“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F*****’’ Strait, you crazy ■■■■■■■■, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
(Note the censored word wasn’t censored on his social media post.)
Some media speculation listing POTUS as being in the Walter Reed hospital…. Denied by the White House.
Cost of the CSAR???
(1 x F-15E Strike Eagle - $100M?)
1 x A-10 = $20M?
2 x C130s = $200M?
1 x MH-6 Little Bird = $8M?
1 (maybe 2) x MQ-9 Reaper = $30M (maybe $60M).
Great news that the WSO was rescued, but that’s a heck of a resource cost - recce, refuelling, air cover, Spec Ops teams on the gnd, etc, etc.
That’s a HUGE bill - can’t afford to do that too often.
Is it just me or has Kim Jong Un/ the DPRK been quite quiet recently? Not heard a peep from them besides the classic very cute father-daughter visits the weapons factories etc with Kim Ju Ae.
As a long term DPRK-watcher I’m awaiting some news from them.
I still think it strange / unusual that an OF-4 (potentially a sqn cdr) would be flying operational sorties in that theatre - although at least one or RAF sqn cdrs did so in GW1). Was he acting as a “battle coordinator “ of some kind? Did he really evade over 70 miles (& partially climb a mountain) in a comparatively short time? Hiding up by day, moving at night? Not necessarily the best area for an extraction either.
Link this in with the sheer volume of assets used - were they trying to establish a FOB to conduct ops against the relatively local Iranian nuclear facilities?
Using 2 x C-130s suggests a large number of personnel on the ground - nowhere near the supposed extraction point of the downed WSO. For “normal” SPECFOR ops, it would be desirable to have inserted a recce / landing zone team to confirm viability of operating surface & ability to hold the location in the event of enemy operations.
To me, lots of factors don’t add up. As an ex-C-130 pilot too, very sad to see airframes destroyed.
