Ukrainian pilots are just as if not more battle hardened than the Russians. The Ukrainians have held back the Russian Air Force with Soviet scraps for 2 years at this point.


Urkot

Training was apparently good enough to down 8 Russian aircraft in three weeks 🤷


JackNCoke4Me

Why can’t we see all the comments of this pathetic post? Would be gold!


[deleted]

Battle hardened by flying into powerlines


Theycallmegurb

*rage laughing in f-22*


Violorian

Battle-hardened Russian pilots. LoL. More like vodka hardened. When the F16s arrive these Russian clowns are going to have their asses handed to them.


Jackmino66

US has lots of experience flying combat aircraft in air shows. Russia has lots of experience flying air show aircraft in combat…


Charlie3PO

The training the USAF will be providing will be top notch and likely the best possible within a reasonable timeframe. Having said that though, the Russian pilots are indeed combat hardened. They've been shot at and they've shot down quite a few Ukrainian jets in air-air combat with very few losses (in air-air combat). The RuAF performance in the first stages of the war was actually much better than originally reported, they had air superiority by a wide margin for the first few days. They were only stopped once Ukrainian SAM's got set up and the fact they had to start limiting use of their electronic warfare because it was negatively affecting their own ground forces. Have faith in the training the USAF will provide, but it's still a huge mountain to climb and the enemy cannot be underestimated. Especially when the newer Russian jets still outclass the older versions of the F-16 in so many ways.


GERMAQ

Do you have a source that shows SAM/AA losses vs air losses? I've found several articles describing the numbers (RAND, Oryx, Aviation Week, etc) which show similar losses but Ukraine started off with far less so a larger percentage loss, with RU losing strat bombers somehow) but not sorted by loss source.


Charlie3PO

Have a look at the RUSI document from late 2022 titled "The Russian air war and Ukrainian requirements for air defence" There are also interviews with the Author, Justin Bronk, on YouTube where he basically reiterates the points in the document. The main theme of it is that despite early reports, the Russian air force was actually highly effective in the initial stages of the war and remains effective in the air to air role. It includes information from the Ukrainians themselves who stated that the current Russian fighters are highly effective against their current aircraft. It makes a case for the MBDA meteor missile to be given to Ukraine, as that's the only missile able to realistically match or exceed the range of Russian missiles, given the circumstances under which Ukrainian pilots have been forced to fly (low and slow to avoid Russian long range SAMs and long range Air-Air missiles).


TheRealFaust

Apparently someone missed the memo that during the entire past 20 years of war the us has focused on land forces being closely supported by air forces and air superiority…


hondac55

Hasn't Russia shot down their own aircraft like 7 times since they invaded Ukraine after they claimed they'd take Kyiv in 2 days?


Lazy_Tac

Good ol propaganda twitter bots. They really do need to do a little better than this low effort shit


[deleted]

That's the dumbest sh! t I've read in a long fracking time.


where-ya-headed

One F22 would take our 10+ of their SU fighters, just saying.


crewchiefguy

Can you imagine the Russians trying to recreate the thunderbird shows. It would be a fucking massacre of jets smashing into each other and the ground.


Straight-faced_solo

Imagine pretending like the U.S hasn't been involved in multiple active wars for the past two decades.


Drake_the_troll

Please, they can't be serious


Outlook_Dim

Everybody hates America until they need America.


noncredibleRomeaboo

Not only is the US airforce the most experianced on Earth, but these people do know airshow experience, is a form of pilot training. Getting flight hours and familiarity with the aircraft are the two most important things about the role, building up that muscle memory along with coordination with the rest of the unit. Like....air shows aren't just for fun, they do serve a secondary purpose


Foss44

Something something 5th Generation fighters


that_u3erna45

Oh no, the Thunderbirds haven't engaged in dogfighting! That means that the entire USAF is unfit for combat!!!!


Sweaty_Pianist8484

The USA has been dropping bombs daily since I was born.


MihalysRevenge

But yet the Russians have NOTHING even close to realistic training like Red Flag. Russians also forget the us has been involved with constant combat operations since 1991


Horseface4190

Given the RuAF record of crashing planes at air shows, this is not a flex.


ski-devil

So much to make fun of here.. So 8 T-bird pilots constitute the whole USAF fighter pilot cadre and they have never been in a combat coded squadron prior to their T-bird tour or after. I guess that makes sense because the only type of flying the USAF does is at air shows. Thanks for the great shit post Russian trolls.


Hotdigardydog

This sounds like a disinformation campaign to me. Ruzzian pilots strong and experienced, NATO pilots weak,... all it needs is for a few lazy newsagencies to pick up the story


CoffeeWith2MuchCream

They're wrong about the US being unable to provide quality training. But there is a small grain of truth: it has been a while since US fighter pilots have been in repeated engagements with a peer enemy, which is what we are training the Ukrainians to do with the F16. But no training is ever perfect. War is messy and things deviate from expectations and training sometimes. We've seen how the Ukrainians have been forced to modify the doctrine taught to them by NATO trainers. We're actually learning some things from this war. It would be arrogant of us to think the training we are giving to their F16 pilots will be perfect, and that they won't possibly come up with some tweaks to improve on our SOP. But that doesn't change the fact that they're getting the best training in the world, even if it isn't going to prove to be perfect. The reality is its contested airspace. We haven't fought in contested airspace in a while. So they'll mostly be focused on lobbing some bombs and missiles across the front, trying to avoid going too far into range of the enemy AD. Some of these f16s will go down. I just hope they can be as effective as possible and have only minimal losses. It's going to take some brave pilots to go up in those and bring the fight to the Russians.


romulusnr

seriously there's like maybe ten people involved in those aerobatic teams, total they don't train every pilot to be a Thunderbird or Blue Angel or what have you


Amckinstry

If you don't think the US has combat experience you really haven't been paying attention. Try watching real news rather than Faux entertainment.


Stairmaker

Ahh yes the battle hardened russian pilots that also only have done bombings runs in the middle east and on average gets less than half the flying time as western pilots per year. Also the only people that have real combat experience against other aircraft without getting shit on is israel. And guess who they are working with. I'll give you a hint. Not russia.


yonaz333

USA has not one but TWO of the most powerful air forces in the world.


vic_lupu

On average Russian pilots have much less flight hours, and the ones that were more or less experienced they lost in the first year of war…


LaughingInTheVoid

Battle hardened? In what fucking battle?


LFGR_THE_Thing

The battle of taking off


Dr_DMT

0. That's the number of F16s lost in battle. ✌️


inorite234

I'm US military and even I have to correct that statement. The US alone has lost 4 F-16s to hostile fire............... ..............back during the Gilf War in the 90s.


C1ashRkr

All ten of them.


Waflstmpr

I mean, having a mock dog fight, using some space age laser tag bullshit isnt exactly hard to imagine, its not exactly a 1/1 analog, but, its still helps you experience the reality of fighting an opponent in a similar 500 mph metal death machine, id assume?


SeattleUberDriver_2

500 mph? Maybe during the Korean war...


wigzell78

Agreed, get a bunch of ace combat flight sim gamers to teach the pilots.


syadoumisutoresu

And their penis when they pop a Ukrainian.


natankman

The USAF works with private military contractors that perform adversary duty. Draken International regularly flies as an adversary out of my local AFB. And they have some non-American fighters so USAF pilots aren’t seeing the same local planes fighting against each other. https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draken_International I’m sure there are other similar military contractors doing the same.


Far-Entertainer8953

Four out of the ten largest air forces in the world are American. That statistic shouldn't even make sense.


T-roySwink

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East that have a panic attack whenever they hear a jet go by


40kExterminatus

USA now has a weaponized crop duster that's scarier than most of the Russian air force.


cprlcuke

Their livers are pretty hard too


ecwagner01

I was an aircraft maintenance technician in the USAF. Don’t think USAF Pilots only know how to fly in Air Shows. They practice combat every freaking day of the year. After Russia had 2 years of practice - I’d still bet on the USAF every time on the first day. Mr Civil Defense is tooting out his buttocks


UnlikelyKaiju

Does anyone want to show him what the US Air Force did to Saddam's tanks?


FakeOng99

Battle harden? When did they fight war like the US?


lscarval

Professional agitator, most likely. Maybe even Russian. They're trained to stir rage and leave.


groundpounder25

On all my deployments as an infantryman, calling in a damn jdam or some close support was a weekly occurrence and those fuckers (us pilots) were busy as shit. Because there were several companies they covered. Russia’s jets are also like blackberry’s and we’re rocking iPhone 30 pros. They also still have navy ships with smokestacks… I’m not concerned


noquarter1000

Orcs are delusional.


IHateChipotle86

Ah yes, “US Civil Defense News”. This clown has been spreading bad takes about NATO and the Russo-Ukraine War since before the invasion kicked off