Barack Obama.
Marines and THEIR weapon of choice.
Meanwhile, what a stupid comparison.
Where Romney avoided the throat however, I will not.
Mr. Obama, there is a certain irreducible number of ships beneath which the US Navy cannot execute it’s missions.
We no longer have battleships, or cruisers of any kind, instead very large destroyers, and small destroyer size frigates.
We have a SHRINKING NUMBER of aircraft carrier task forces, and a shrinking number of Navy Aircraft, and to this day we have NO NAVY STEALTH AIRCRAFT, NOT ONE.
We have 186 F-22 air superiority fighters replacing 751 F-15 air superiority fighters and we are manufacturing NO MORE. We must maintain our fleet of F-15 strike aircraft designed in the 1970’s, and have no idea if the undeployed F-35’s (until at least 2017) will really be able to act suitably to replace them.
We have an undeployed shrinking buy of F-35’s in the range of 2,000 to replace 5-7000 F-16’s.
In every field the numbers are shrinking.
We have eschewed the design and or deployment of any new ICBM, or submarine launched ICBM. We have avoided the design of any new and more stealthy version of the MAIN AMERICAN NUCLEAR DETERRENT AGAINST ANY ENEMY, the ballistic missile submarine.
Now perhaps, Mr. President, you would care to argue that our units are so advanced that one day we will have a single vehicle so advanced that just one could fly air-ground support against Al Qaeda, the Taliban and other Islamists, destroy the Russian and Chinese air forces, and protect convoys at sea, but I would not.
In each and every field we are reaching that minimum line below which we cannot be effective and will be sacrificing our men for nothing, or will have to cede the ground to an enemy.
You, Mr. President are not responsible for ALL OF THIS, but you are RESPONSIBLE for not righting this, and ACCELERATING THIS.
You are responsible.
So when you tell the American people you would move heaven and earth to protect them, what you are in fact, REALLY telling them is that you will moving our troops into the earth and into heaven.
Yesterday OBAMA: "America remains the one indispensable nation. And the world needs a strong America, and it is stronger now than when I came into office."
ReplyDeleteEpa,
ReplyDeleteFacts like these are what I expected from Romney last night.
Thanks for providing them.
That's great, but when was the last time a naval force was actively engaged. i'll wait....yes its been very long time. The times have changed. Budgets are constrained. At the moment there is no need for a larger naval fleet. Even at our current levels, there is no naval fleet in he world that poses a significant threat to our Navy. Precision-guided bombs are the future. What we have is large enough to cover the all the area of operations for all the combatant commands. No matter if you like the answer or not....the President was right. The priority for military spending will change when the threat does. The army had the smallest budget of all the services, but that was changed due to the conditions on the ground.
ReplyDeletenot true...the Navy has LOTS of F-18's, whose stealth characteristics are not talked about in public.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteIt's not about engagement. It's about not having engagements.
It's about ruling the seas, keeping the trade routes open, and making sure that people around the world can live in freedom, sell their goods, and create better lives for themselves.
America keeps the sea lanes open. America, alone.
If America did not do that, then who would rule the seas, and what would their motivation be?
Anon, the 'when was the navy last engaged' comment is really ridic.
ReplyDelete1) P-3 China
2) Spratly Islands and area - currently in host dispute among FIVE nations
3) Hainan Area
4) Sonar sled ships in south china seas
5) Chinese subs surfacing in midst of CVN task forces
6) NUCLEAR DETERRENCE patrols 365
7) Carrying and escorting army hardware as in to and from the ME
8) Taiwan
9) The ONLY, and I mean ONLY active ballistic missile defense we have is based around deployment of advanced Aegis ships (like Ticonderoga) backed by Advanced Arleigh Burke (I-III) classes flying around the globe to help defend us and our allies (Patriot and the like can only defeat incoming MRBM and SRBM type missiles)
More, how can ANYONE argue that below a certain number of units the Navy cannot carry out ANY mission whose need at that moment will be DIRE, and whose characteristics will necessarily be unknown.
1 Arleigh Burke is NOT the equivalent of 15 Perry Class AND a BUrke under a shower of missiles from China, or Norkland, while tyring to guard AIR AMMUNITION AND anti aircraft MISSILE RESUPPLY TO OUR ALLIES