Please spare us the sarcasm.. (+ you ain't good at it)
I must admit I didn't realise you were talking about my phrase, I do however find your reasoning behind the "noone decided anything" thing wrong.
Sure...
1) It's not just a question of resources and I think as a US military man by now you should have learned that just because the US does it a certain way , that doesn't mean the whole world does it that way.
Why not? And I meant that as a serious question. Do you think no admiral in the world would like to have an aircraft carrier under his command? You are missing the point. Very seldom is a weapon system so specialized that no one else want put it on his 'Christmas list'. I cannot think of any at the moment but the F-22 is not one of those weapons. The F-22's mission is no different than the F-15: To achieve air superiority over an airspace in the shortest possible time. Show me a single air force that does not have the F-22 on its 'Christmas list'. This is like high level auto racing. If a team employ supercomputers to calculate the best spoiler camber, you had better bet your next paycheck the other teams would be wanting to do the same. Whether the other teams can afford the supercomputers or not is beside the point, but when they see the trophies and the pretty girls are with the team that uses the supercomputers...
2) The SR-71 thing...man you are so all over the place I can't even begin to think were to start..let me see...
a) First of all the MiG 25 and the MiG 31 are capable of almost the altitude the SR-71 can achieve...for an interception it's more than enough
The difference here is that the SR-71 can
SUSTAIN those high Mach and altitude.
b) The SR-71 had no sensors on board to tell it if a plane was after it... I wonder how your SR-71 pilots were going to simply go stratospheare if they saw a chaser !!! I don't think a SAR is a good airborn AA radar ... i pretty much doubt it ...
Wrong...The SR-71's intelligence sensors, optical, ELINT and radar, are
ALSO fully capable of acting as target sensors, not counting the standard radar warning sets.
See the two 'dimples' on the chines? They are ASARs and they are fully capable of informing the crew of any rising threats. Further...SR-71 pilots usually can spot, ahead of their track, orbit contrails of fighters rising in altitude. Once a contrail disappeared or gradually loses visibility, that is a sign a fighter is leaving said orbit to attempt an interception.
C) 12 or 13 SR-71s were lost... who tells me besides your bloated US ego that some were not due to interceptions ( I don't believe it myself but from an arguments point of view..hey...)
So please.. sarcasm ...not
Please...If this is an attempt at humor...Stop...You ain't good at it.
SR-71 Online - Blackbird Losses
Viktor Belenko informed US on how the Soviet Air Force usually failed to intercept and shoot down an SR-71. What he said is true -- That the majority of missiles exploit aerodynamics and the thin air at which the SR-71 cruises would render any missile quite unmaneuverable. The SR-71 does incorporate some RCS predictive methods in its design but nowhere as effective as today's technology. Still, by the time the SR-71 is detected, its Mach 3+ speed alone would leave any missile behind, even though if the missile has a higher top speed, simply because of being out-distanced. Belenko revealed that the Soviet Air Force did attempted head-on interceptions but Soviet missiles could not compensate for the high closing speed.
Mig25 VS SR-71
Ability to intercept an SR-71: Belenko states the Mig-25 cannot intercept the SR-71 for several reasons: The SR-71 fly too high and too fast; the Mig cannot reach it or catch it. The missiles lack the velocity to overtake the SR-71 and in the event of a head on missile fire (The Golden BB), the Guidance system cannot adjust to the high closure rate of the SR-71.
