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It's the Zoomies versus the Squids, the United States Air Force versus the US Navy, two of
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the most powerful- if not the most powerful forces on earth, in a head-to-head matchup
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to determine just which branch is the best at their primary purpose: killing bad guys
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and breaking their stuff.
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For the sake of this thought exercise, we're going to ignore the normal realities of warfare
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and focus solely on firepower and assets.
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After all, in a realistic war scenario the US Navy could do something the US Air Force
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could never do: blockade ports and stop the shipments of supplies.
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So we're going to be pitting man and machine in a straight up deathmatch, and find out
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which of the two services comes out on top.
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Despite their close partnership with the US Navy, for this fight the Marines are out-
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sorry sailors, but you're fighting this one on your own.
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Likewise, US Army forces which typically help provide ground security for Air Force assets
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are also out, leaving the Zoomies to fend for themselves.
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Most of this war will naturally happen in the air, though without the support of their
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sister services, the US Air Force does have one advantage that the Navy doesn't- the ability
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to deploy a moderate ground force against Navy targets.
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The Navy after all isn't just about ships, there's a long link of resupply, repair and
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resupply centers that are vital for keeping America's fleets out at sea.
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US Air Force Security Forces personnel are traditionally speaking, military police no
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different than their counterparts in the other branches.
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However, during the Vietnam War, the Air Force realized that it couldn't always rely on the
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other services for protection of its air fields in hostile territory, and quickly established
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a training program to convert their military police personnel into a small, but competent
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infantry force.
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Today, Security Forces personnel are all trained in air base defense, and receive qualification
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training with heavy squad weapons such as the .50 caliber machine gun and the Mark-19
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automatic grenade launcher.
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Some of these personnel are even qualified for air assault operations.
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Numbers are hard to pin down, but there's an estimated 25,000 US Air Force Security
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Forces personnel currently on active duty, giving the Air Force a sizable ground assault
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element that the Navy can't match.
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While US Navy Masters-at-Arms are trained in protecting ships and shore installations,
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their focus and training isn't as exhaustive in ground combat roles as Air Force Security
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Forces personnel.
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With the focus shifting from protecting air fields from unsophisticated terror and insurgent
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threats, to a potential showdown against regular Chinese or Russian infantry units, US Air
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Force Security Forces personnel have recently begun a program to seriously upgrade their
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standards, training, and equipment to meet these near-peer competitor threats.
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The stated goal of the US Air Force is to produce a force comparable to US Army light
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infantry, powerful enough to repel a coordinated attack from near-peer competitors.
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This means new tools such as anti-tank and anti-air man portable weapon systems and fire
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support platforms such as mortars, as well as a stronger emphasis on assault and defense
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operations.
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On the ground, it's clear that the Air Force has a serious advantage, being able to deploy
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a sizable force to seize vital US Navy ground installations and repel any assaults against
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its facilities, but the primary combatants in this showdown are going to be aircraft
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and ships, so how do they measure up and what can they add to this fight?
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The first step in this battle between the services will be in establishing air superiority,
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as the primary armament of both services are going to be its aircraft.
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In the Navy's corner we have the F/A-18 Superhornet, an aircraft developed to counter advances
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in Soviet fighter design.
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Turns out, the Navy completely overcompensated and created one of the most formidable fighter
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aircraft ever built.
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Responding to the Navy's Superhornet threat is going to be the F-15 Strike Eagle, another
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development created in response to the advancements made in Soviet fighter design.
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Both aircraft come from the same manufacturer, meaning they share many of the same strengths,
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making this a difficult matchup to determine.
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The F-15 is an air superiority fighter, but it is primarily geared for a ground-attack
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role.
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The Hornet is instead a jack-of-all-trades, doing everything from air superiority to suppression
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of enemy air defenses, recon, and even aerial refueling.
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That versatility gives the Navy greater flexibility, and makes sense for a service which has limited
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space on its aircraft carriers- the better buy for your money is the aircraft that can
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do multiple things well, rather than a single specialized task.
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But, in this fight, which is better?
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The F-15 is powered by dual Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engines producing twenty nine
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thousand pounds of thrust at full afterburner, versus the Hornet's General Electric F414
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engines putting out twenty two thousand pounds of thrust at full afterburner.
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This gives the F15 a whopping speed advantage of 700 miles an hour, with the F15 clocking
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in at 1,875 mph (3018 kph), versus the F18 at 1,190 mph (1915 kph).
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F-15s are going to get to the fight first, every time, and if they get in trouble, they'll
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easily outrun any pursuing F18s, leaving them in the dust.
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By comparison, F18s trying to flee from the Air Force's Strike Eagles, are going to
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wind up getting splashed.
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The Eagle also has a greater fuel and weapons capacity than the Hornet, with the F15 carrying
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up to 23,000 pounds of fuel and weapons versus the F18's 17,759.
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More fuel and more missiles means the Air Force's fighter can stay in the fight longer,
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and shoot more- and gives the F15 nearly double the range of the Navy's F18.
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However, the Navy's f18 can carry the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-radiation missile, giving
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it a robust capability in destroying enemy ground and even airborne radar, while the
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F-15 cannot.
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Conversely, the F-15 can carry the GBU-28 bunker buster bomb, while the F-18 can't.
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The F-18 is slightly more agile than the F-15 however, which would give it the advantage
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in close-quarters dogfighting, although as many enemy combatants around the world have
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found out, the F-15 is an absolutely terrifying dogfighter itself.
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Targeting and tracking systems on both aircraft are nearly identical, given that both aircraft
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operate for the same country.
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When it comes to long range detection, the APG-82 radar has greater capabilities than
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the APG-79 radar used by the Hornet, though just how much greater capabilities is a mystery
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as the data is a closely guarded secret.
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What's clear is that Air Force Strike Eagles will get to the fight first, see their targets
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first, and fire first, putting the Navy's Superhornet at a disadvantage.
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However, the F-18 is equipped with infrared search and tracking capabilities, giving it
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a chance to take on stealth aircraft at close range.
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With 769 Hornets versus the Air Force's 454 Eagles, the numbers advantage may seem to
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be in favor of the Navy- except the 769 Hornets the Navy possesses represents the entirety
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of its air-attack and air superiority forces.
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By comparison, the US Air Force can call on an additional 1,017 F-16 Fighting Falcons,
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and 229 operational F-35 Lightnings.
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The Navy's own F-35s only number at 21, and are currently still only used for training.
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However, the absolute silver-bullet in the sky for the Air Force, is its fleet of F-22
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Raptors, numbering at 186.
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While low in number, the Raptor is without comparison the world's most advanced air superiority
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fighter, featuring a radar cross section the size of a marble.
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Its armament may be limited as it's forced to carry its weapons internally, but its powerful
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radar allows it to detect enemy aircraft and engage them at beyond visual range.
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While the Air Force initially wanted a fleet of almost a thousand of these incredible aircraft,
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the extreme pricetag upwards of $220 million dollars per aircraft, as well as a lack of
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a realistic threat to face off against by any other nation, shelved the original production
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run and limited it to the number the Air Force currently operates.
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Simply put, in an air battle the US Navy is going to come out losing badly.
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Not only is it completely dwarfed by the numbers of Air Force air superiority fighters, the
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Air Force's F-22 presents a threat that an F-18 pilot is unlikely to survive.
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Luckily, the number of these airborne assassins is relatively low.
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However, the Navy can call upon support from its large fleet of warships, who thanks to
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modern battle networks, can add their firepower to an air battle.
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While its fleet of dozens of attack submarines may seem like an odd fish out on this fight,
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many of these are capable of taking on land-attack roles thanks to the addition of cruise missiles
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to their magazines.
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With a range of 1,550 miles (2,500 km), Navy subs could deliver crippling blows to US Air
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Force installations- with little if any warning.
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Likewise, its fleet of 91 destroyers and 19 corvettes could all strike at Air Force airfields.
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A vast inventory of anti-air missiles such as the RIM-174 and the RIM-162 Evolved Sea
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Sparrow can project serious anti-aircraft firepower into a fight, leaving US Air Force
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planes at risk in any air battle within range of US Navy ships.
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The US Air Force is not the primary service for neutralizing an enemy fleet, that task
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falls on the US Navy, but it is still very well equipped to deal with hostile vessels.
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The AGM-158 JASSM (jassam) and the AGM-86 are both extremely long range stand-off attack
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air-launched cruise missiles, packing a thousand pound warhead capable of sinking enemy ships.
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The AGM-158C is the latest iteration of these anti-ship missiles, and features greatly improved
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technology allowing it to locate, track, and target hostile vessels independently while
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ignoring civilian shipping.
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These missiles are all low-observable, making them difficult to spot on radar, and are programmed
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to fly extremely close to the ocean's surface, which makes them even more difficult to spot
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and target by a ship's anti-missile defense systems.
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However, none of these weapons are supersonic, as the US is currently coming far behind Russia
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and China in developing supersonic weapons.
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This means the individual success rate of each missile is dramatically lowered when
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pitted up against the Navy's sophisticated anti-missile defense systems, though the AGM-158C
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is capable of coordinating with other missiles to conduct swarm attacks, approaching a target
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from multiple directions in overwhelming numbers.
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Increasingly, this fight is turning bad for the US Navy.
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With an air superiority fleet that's less than half the size of the US Air Force, and
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with aircraft outmatched technologically by the Air Force, the Navy will never be able
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to establish air superiority.
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Even more importantly though, the Navy's Hornets will never be able to establish air superiority
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at the stand-off attack distances required to stop Air Force bomber aircraft from launching
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anti-ship attacks.
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While Navy fleet defenses are likely capable of chewing up most of the Air Force's surface-attack
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aircraft, the Air Force's ability to attack with long-range precision weapons means their
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vulnerable bomber aircraft can target and fire from well outside of the air-defense
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envelope of the Navy.
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One way the Navy plans on protecting its surface fleets from this threat against a near-peer
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competitor such as China or Russia, is to simply establish Combat Air Patrols at greatly
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extended ranges, using F-18s in tanker mode, or new tanker drones, to refuel F-18s assigned
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to long-range air patrols.
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However, no other nation can bring to bear against the US Navy the sheer numbers and
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capabilities of the US Air Force, and in a real-world situation, the Navy would always
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rely on Air Force help to protect its ships.
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Airpower will determine this battle, and the Navy loses in that arena.
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While Navy ships would be able to launch attacks against Air Force airfields and ground installations,
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they won't last long against coordinated Air Force attacks by fleets of B1 Lancers and
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B52s equipped with stand-off long range munitions and protected by fleets of F-16s, F-15s, F-35s,
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and F-22s.
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Air Force planes would always be able to redeploy to civilian or even improvised air fields,
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but Navy fighters will find that their only safe landing site- their aircraft carriers-
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will very quickly end up at the bottom of the sea.
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With complete and total air superiority, the US Air Force is without a doubt the victor
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of this conflict, though in reality, this conclusion is no surprise.
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Air power has been the single most important weapon in modern war since World War II, leaving
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any foe without suitable air power at the absolute mercy of even an inferior army that
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is supported by a competent air force.
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However, it's also a matter of different mission sets that sees the Air Force declared a winner.
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The US Navy is indeed tasked with air superiority, but its vessels are also designed for a wide
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range of different responsibilities from surface warfare to subsurface warfare, and the escort
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and deployment of ground combat troops to beaches around the world.
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The Air Force however has a far more limited scope of missions- air superiority, recon,
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and ground-attack- and its equipment is thus far more capable in these arenas than the
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Navy's.
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In truth, neither service could win a war without the other, and the two are equal and
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vital partners in ensuring the United States military remains the most powerful on earth.
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Buuuutttt, squids would totally get their butt kicked by zoomies any day of the week.
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Now for how the Navy would fare against a competitor like China go watch “US Navy
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must do this to defeat China in a war.”
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Or if you're ready for a change of pace, click this other video instead!