Two Typhoon FGR4 aircraft. Sgt Paul Oldfield/MOD
Alex Lockie, Business Insider: NATO will lose its next air war to Putin's 'formidable beasts' if it waits for the F-35 to save it
* NATO needs the F-35 to keep up with evolving threats from Russia, but in a decade, only 20% of NATO's forces will be flying fifth-generation fighters — meaning 80% of them probably can't fight against Russia on day one.
* This puts NATO at a huge disadvantage against Russia, which has new, cheap, and deadly systems meant to shoot down NATO's legacy aircraft by the hundreds.
* Simon Rochelle, the Royal Air Force's air vice-marshal, has proposed plans to keep legacy aircraft fighting and supercharged with the information pulled from fifth-gen fighters and other support planes.
* Rochelle said that if NATO can't fix its interoperability problems across its 28 members, it will lose the next war against Russia.
LONDON — Much of NATO's hope to remain a relevant fighting force in the coming decades has been pinned on the introduction of the F-35, but a simple look at the numbers shows that one airframe alone won't turn the tide against Russia.
"If we think we're going to wait for the next generation to sort the problems out, I can categorically tell you we will fail when next major conflict occurs." Simon Rochelle, the Royal Air Force's air vice-marshal, told the Royal United Service Institute's Combat Air Survivability conference on Wednesday.
"In 2030, 80% of the European NATO forces — should one of those situations occur, God forbid — will be gen 4 fighters. You can't walk away from that," he continued, referring to pre-stealth jets as belonging to a fourth generation of fighters.
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WNU Editor: NATO (excluding the U.S.), has more than double the air power that Russia has. Throw in the U.S., that air power increase to 5 to 6 times what Russia has. So will NAOT lose in an air war against Russia. I doubt it.
NATO has a bigger problem by 2030 than Russia's combat capability. Right now Germany spends very little on its own combat systems while at the same time Russian energy is pumping thru German households and Russian influence is all over Berlin. By 2030 all of this is enhanced. In essence Russia is weaning Germany from NATO. NATO dies without a robust German military and political commitment and that is lacking in Berlin in 2019.
ReplyDeleteRussia's slow craw to change the face of NATO. So far so good, and if politicians don't get it, they will lose this slow war. China is doing the same thing in the S China sea as our wills are not very strong thus the success.
ReplyDeleteThere are almost 30 members in NATO, no army in history has won a war with that many generals with different nationalitets... Were talking about different countrys, different politics, different agendas, different goals. I can easily see, in a difficult situation, the disorganization and the confusion. Just think about the language barrier..
ReplyDeleteWhich country will provide the main body mass in this army? The country that is being invaded? With the current defense spending in NATO I can only see members sending a few brigades to the front and hope and prey that the US will be coming over the sea to rescue them.
In a total war? I doubt it.
But then in reality, there will never be such an confrontation. I cant see any benefits for Russia to try invade a country in Europe today.
Oh, Air war!? I totally misread this article, sorry!
ReplyDeleteIf the US gets involved, easy win for NATO.