In a logical world Mssr. de Briganti would realize that since the AV-8Bs were operating out of Camp Bastion on a fixed runway, it could easily have been USAF F-16s or Navy F/A-18s that got attacked.
Because we have a WEAK President who’s installed WEAK military brass with WEAK defenses? When our soldiers occupied Saddam’s compound, any breaches were quickly put down.
This is without the most stupid reasoning I have ever seen.
Any plane sitting on the tarmac could have been destroyed.
Especially with pee-poor guards on them.
establish a line they cannot cross and when they do, kill them. That is the way to deal with these people.
Destroy Marine F-35s, costing like $1 billion each, with shoulder-fired RPG rounds, costing maybe $35 each, and thereby bankrupt and destroy the Great Satan.
Sounds like a plan.
This attack on Camp Bastionhas nothing to do with the Performance capability or use doctrine for the F-35B.
The only way to prevent situations like that attack is to have a forward looking defence with wide and clear zones of approach.
During the Vietnam war the Vietcong were able to do the same stunt at Danang Air Base even thought it was guarded by a heavy Marine Presence.
We just have to deal with attacks like this as long as we are involved in a war there.
It’s also good to learn from past mistakes.So we don’t continue to repeat them.
Well, it kinda used to go without saying that you cannot allow the enemy all kinds of access to the forward remote air base.
I guess Gates never heard of Incheon.
“As Gates noted at the time, the Marines have not stormed a beach since WW II”
Hmmmm Inchon ring a bell SecDef gates? And the superflous detail of it not being in Higgins boats like Tarawa does not change the fact that there have indeed been amphibious operations. Beruit, Grenada, Somalia, and the imminent threat of a landing, complete with Battleship bombardment, tied down most of the Iraqi force in Kuwait allowing the huge flanking movement.
And the USMC having Harriers does 3 important things. Gives the fleet off-shore from these operation credible air defense without a carrier needing to remain in the area of a landing at all times.
It gives the USMC organic CAS with an extremely fast response and turnaround time, complete with pilots who are fully in tune with the USMC grunts.
Last, the USAF really dislikes Harriers and some joint air commander doesn’t like to task them for deep strikes etc,. So they tend to leave them alone and let the Marines use them as they will.
And as much as he wants close support to all be about precision guided munitions from the stratosphere, or miles away, it has often turned out to show the opposite.
Many operations involving USAF in the last 10 years involve Warthogs down low. There have even been numerous instances of F-16s and 15s down low strafing with 20mm. Sometimes CAS can be a B-52 with a JDAM. Sometimes, its someone low in the mud. The USMC needs and deserves a good CAS airframe. The USMC is the single most bang for the buck out of the defense dollar.
The F-35 is a total moonpig, but thats another argument.
Last, has the vaunted Gates ever heard of the Falkland islands? It wasn’t us, but Amphib warfare can come out of nowhere. And is he SURE there wont be a war in the pacific again? Really really sure? China and Japan heat up as we speak. Also, indonesia.
Not a bright article. Attack the F-35 on capability, but not on mission.
There are reasons for stopping production of the F35B, but not because it is more vulnerable to attack as a STOL aircraft.
I don’t think anyone would project their mission as to sitting down in the midst of a battlefield or poorly secured or temporary base without proper revetments.