Russia?!

[GmanJoe]

Well, I think the US and Russia are leaning more towards conventional warfare like the YF22 and not uber-nukes.

I think Nostradamus said something about the Middle East uniting and setting fire to the world. I, for one, would like to prove Nostradumus wrong.

So you rather they set fire to each other before the rest of the world sets fire to itself?  That sounds so much better.

It should also be pointed out that the US has offered to share our MSD technology with Russia when the project was resumed.

Share what?  The project is useless at this point.  With the advent of the Patriot missile, I think this new shield technology was an inevitable next step which of course prompted the construction of newer better missiles.  Point being, move, counter-move.  Russia may not be well off as they once were, but they have R&D skills as good, if not better, then ours.  If they decide to really poor the money into development for new weapons, they can sure as hell do it.

I strongly disagree with anyone that thinks we should not take steps to protect this country from a nuclear attack.

MAD still exists today.  The missiles are simply programmed, at this point, to target the Atlantic ocean in case of a catostrauphic malfunction, but they can be reprogrammed in ten seconds for any other location on Earth without fail.  We have tons of pre-programmed locations for countries instigating specific attacks.  Point being, I don\'t think any country is that suicidal and it\'s naive of anyone to think nuclear deterrents do not prompt the construction of newer and better weapons.  More then likely, these Russian programs were planned probably in the 80\'s, but never implemented just like I\'m sure we have plans shelved for one treaty or another.  Once that treaty is dissolved, again in thanks to Bush\'s foreign policy, it\'s open season and we go back to our original agendas.

One last thing -- how many people here honestly believed this would not occur after Bush wiped his ass with the nuclear weapons development and missile deterrent treaties?  Being attacked at point blank with so many radars and satellites monitoring all the flight space of the Earth is absolute insanity and any country knows it.  Our response would be one of total annihilation with no quarter given.  Our biggest threat right now is a nuclear weapon being detonated on American soil with no missile trail to be tracked back to its source.  No shield will help that.  Our current resolve with the non deterrent policy was perfectly fine.

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by Ryu
So you rather they set fire to each other before the rest of the world sets fire to itself?  That sounds so much better.
 

Uh...Yeah....better they catch on fire than us.

Ryu - no one even knows if the Russian missle even works or has gotten off of the drawing board.  

Remember Star Wars?  The Russians falsely believed it would work so they built more missles and bankrupted themselves.  Who is to say this isn\'t something similiar?

Ryu - no one even knows if the Russian missle even works or has gotten off of the drawing board.

Remember Star Wars? The Russians falsely believed it would work so they built more missles and bankrupted themselves. Who is to say this isn\'t something similiar?

So because we publically show and acknowledge our non working missile defense system, the Russian secretive program now lends itself to speculation?  Come on now.  It\'s far easier to develop a new and better missile with high manueverability then it is to build all new technology that intercepts said missile.  Much cheaper too.

[Jumpman]

"Russia?!
Where the hell did they come from!?"

Someone wanna give this guy a history book?

[Titan]

Russian weaponry IMO is more reliable than the US weaponry (armament speaking). The Russians developed the AK-47, we the M16. The AK, as said by our GIs during Vietnam, said it was an amazing piece of equipment. It was simple, easy to clean and was pretty accurate. The M16 was complex, hard to clean and got jammed fairly often. There was one case where an American soldier stole the AK from a dead enemy, threw it in a locker for a few months, took it out and fired with it. He said that he\'d never be able to do it with an M-16. I watch the History Channel too much

This new MiG sounds a lot like the F22 and the Joint Strike Fighter that is in development. Both are very maneuverable.

Titan - name a modern piece of Russian military equipment that is more reliable than its US counterpart.  Russian equipment is inferior to our equipment from a reliability standpoint.  Just take a look at the Russian navy if you don\'t believe me.

The information about the M 16 being unreliable is based on its early use in the Vietnam War when it was first deployed.  The 5.56 rounds at the time used a low quality "sticky" powder that made them prone to jamming if they were not maintained.  This was later corrected through the use of a higher quality powder for its ammunition.  The M 16 is quite reliable with proper maintenance, more accurate, lighter and has more versatility than the AK 47 in regards to mounts.

The AK 47 has a higher rate of fire, is less expensive (maybe that is why terrorists like it?), and is simple to maintain (if you don\'t know guns this is the gun for you!).  One could debate which gun is better forever, but I think as far as weapons go at this time, the US has much more reliable weapons, vehicles and technology than the former USSR does.

[Titan]

Originally posted by GigaShadow
Titan - name a modern piece of Russian military equipment that is more reliable than its US counterpart.  Russian equipment is inferior to our equipment from a reliability standpoint.  Just take a look at the Russian navy if you don\'t believe me.

The information about the M 16 being unreliable is based on its early use in the Vietnam War when it was first deployed.  The 5.56 rounds at the time used a low quality "sticky" powder that made them prone to jamming if they were not maintained.  This was later corrected through the use of a higher quality powder for its ammunition.  The M 16 is quite reliable with proper maintenance, more accurate, lighter and has more versatility than the AK 47 in regards to mounts.

Giga, I never actually really specified a time period. I merely said that Russian equipment has been better than Americas. The M16 still does require a lot of routine maintenance, especially in the field, whereas the AK47 and subsequent models do not require as much maintenance and could be used for long periods of time in the field and still prove to be accurate. I would rather have the M16 in the field because it is lighter, more accurate and doesn \'t have much of a kickback.

Originally posted by GigaShadow
The AK 47 has a higher rate of fire, is less expensive (maybe that is why terrorists like it?), and is simple to maintain (if you don\'t know guns this is the gun for you!).  One could debate which gun is better forever, but I think as far as weapons go at this time, the US has much more reliable weapons, vehicles and technology than the former USSR does.

Terrorists like the AK47 because it is cheaper, you are right. They also are much easier to get because most communist countries had the rights to manufacture and modify the AK so there are millions of them throughout the world. You can get one on the street corner of a lot of third world countries.

So im guessing the YF22 is the new stealth modded Raptor (which i never really figured the technical differences between it and the old lightning).

Im more partial to the YF 19 and 21  (Robotech/Macross) thing

Not that anybody cares.

[Titan]

Last I heard, the F-22 that will be produced in a couple years has composite materials on the hull that make it invisible to radar. So it is basically a stealth fighter. To add to the stealthiness, the F-22\'s missiles are inside the hull and come out when you are ready to shoot. Kind of neat.

Indeed

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by Titan
Last I heard, the F-22 that will be produced in a couple years has composite materials on the hull that make it invisible to radar. So it is basically a stealth fighter. To add to the stealthiness, the F-22\'s missiles are inside the hull and come out when you are ready to shoot. Kind of neat.

Inside the hull, eh? No freakin\' wonder Ace Combat 5 takes a freakin\' long time to reload the pair of missiles after launching a pair.

The hull opens like a cargo bay door and the missiles launch out of there.  Pretty cool in all honesty.

[Titan]

Another advantage I would think is that if they were inside, they are better protected. If they were on the wings and a bullet hit, it would explode. Inside, it can still get hit and explode but the enemy can\'t hit them if he don\'t know where they are