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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (120751)	11/30/2003 9:52:39 PM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi Re: "... there would have been quite a few members of the Egyptian Air Force who could confirm that their air force was effectively stopped by bombing ..." Egypt had a pitiful air force that was no match for Israel. Israel used its air superiority in the traditional manner (to destroy the enemy's bomber squadrons and to achieve even greater air superiority). By contrast, Taiwan's air force is far superior to China's, so there is no chance of China pulling the same stunt against Taiwan that Israel pulled against Egypt. The context of the discussion is that of more or less equal adversaries using bombing to achieve air superiority. Your example of the Egyptian fiasco is an example of how an adversary that already has air superiority uses it to achieve even greater air superiority. Israel's air superiority was due to their possession of superior aircraft and better trained pilots. These are not advantages that China has over Taiwan. -- Carl P.S. Yeah, yeah, I've heard all my life about what wonders those various Russian aircraft are, and how the incredibly high kill ratios that our aircraft (in the hands of whatever nation you want to name) get over them is only due to the superiority of our (or whatever nationality is flying our planes) pilots. This is just ridiculous BS. The simple fact is that our planes are better. It is a universal trait of human nature to pump up the ability of one's adversaries, especially after the war. This is due to a number of fairly obvious psychological tendencies and has been widely commented upon. And there are plenty of other examples of Israeli derring-do that prove that for whatever reason you want to believe, the Israelis have an air force that is far more effective than any Arab air force. This is a very simple fact. If your air force has superior aircraft (or pilots or whatever you want to believe), you get air superiority automatically.