08-27-2011, 01:08 AM
There's no question in my mind (though there is in some others) that Reagan's buildup in the Eighties brought down the Berlin Wall and caused the breakup of the USSR. Around 1980, the US was putting about 3% of our Gross Domestic Product (IIRC) into DOD, while the Soviets were spending about 20%. We increased to 6% under Reagan, and the Soviets just couldn't double theirs, and the stresses tore them apart.
The only real thing the F-20 Tigershark could have been used for (in the US) was as a Red-Flag-type aggressor aircraft, but the Navy passed on it in favor of using the F-18 (I think), and thereby lowering fly-away costs for their combat aircraft.
The US can't buy aircraft just for Foreign Military Sales purposes; we have to have and operate it, first. We sold a lot of F-5E aggressor aircraft that way.
ETA: The F-111 was impressive, as long as you could keep it in the air, which wasn't often. F-4 aircraft would do about 1.8 sorties per day (my estimate of my memory when I flew them), while the F-111 could only manage 0.8 sorties per day, across the whole fleet, including the F model, IIRC, which absolutely would not fly. (They turned it into an electronic airplane and couldn't keep it in the air - hangar queens, mostly.) There were times when the whole fleet was grounded, too, and all the other tactical aircraft had to fly their hours so we could end up the fiscal year with the exact, to the tenth of a flight hour, absurdly, that the USAF had budgeted. What PITA that was - all training stopped and we just flew to turn JP-4 into noise - add external tanks and fly cross country instead of low level training. President Johnson chose the TFX (what later became the F-111) the day after he was inaugurated on 23 November 1963 - Texas Forever - since it was to be built in Fort Worth. I worked the F-15E program, which was to replace the F-111, and the active force was glad to see it go. It was pretty, though - the Aardvark, the Switchblade Edsel.
The only real thing the F-20 Tigershark could have been used for (in the US) was as a Red-Flag-type aggressor aircraft, but the Navy passed on it in favor of using the F-18 (I think), and thereby lowering fly-away costs for their combat aircraft.
The US can't buy aircraft just for Foreign Military Sales purposes; we have to have and operate it, first. We sold a lot of F-5E aggressor aircraft that way.
ETA: The F-111 was impressive, as long as you could keep it in the air, which wasn't often. F-4 aircraft would do about 1.8 sorties per day (my estimate of my memory when I flew them), while the F-111 could only manage 0.8 sorties per day, across the whole fleet, including the F model, IIRC, which absolutely would not fly. (They turned it into an electronic airplane and couldn't keep it in the air - hangar queens, mostly.) There were times when the whole fleet was grounded, too, and all the other tactical aircraft had to fly their hours so we could end up the fiscal year with the exact, to the tenth of a flight hour, absurdly, that the USAF had budgeted. What PITA that was - all training stopped and we just flew to turn JP-4 into noise - add external tanks and fly cross country instead of low level training. President Johnson chose the TFX (what later became the F-111) the day after he was inaugurated on 23 November 1963 - Texas Forever - since it was to be built in Fort Worth. I worked the F-15E program, which was to replace the F-111, and the active force was glad to see it go. It was pretty, though - the Aardvark, the Switchblade Edsel.