2025 Israel - Iranian conflict
- Thread starter Maikeru
- Start date
The Rafale is still a one of the world's premiere 4th gen fighter jets, their performance shouldn't be based on the screw ups of poorly trained Indian pilots. And for what its worth, France maintained a decades long operation in Mali with a total of 53 KIA, Wagner in that one ambush last year lost 80 KIA in a single day.
The point is talking of the toll inflicted upon Ukrainians in the context of the global East and West struggle is moot, since Ukraine before the war was a corrupt wasteland with a lower per capita GDP than Iraq. Russia, in supposedly wiping out half of the country's male population, has been isolated from many of the world's major economies outside of China and India, and lost vast quantities of its stockpiled weaponry and thousands of experienced troops. Meanwhile, most of Western Europe outside of some economic fallout, remains unaffected, so I don't think its an achievement worth boasting of.
More to the topic at hand, which is China and its allies, many here can in fact claim that the US still has many advanced nation on its side. Whereas if this was WW1, China would essentially be a Germany saddled with two Austrias.
ONCE great and those days are gone. It's the very reason Iran has been checked and suffering from trying to grasp at greatness they read and heard from the oral tales/myth/legend from their forefathers. They are a loquacious bunch not dissimilar to our Indian friends tbh.
China helped them negotiate a deal with Saudis. They blew it.
China's population is bigger than US+EU times 2. Even the entire world coming down cannot fight China if the Chinese can achieve their true potential GDP per capita and equivalent military strength.
China needs the rest to just keep distracting the west. Keep them busy. While China achieves GDP per capita equal to EU levels. Once that happens, it's game over for the west.
I agree that a military isn't good or bad based on its hardware alone. It is also morale and innovation, and being able to apply that to rapidly changing conditions. But this is precisely what I'm talking about.
Russia has displayed rapid reforms in equipment and doctrine due to good morale and innovation, despite poor top level leadership. It is doing pretty good on the battlefield - can't be doing too bad to gain land and inflict asymmetric casualties - while having the occasional strategic (but not tactical) blunder. I would call that a good military with bad leadership.
Simple examples of reforms since 2022:
1. Fiber optics drones in response to jammers
2. Cages on vehicles in response to shaped charge anti-tank drones
3. Switching to glide bombs when the volume of firepower required exceeded that capable of being provided by missiles
4. Russian air defense going from incompetent against HIMARS to making them nearly irrelevant
5. Ditching batallion centric command (BTGs) for divisions
Iran on the other hand played all of its tricks in the 2000s and 2010s, and then never got new tricks. It did not reform in response to setbacks.
To more knowledgeable members about this, is there any risk of radiation clouds flowing to neighboring countries?
Which is why cynically, as pathetic as Iran has shown to be they can still make themselves useful by bogging the US and Israel down Afghanistan style.
As much as some of us would like to hype up Iran, and I did as well, their debacle this round shows how severe their deficits truly are.
From various assassinations to being attacked large scale. I wouldn't be surprised if they can't mount an attack. Acctually I wonder if this would lead to the collapse of the current government.
I'm sure Israel and US has agents to cause social unrest and even anti govt revolution if the right time comes after these attacks.
I would be surprised if this attack made Iran more cohesive and band together and fight back. Somehow I don't see it becoming that way, but would love to be proven wrong.