smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) (08/16/90)
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) The AP, quoting the usual unnamed sources, said that 22 F-117A stealth fighters would leave for the Persian Gulf on Thursday.
cash@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Cash) (08/21/90)
From: convex!cash@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Cash) In article <1990Aug16.030343.15298@cbnews.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes: >From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) >The AP, quoting the usual unnamed sources, said that 22 F-117A stealth >fighters would leave for the Persian Gulf on Thursday. How useful are stealth fighters in this situation? Given the state of Iraqi military technology, will it really be an advantage to have stealth technology? Or would we be better off having more (and cheaper) conventional planes? -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Die Welt ist alles, was Zerfall ist. | Peter Cash | (apologies to Ludwig Wittgenstein) |cash@convex.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) (08/23/90)
From: xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) In article <1990Aug21.024926.1467@cbnews.att.com>, convex!cash@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Cash) writes... ^In article <1990Aug16.030343.15298@cbnews.att.com> smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes: ^ ^>The AP, quoting the usual unnamed sources, said that 22 F-117A stealth ^>fighters would leave for the Persian Gulf on Thursday. ^ ^How useful are stealth fighters in this situation? Given the state of Iraqi ^military technology, will it really be an advantage to have stealth ^technology? Or would we be better off having more (and cheaper) ^conventional planes? A similar question: I heard rumors that the ALQ131 had proven itself against Soviet radar guided missiles in the brief tiff between Isreal and Syria a few years back. I don't recall the air score but it was very lop sided in favor for Isrealis. Does this mean that US aircraft would be virtually impervious it the Iraquis which presumably has the same types of aircraft and missles? Or have they recieved upgrades to their equipment? Also would anyone know how well the ALQ did against radar SAMs? Reducing the threat to just IR guided makes life a lot easier because the ranges are much smaller. You don't get much of a warning but that hopefully wont be much of a problem. If the ALQ is that effective the F117 is probably not as important as it would be against a higher tech opponent. Still nice for surprise though. NT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- // | Nigel Tzeng - STX Inc - NASA/GSFC COBE Project \X/ | xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov | Amiga | Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own.
lewis@saint (Keith Lewis) (08/28/90)
From: lewis@saint (Keith Lewis) In article <1990Aug21.024926.1467@cbnews.att.com> convex!cash@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Cash) writes: >How useful are stealth fighters in this situation? Given the state of Iraqi >military technology, will it really be an advantage to have stealth >technology? Or would we be better off having more (and cheaper) >conventional planes? There may not be any military advantage. If the stealth fighter was battle-tested, it would be easier to get congress to fund it. All the DoD has to do is send them in, fight a little, win (in the air, at least), and get the CO's involved to testify before congress that the Stealths were "necessary and advantageous." -- Keith Lewis