F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war

Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by fc417fc802 on Monday April 20, 2026 @09:33PM (#47843504)

So Ukraine isn't a serious war then? And I take it you believe we failed to employ that strategy in Iran ... why, exactly? The alternative interpretation being that isn't how things work. Swarms of cheap drones are the new reality thus appropriate countermeasures are required on the front lines.

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by luma on Monday April 20, 2026 @10:07PM (#47843689)

The key difference is that "swarms of inexpensive drones" can be made in "swarms of normal looking residential garages". The entire enterprise can be decentralized making it much tougher to target with strategic weapons.

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by PearlRiver on Monday April 20, 2026 @10:02PM (#47843660)

America does not want to prepare for that kind of conflict. It wants B2 bombers because those look cool when they fly over during the Superbowl.

Ukraine is a real war and it is about men and women crawling in the mud constantly terrified of getting blown up. It is literally battle of the Somme again. How do you recruit college kids for that?

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by doodlebugging on Monday April 20, 2026 @10:53PM (#47843948)

You don't recruit them, you draft them.

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by bdangubic on Monday April 20, 2026 @10:56PM (#47843956)

Bone spurts will take care of that draft (I’ve read that in the President’s Biography…)

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by expedition32 on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @03:54PM (#47853698)

Thank god I'm too old. Although I suppose you're never too old for a human wave assault...

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by suburban_strike on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @05:29PM (#47854747)

Laws are mutable.

Men aged 25 to 60 are subject to conscription under martial law in Ukraine.

Yugoslavia did the same in the 30s, conscripting everyone 21 to 50 before turning Communist.

Japan widened it to 18 to 60 by the time they lost WWII.

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Re:F-35 is a masterpiece built for the wrong war by tim333 on Tuesday April 21, 2026 @02:06PM (#47852256)

I was thinking that. For most of the last sixty years Russia / the USSR was the peer adversary usually mentioned for NATO to fight. I think they look weaker than they are because Ukraine has actually been pretty competent in the fight.

Re. no swarms of drones because the factories have been bombed, do people really think that'll work on China?

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