The F-15 is still an amazing fighter and what Fred says is accurate. They're way too expensive and useful to just scrap because something new is available. We're not talking about middle class people and their cars where to impress everyone they must replace with something new every 3 years or less lest they be considered poor or out of fashion. My vehicles from 2001 and 1969 still run just as well as those $65k cars that are supposed to impress. Think what you want about my social class (I have more money in my pocket than those who wrap it up in their public perception). Maybe the F-15 isn't fashionable, but when another country deals with them, they know they were just hit by one of the most effective and efficient war machines ever created.
My dad works in the F-22 program at Lockheed. That plane is ridiculous but it hasn't seen much action just yet. And the F-35 brings a couple new dimensions to the already seemingly perfect F-22. Unmanned fighter jets are the next wave and they are working on that. Currently, the F-22 is only limited by what the pilots can handle physically. Take them out of the equation and the abilities of these jets becomes incredibly more impressive.
In short, I'd say we are prepared. We're also prepared for the future. Our current aviation technologies are so far ahead of everyone besides Russia and China that we're in a good position as far as that's concerned. Even those two countries are behind the game, though.
The problem is our inability to separate our politically correct comfortable western lifestyle from the harsh realities of war. Go in, do the job, get out. People will die. It is sad, but it must be faced. I think more Americans die in combat than necessary because we don't use our full force all at once and end the war in as short a time as possible. I believe if we went in with a mission and purpose and put every bit of effort we had into it, places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya would be crushed in a month. Then, let the useless U.N. jump in and set up governments to their liking.
Or, as I'd prefer. Keep our military as it was intended. For our domestic security. Screw Libya and all the rest. When it becomes obvious that another country sponsored an attack on our soil, be swift and harsh but return home ASAP. Nothing would be more of a deterrent than knowing that if one of your citizens attacks the U.S. and it even has a hint of being state sponsored, your entire country will be in shambles in less than a month. And don't stay to clean up the mess. Retaliate and walk away. How many leaders would risk complete decimation of their infrastructure and financial security to make a political point of blowing up one or two buildings?
We can't afford long drawn out, politically correct, foreign life-saving, soldier-killing nation building. The U.S. needs to start being more concerned with the U.S. I'm not proposing an isolationist stance, but we do need to realize we cannot fix every problem in the world. We haven't even solved the problems of our own country, yet. We act so pompous on the world stage as if we have, though, and I think that is part of the problem many around the world have with us as a country.
Tom, finished reading yet?
