Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: first-line hardware in small wars
Message-ID: <8536@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 24 Jul 89 05:14:18 GMT
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>... just imagine the glee of the Libyans had they shot down a
>B-2.  Could the Air Force afford to take a chance on this?

This is a generic problem with first-line air forces fighting minor wars,
in fact:  if they use their best equipment, they risk having it fall into
enemy hands in a relatively unimportant war, jeopardizing its potential
use in more crucial conflicts.  As I recall, USAF aircraft in Vietnam
deliberately did *not* carry the then-latest IFF systems for this reason.

Of course, this means that the poor guys who actually have to *fight* said
minor war are fighting with one foot in a bucket...

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu