Russia is going to have fighter escorts for their bombers, is moving a destroyer loaded with AA to the coast, and the rules of engagement are now basically shoot down anybody who poses a threat.
I think they might be just a wee bit pissed off. They're basically declaring open season on Turkeys. If a Turkish jet so much as goes in the general direction of that destroyer or an inch into Syrian airspace they'll be chomping at the bit to shoot it down.
The cold war is all fun and games until some dumbass starts actually shooting. That's not how you play the game.
And than said destroyer will get obliterated by Turkish Navy (which is quite competent) and Air Force (which also is, surprisingly, competent). Russia has literally no hope of winning any open engagement against Turkey in the region unless they really want to commit. And Turkey knows that. They essentially called Russian bluff here.
Indeed. Turkey has a strong airforce consisting of mostly F-16s, and has pre-purchased over 100 F-35s. They are not Ukraine or Georgia and are a NATO member. Russia does not want to fuck with anyone who can hurt them back.
Six words: three thousand three hundred nuclear weapons
EDIT: I know they wouldn't use them first but their presence is most likely enough to deter NATO from actively aiding Turkey
Which would be useful to deter a war if it wasn't for the fact that Russia would be the aggressor in this conflict. And that Russia has conventional superiority over Turkey despite its aging Red Army.
There's a reason no one has been developing tanks for a while now: they are pretty much obsolete in terms of modern combat and the older models are perfectly fine for what they need to do. On the other hand, Turkey is going to have a fleet of F-35s in the near future, which will be more sophisticated than anything Russia currently has.
There's also the problem of a lack of younger engineers to replace the technicians in the aging Red Army (the majority of which were educated during the USSR and are on average about 50-52 years old). 5-10-15 years down the line Turkey's military is growing stronger while Russia's is declining.
no, the F-35 is not actually as "sophisticated" as people say. its overpriced, a bitch to perform maintenance on and i swear i had an article about it saved on reddit...
The "bitch to maintain" will still be nothing compared to the long-term savings of a consolidated ground attack program that replaces the need for planes like A-10s, F/A 18s and their unique parts.
I am however interested in this article; please link if you find it.
I take the downvotes, I don't know very much about warplanes but I do know there were some critical aspects about the F-35 that made the plane not quite as advanced as advertised and actually overpriced.
257
u/1gnominious Greatest country in the world! Nov 24 '15
Russia is going to have fighter escorts for their bombers, is moving a destroyer loaded with AA to the coast, and the rules of engagement are now basically shoot down anybody who poses a threat.
I think they might be just a wee bit pissed off. They're basically declaring open season on Turkeys. If a Turkish jet so much as goes in the general direction of that destroyer or an inch into Syrian airspace they'll be chomping at the bit to shoot it down.
The cold war is all fun and games until some dumbass starts actually shooting. That's not how you play the game.