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We can and we will risk manned aircraft at low altitude against a credible air defense. The war just has to be meaningful enough. Nazi Germany had a credible a
by burfog 6y ago
We can and we will risk manned aircraft at low altitude against a credible air defense. The war just has to be meaningful enough.
Nazi Germany had a credible air defense. We sent bombers anyway. At one point, the expected lifetime (survival) of a bomber crew was a month.
It has been some time since we fought a war that was worth that risk.
- lumost 6y agoThere is an interesting angle on modern great power conflict. Even in a non-nuclear war, all modern combat systems, munitions, and manufacturing bases, would be destroyed or expended within the first weeks by precision munitions. Pro-longed non-nuclear conflict would likely require tradeoffs towards lower-tech components that could be manufactured in more locations at lower risk of bombardment. They're ultimately just aren't that many aircraft or cruise missiles in modern militaries relative to WW2, and they each cost 2-3 orders of magnitude more than their WW2 counterparts (although the cost increase matches the capability increase).