I’ll say this for Putin; he never misses an opportunity. The west has badly underestimated his ability.
The Su-25 ‘Frogfoot’ is a good little plane, btw. The design is similar (some might argue a little too similar) to the Northrup A-9 that lost out to the A-10 in testing trials). Like the A-10, it’s a tough, armored ground attack craft with a lot of bang for relatively little buck.
It’s also supposed to be very easy to maintain. During the Cold War, some versions supposedly had a compartment in the fuselage that held every maintenance tool needed to service the Frogfoot, making it easy to keep the plane running at remote airfields.
More reasons why the A-10 shouldn't be phased out imo.
....” Putin.... he never misses an opportunity”....”The west has badly underestimated his ability”.
Putin sees an void or opening and goes for it ...but only after Obama fails to act.
Putin’s been spending billions upgrading his military....but the old cold war armchair idiots still think he’s operating with outdated equipment.......
...at least ‘our military people do recognize’ Putin has a new and very effective means to accomplish what he sets out to do.... they saw this clearly with Crimea. The only good that came from Crimea to the US was Putin revealed some of his capabilities to our military people....it left them stunned as many stated.
To date Putin continues to be steps ahead of current events......He’s not operating by cold war standards...only Obama is....and why he continues to outsmart the US. Unfortunately though many in our Military leadership understands the situation, Obama is not listening to them, and those with the cold war mentality are getting in the way as they fight against those who have grasped the real situation.