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I’ve seen other articles by this guy, and am at the moment decidedly unimpressed.

He’d actually make good points, if it weren’t for the fact - the SIGNIFICANT fact - that a few months back the USMC acquired the ENTIRE (well, two were kept for museums) RAF Harrier GR.9/9A fleet.

That’s somewhere around 70 additional aircraft. Plus their engines. Plus their spares. The RAF Harrier GR.9/9As ARE AV-8B airframes with somewhat different ECM fits.

The RAF Harriers were acquired to provide spares and attrition airframes for the USMC fleet. They are in surprisingly good shape, according to the Marines, and the plan was expanded from attrition reserve/spares to using some to replace worn out F/A-18Ds.

Loss of 8 aircraft is always bad news. But given that there are 70+ others in storage and available to chose 1 for 1 replacements from, the situation is negligible from the kind of dire straits/world is ending histrionics he seems to be engaged in regarding numbers (IMHO the major story/loss here is the deaths of the Marines, including the CO).

From what I can tell, he doesn’t mention any of that in the article. Which undermines his credibility: either he’s ignorant of something that’s been reported all over the military aviation press for the last several months, or he’s willfully and duplicitously holding it back to make his argument seem stronger.

Whether the loss of a given number of aircraft is operationally significant the point of real significance made here is that this is a major humiliation for the US and GB. Enemy forces entered the second strongest base in Afghanistan, destroyed a large number of aircraft and killed a high ranking US officer in the process . This story , wildly embellished as is the nature of the East, has been told throughout Afghanistan and across Pakistan and Arab Islamic countries. In terms of psychological warfare this is a major defeat for our side and along with the 9-11 12 convulsions presents the US as weak and a paper tiger. This is the story the government and their willing helpers in the press are burying and why Yon should be praised for putting the sorry tale front and center.

But given that there are 70+ others in storage and available to chose 1 for 1 replacements from,

Incorrect on several points. Not all of the GR9s were sent to Davis Monthan and the GR9s were not equipped with the APG-65.

Many of those airframes have already been pickled as you were previously told.