There's a somewhat small debate going on in US policy circles over to what extent we should be funding the Lebanese military. I would think this news that Russia is selling Lebanon 10 Mig 29 Fighter jets won't make things easier.
Apparently the best the Pentagon was willing to do was a single engine Cessna, which would have been helpful in taking out small domestic targets, and not much else. The new MiG's would, according to the article, become a potential challenge to Israel as well.
I don't know how true that is. First of all, Lebanon is only getting 10 of them, which isn't enough fight a drawn out air battle. Furthermore, having planes is one thing, but an advanced system of trained pilots is another. It would take some time for Lebanon to train pilots in the new jets to a level that would make them capable of fighting an intense war. The MiG 29 has a mixed combat record, and I can't find any record of it going up against what it would face in a war with Israel. I think the Israeli airforce, with its far larger fleet of F-15 and F-16's would be more than able to handle something it shouldn't really be going to war with in the first place. It should also probably be noted that this is not kind of fleet you would be mounting an invasion with - so unless you have plans to invade Lebanon, you shouldn't really be upset. Now I understand that things don't work with that in real life, if Russia decided to supply Lebanaon with SAM batteries, that would probably raise a little bit more of an outcry, but they didn't.
This seems to me less legitimate concern over military capabilities, and more complaining that the Russians aren't going to let us sit around and do nothing. It seems rather natural that Lebanon would want a real, capable air force rather than the joke we were offering them.
No comments:
Post a Comment