Sadly, not. It would remain very much a poltical discussion, for is war not the continuation of politics by other means (Clausewitz)? Or are politics a thinly veiled war (Schmitt)? Either way, these issues, even those of a highly tactical nature can never be wholly seen and properly analysed out of their political context. IMO.
And we have collectively decided to not do politics on this forum. Perhaps even my above paragraph, being metapolitics is itself already straddling the line.
Now…we need a Strait of Gibraltar Map! Think of it…a rouge Russian flotilla headed by the Kuznetsov is heading towards the Med to wreak havoc and general mayhem. The American carries are far away in the Persian Gulf! The British carrier is…ahhhh…watching The Ashes on TV (ask a Brit…it is a big deal). Only Spain and the Juan Carlos I can stop the rampaging Russian task force!
I wonder if they nickname it “Gran Juan” just as we seem to nickname any USN carrier with “John” in its name as the “Big John”. I have served on a Big John twice; the Big John (CV-67) and the Big John (CVN-74)…although there were some that favored “the Mighty John C.” for Stennis.
Not really NATO but today I learned that the FBI of the USA uses jets as FACs.
Everyone knows about helicopters for observation of stuff from above, but it seems that the FBI operates at least one Citation jet for the same purpose.
As one who knows the potential power of our surveillance systems…I’m not overly happy to learn that the FBI is doing this because, as law enforcement, they are not subject to IO for this type of collection.
For our non-US Mudspikerians, the US intelligence community, to include the CIA, NSA, NGA and all military branches intelligence sections, are prohibited by law and executive order (EO 12333) from conducting surveillance on “US Persons”. We call this “Intelligence Oversight” (IO). It works pretty well most of the time. I’ve had a time or two where I had to stop collection because of the potential of violating IO. …and can get temporary authorization to get imagery of US territory–specifically military bases and military reservations–during exercises and I’ve done that. (Yes my wife and I lived on one of the bases covered and no I did not look for other cars parked in my drive way…the way you guys think sometimes…). All told, as an American citizen and a former intelligence professional, I am all for the restrictions IO puts on the US Intelligence Community.
Then there is the whole FISA warrant thing. I won’t get into the politics of it today, but the initial idea was, IMH&PO, a good intention…the pave stones of the road to hell, etc.
…and now my son works at NSA…so…um…“Hi Rob. Click Like” …
Related:
They also used a Predator (I am happy to read that it was unarmed at least) that the CBP provided.
Again, not talking politics here, this is merely an interesting aircraft to me. I honestly didn’t know that they use Predator drones for border patrols.
Border Patrol is a sort of gray area. They are law enforcement, however, the people they are looking to find are many times not US Persons.
IMHO, unless law enforcement has a warrant to do covert surveillance (and therefore has probable cause that “something nefarious is afoot”), any surveillance should be clearly open and visible/detectable.
A Pred, with lo-vis paint at 10K ft is not that.
Oh I’m sure the rationale is “It is for C2 of limited law enforcement crowd control assets.” So…I need to reread 1984.
Someday we will see one of these in DCS or IL2. Someday…
One thing I did notice after watching this is the Hellcat seems to be a bit more hands on in regards to engine management in flight compared to the ‘Stang or Jug.
