Israel s Tank Challenge, Explained
The IDF would love nothing better than to fight an old-fashioned tank battle, at which it is famously proficient. But twenty-first-century warfare is more about guerrillas and tunnels, and these are the bane of high-tech, mechanized armies.
Here s What You Need To Remember: There is a fundamental problem: tanks cannot enter tunnels to chase insurgents, but insurgents - properly armed - can easily pop out of a tunnel, destroy a tank with a missile, and vanish. Israeli military strategists have long struggled with this problem, particularly since the 2006 Lebanon War.
Stand atop Tel Saki on the Golan, and you can understand Israel’s strategic dilemma in a single sweeping glance.
U.S. Marines are Training Taiwanese Forces (and Beijing is Furious)
Despite the fact that Washington maintains no formal relations with Taiwan, which has a democratically-elected government, current U.S. law the Taiwan Relations Act requires that it ensures that Taiwan can defend itself. It has been in place for more than forty years, and ensures Taipei s defense needs.
Here s What You Need To Remember: This is not the first time that U.S. forces have trained Taiwanese ones - but it is usually done in secret.
This week the Taiwanese government publicly acknowledged that members of the United States Marine Corps have begun training operations on the island nation. A unit of Marine Raiders was reportedly deployed to Taiwan to help boost Taipei s military readiness.
Russia s Naval Aviation Program is Falling Apart
The reason the U.S. Navy can operate a carrier for more than half a century is because the service maintains the material condition of its ships and has superbly trained crews. The Russians especially over the past 25 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union have not always properly maintained
Kuznetsov. Nor has
Kuznetsov’s crew been given enough of a chance to gain the requisite proficiency to safely conduct carrier operations at sea.
Here s What You Need To Remember: Ultimately, what makes the U.S. Naval Aviation program dominate the skies isn t the billions of dollars poured into equipment (although that certainly doesn t hurt) - it s the training. Russia
Here, I’d like to break down the strengths and weaknesses of the two aircraft.
Here s What You Need To Remember: The biggest difference, perhaps, is in numbers; many hundreds of F-15s continue to serve around the world, while there are fewer than a hundred Su-35s.
I have been asked to compare the venerable American F-15 Eagle fighter to Russia’s new competitor for the crown of best Fourth Generation fighter, the Su-35S “Flanker E.”
The former is the airplane that in many ways
defined what a Fourth Generation fighter can do. Introduced in the 1970s, it has been extensively updated to keep with the times and hundreds will remain in service for decades to come.
Move Over, Red Baron: This World War II Fighter Group Scored 500+ Kills
The Thunderbolt’s extreme toughness and pulverizing firepower made it the obvious selection to send after the dwindling Luftwaffe on the ground.
Here s What You Need To Remember: If his fate had been slightly different, Colonel Hubert Zemke could have been one of the most proficient flying aces in the Luftwaffe instead of the USAAF.
On May 4, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces’ 56th Fighter Group was ordered to meet a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers returning from a run over Antwerp, Belgium.
Colonel Hubert Zemke, commanding the American fighters, lost his radio communications as he reached the Dutch coast, forcing him to hand over command to Colonel Loreen McCollum, commander of the 61st Fighter Squadron and return to base. It was Zemke’s second aborted fighter mission due to radio failure, and since he was unable to inform his men as to why he left he was concerned they would misco