Wondering about that for a while.

Do they have the means to launch them?

Not as nuclear weapons no, actual nuclear codes are kept by the US, assuming nobody set the codes to 0000 like I think some UK nukes have been in the past.

Also if the French are loosing people is there any word on retaliation, if French or British special forces die than their government could technically try and involve NATO against Turkey.

Edited by Silasw on Oct 15th 2019 at 5:47:14 PM

Looks like we're gonna get F-16s.

About time.

Also would take any news on the Incirlik nukes being "held hostage" with a grain of salt, unless Turkey is making credible moves to block their exfiltration. They're mostly useless without the US command infrastructure, anyhow.

LOL yeah the last time we were supposed to get F-16s were in the late 90s. That plan was scrapped because of the Asian financial crisis so the F-5's had to last until 2005.

The only way Turkey could conceivably hold the nukes at Incirlik hostage is if they grounded all air traffic from the base. That would be a major provocation beyond anything we’ve seen yet, I don’t really see that happening.

Yeah, I doubt even the Sultan wants to provoke the nastiest US special forces attack since the Bid Laden hit.

The FA-50 is a very good stopgap birb. It might be worthwhile to learn from Cope India on how to take advantage of older/lighter fighters in a high-low mix.

Even if the weapons were stuck in Turkey, they’re useless to the Turks. The WS3 vaults they’re stored in are designed to survive total destruction of the hardened shelter they’re located in, so some seriously heavy machinery would need to be brought in to break them out. Every B61 has a command disable system which can remotely render the weapon totally inoperable, and one imagines that system would be triggered the second an incursion into the base happened. Base security and the weapon vaults would mean plenty of time for that to happen. Even assuming all of that wasn’t an issue, the bombs are useless without the PAL code, which Turkey will never be able to get its hands on.

People stealing nukes and setting them off is Hollywood fiction.

Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 16th 2019 at 7:38:46 AM

Been wondering if some countries like India has been on promoting the Tejas family aside from Malaysia (which has no update IIRC).

Other than the United States, what other countries have their smallest units in their ground forces be nine-man squads?

Awfully specific and they're changed as the situation demands.

On that note, South African Recce Small Teams operated in pairs. This may have been beaten by the Rhodesians (who also operated small teams) in the form of Chris Schulenburg who often operated alone. Possibly one of the few cases of Big Boss being real.

A squad isn’t even always 9 people in the US.

Erdogan had a meeting with Pence and Pompeo despite him initially tossing away Trump's letter.

The ceasefire, from what I've researched on, is giving the SDF a chance to get away from the area and civilians to leave.

So basically they're endorsing the Turks' operational goals now.

Siri, play "Defeated Clown" from the Joker (2019) soundtrack.

The only sliver of a silver lining I can see in this is that it gives....*shudder*....Assad and Russia time to prepare as well, maybe preventing the worst case.

Yes, I threw up a little in my mouth typing that.

Trump: Turkey, the US and the Kurds are happy about the ceasefire.

I'm laughing for some reason.

Former admiral and excellent orator William McRaven has spoken: the American republic is under attack from the president.

China is building a massive shipyard specifically for constructing large carriers.

OK, history question. Does anyone have a list of USMC MOS's that women were barred from prior to the lifting of the ground combat ban in 2013? Mostly because I made the mistake of starting a Stargate cosplay project and trying to work out if it's even justifiable from a universe perspective. And right now I feel like it's not.

There is a handy workaround. The USMC Lioness and Female Engagement Teams fit that era in general. They were attached to infantry units but could also work as small stand-alone units. The US Army followed suit with their own variant. The USMC ones got combat training, wore body armor, and humped around the same gear in general. Some of them even saw combat.

Jstor has this article on some examples if you want the specific list.

Edited by TuefelHundenIV on Oct 18th 2019 at 7:15:48 AM

This is mostly for character background stuff, but that's definitely an angle to consider. Thanks.

Admiral McRaven is kind of funny because due to his dual status as a well-spoken special forces veteran (with a catchy speech about making your bed that went viral) that conservatives love to quote, and being a well spoken special forces veteran who has been an outspoken critic of POTUS. There was one day where I saw the same conservative friend posting a rant about how he needs to just shut up or whatever, and also sharing the "make your bed" speech without a trace of irony because they just didn't realize it was the same guy.

EDIT: If anyone is curious, the Make Your Bed speech.

Edited by AFP on Oct 18th 2019 at 8:22:25 AM

Here's who will build the US Army's new missile defense radar