Absolute power is no fun at all

There was a time when American air superiority was something to be reckon with. A force so deadly it can travel half way around the world to shoot your carrier pegions.

Lets just recall a bit.

In Korea, (1950-1953)

American aviators had a kill ratio of 12 : 1. That is for every 12 Soviet or Chinese Aircraft shot down over the skies of Korea, the Americans lost a single aircraft. A fairly respectable ratio, the Korean war set a benchmark for jet to jet combat.

In Vietnam in the days of Operation Rolling Thunder, (1965-1968)

American Aviators were humiliated with a kill ratio of 1 : 1.1. Which is a disaster for the might and technology of the American air combat machine verses the peasant airforce of the North Vietnamese.

In the Vietnam days of Linebacker and Lineback II, (1972)

American Aviators finally acheived a kill ratio of 13:1 after the bombing halt. With Top Gun and similar fighter weapons school, American aviators finally turned the tide of combat to garner a fairly respectable kill ratio.

Then we go on the the Gulf war, (1991)

American aviators accounted for almost all air combat kills and decapitated the Iraqi air force losing no aircraft in air to air combat.

Look how long ago all those events was. Today, the Americans have redefined air power. The ultimate fighter, the F-22 Raptor is today preserved and perfected through decades of air combat experience. Yet, after almost half a decade in active service, it has yet to see its baptism of fire. And I believe that this might never come at all.

For years, American air power around the world has been and is undisputed. Today, no air force can stand against the might of the United States Air Force and stand a chance. The truth is, there is no air force out there capable of facing the Americans. This provides an interesting food for thought. Lessons of the past are in danger of being forgetten, and American aviators who trained so hard all their lives for an enemy in the sky may find it surprising that their enemy do not exist at all. Like in Iraq in 2003, the only thing with American fighters in the sky were clouds.

Absolute supremecy is no fun at all for an observer like myself. Today, fighters are being converted to bombers, where anything that can fly is an air to ground weapon. To think the peasant air force of the North Vietnamese with their leather caps could stand against the might and power of the F-4 Phantom just over 3 decades ago.

Really, this is no fun at all; seeing 19 year old kids throw themselves onto grenades fighting a civil war.

The sky's the limit

China's Shenzhou 7 just brought 3 chinese 'taikonauts' into space and allowed China's first space walk in its thousands of years of history. This piece of news didn't exactly shock the world the way China's kinetic weapon did 2 years back. However, this incident made me speculate a couple of things in the space eploration arena. One thing that made me quite impressed with was how China could conduct this operation with the lack of media clout in the world. While the world greived at the wallstreet crashes and Singapore roared to the sounds of Fernando Alonso kicking everyone's ass in the Singapore Grand Prix, China has opted to play the, as of now, quiet game of space exploration.

One small step in space exploration, one giant leap for chinese projection of influence. China has thus far never failed to impress me with its suddeness and stubborness of its operation. The testing of their anti satellite kinetic weapon for one was a bold show of defiance to American imperialism in space. So the Chinese showed the Americans that they couldn't guide GPS bombs over China, what next? To the moon and back I'll say. It would be a matter of time before China went to the moon and build sancastles there while NASA plays with its space shuttle replacements.

The American space projects suffers from extreme democratic bureacracy while the Chinese have the advantage of swift, efficient governorship. This launch has no doubt been a project that has swept the world off its feet. Watch out : the Chinese can throw bombs into space now.

Now how many space shuttles have crashed and burned and got delayed before every flight now?

China : 1
NASA : 0

Russian salmons

As the world watch in awe as Michael Phelps smash several world records and capture a record 8 gold medals at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, Europe watches in horror as a liberal country is 'invaded' by its powerful northern neighbour on 7th August.

The Georgian President called the rogue states 'criminal regimes' which he vowed to overthrow and regain control upon. The Russians called it 'geonocide'. The two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgian control as early as the early 1990s. This renewed conflict in a desolated location in the world provides some interesting food for thought for observers.

Well, what many people wouldn't know was that the American Secetary of State, Dr Rice was in Georgia a few weeks before conflict erupted. The Georgians probably carried out the offensive with American support. Since Georgia had a contingent of 1000 troops fighting the backwash war in Iraq, Mikheil Saakashvili (Georgian President) probably thought his big brother would come in to save his ass in case of Russian intervention. The Americans miscaluculated as the Russians punched through the border to 'mantain' peace. The Russian steamrolled the opposing forces and provided the world to a rude awakening of Russia's post Cold War military might.

In a televised address a few days ago, President George W. Bush condemn Russia's act of an invasion of a 'sovreign nation' and invading a 'democracy'. I thought Bush's well timed speech was amazing, something we could all learn from. After all, it was he who went half way around the world to Iraq to beat the shit out of Sovereign Iraq and slap Saddam Hussien to his hole in the ground. I'm very sure Bush is in a very good position to condemn these attacks.

Just a few days back, in what I would call a fuel to fire affair, German chancellor Angela Merkel went to Georgia and promised Mikheil Saakashvili that Georgia would join NATO. There is only 2 things I find wrong in Mrs Chancellor's actions. Firstly, Georgia is in goddamn central asia, its called the NORTH ATLANTIC treaty organisation for a reason. And secondly, I'm SURE Georgia joining NATO would solve the problem. I do believe that Georgia's close ties with the west was one of the reasons for Russian intevention. Probably the Russians reminding the region that their livelihood still depends on them and not Mr Eagle holding the talon and olive branch.

Whether or not Russian intevention is justifiable, I cannot say, but what I can say is that, America is in no position to judge the Russian actions. This will not be a new cold war, but this is a signal of a new era of Russia's emergence as a big player in European affairs.

Farnborough Strawberries

The last week and this week is the Farnborough airshow. The world's largest airshow, held in Hampshire England. Where multi-billion dollar contracts are signed, partners announced and new weapons revealed.



Farnborough has always been the hallmark of aviation air shows, and a highly anticipated event. The biannual airshow alternates with the Paris airshow, another massive air show.



The Singapore airshow seems peanuts to this two big air shows.



Anyway, I subscribed to reports from Jane's military magazine to receive updates from the trade fairs of the airshows. They have the biggest things there. Maybe I should make it a point to go to the Paris airshow or Farnborough airshow once in my lifetime. LOL. What a dream.



This is what you see in Farnborough. LOL