marcos

Is Bagram a defensive airfield? The supply requirements of a floating airfield will be just the same as those of a land airfield, in fact probably more, when you factor in ship-specific operational and maintenance requirements. And because of that mutual support, they're not really as cheap as you think they are.:smilewink: I think in my example I made it clear that planes would already be based on the island and if you had maybe a dozen islands to defend, separated by thousands of miles, as the UK does, then it might make sense to have a carrier. The only way to foul GPS is to jam it or take out the satellites. The satellites are at an altitude of 20,200km, so that leaves us with jamming. That's why cruise missiles also have TERCOM and IBN typically. Lasers are pretty easy to mess up too in the case of LGBs. You still need infrastructure to support aircraft on a carrier and you have to support the carrier itself, plus the 'mutual support' ships. I'm a straight thinker, I see defence as defence and attack as attack.

That would be cool.

More expensive than developing, building and running an aircraft carrier? Which travels at about 30knots maximum and therefore could take a fortnight to get to where you want it. It's also infinitely easier to sink than an island. Their carriers are not about defence either. Seriously, when was the last time the US used their carriers defensively? In terms of CAS and moving targets yes but in terms of a retaliatory strike on major infrastructure to inform the enemy that you're not happy, cruise missiles work just fine. But again, this is offence, not defence. If you have lots of little islands a long way from the mainland, then maybe carriers are a defensive weapon, but mostly they're offensive, either by action or threat of action. $10bn buys a lot of aircraft to dot around on a few islands.

So is a sub-launched attack with cruise missiles or conventional ballistic missiles and a sub actually has a chance of being able to carry it out without without losing a $10bn dollar aircraft carrier. Aside from that we are really talking about offence anyway, even if it's retaliatory. They don't need an aircraft carrier to fight over territorial waters, what they need is the ability to kill enemy aircraft carriers, enter the DF-21D. If you can provide a 3000+km exclusion zone around the coast of mainland China, it's job done. Of course their vast sub fleet will help there too, not to mention NK's sub fleet. If they'd had Tornados and troops on the island it's not like the Argies would have attacked in the first place, especially if there'd been a few bombers too.:D

Surely he wasn't that surprised?

And nuclear-tipped ABMs and naval mines. So assuming nuclear deterrents work, why do you need naval airpower again, since you already have the ability to raise the surface temperature of any nation that attacks you to 1 million degrees centigrade? Doesn't China already have ICBMs and SLBMs though? It's definitely about force projection but it's rare that a carrier is ever used for defence. The rare exception was probably the Falklands conflict but that's because the UK were dumb enough not to already have fighter jets on the island last time. The Queen Elizabeth carriers will be more Varyag size. If it does the same job, it does the same job.

When you look at it in that respect, there's only one reason somebody needs naval airpower, and it isn't defence.

DCS AH-1W anyone?

I hope so. I've put the pics in the wrong thread though.

Surface to air missiles. Presumably it fires them and collects them again after launch when weight is less important.:lol::lol:

First F-35s arrive in Yuma. http://www.dvidshub.net/video/191080/marine-corps-welcomes-first-f-35b-aircraft-yuma-ariz#.UKcHfb64bF8

Cheers and great pictures again as always.

You'll have to help me out with the translation? 'PPA' is all I got from google. Well I guess the only conclusion we can draw is that the A-10's cannon is so powerful it looks like a cluster bomb.:D

^Target practice? Can anyone help with these streaks? https://maps.google.no/maps?hl=no&ll=41.630344,45.028643&spn=0.001343,0.003098&t=h&z=19

MAR-1: Stand Off - Anti Radiation Missile Hafr-2 Anti Runway Bomb

^The cause of the crash is right there. The pilot has no arms!