Seriously go look at the backgrounds of the Russian oligarchs. It’s a bunch of mafiosi who used to run whole industries in the Soviet System and a bunch of guys from the KGB. These are some of the most individually rich and powerful people in the world.
And they do things totally different over there. It’s a system whose culture was born in a amoral Tsarist serf state with rigid hierarchies and permanent secret police. It’s a different way of thinking that I don’t claim to be able to fully understand, but I’ve tried… which is enough to be able to tell you that it’s fucking weird.
Again this is the realities of their system vs the realities of ours. The ideals of both are obviously pretty different from the realities.
The best way to think about it is a state composed of an interlinking chain mail made of allied criminal cells. The big boss sitting at the top table giving commands is Putin… but it’s only because the next layer below him remain loyal to him, and so on down. Russian organized crime is a part of their statecraft in the same way that corporate interests are part of ours.
Our society is structured like a corporation. Theirs is built like a crime syndicate. There are a lot of commonalities, but there are some major divergences as well.
I want to be so very very very clear that I’m not implying a worse moral judgement with the term crime syndicate than I am with the term corporation.
The reason why your perception fits well with reality is that it’s impossible to have anything of value in Russia without the protection of someone or without being that someone yourself. That might be the guy who collects the taxes in your area, or runs the factory, and that can vary from place to place… but it’s a land of petty bosses who took the place of the nobles of the tsarist era. So yes if you’re a big person in Russian society there’s definitely a connection from you to someone a layer closer to Putin than you are.
The simplest way to think about it is that in our system you want money so that you can get power. In Russia you want power so that you can get money.
They aren’t, really. It’s an old airframe, but the stuff inside is state of the art. There are constant programs to replace airborne sensors, which usually get greenlit because they are orders of magnitude cheaper than an entirely new aircraft, and they are black programs that fall under different budgetary umbrellas.
So, what will happen is the sensors and payloads will be separated from the C-135 airframes which will go to the boneyard in AZ. In normal times, the sensors would be stored, cannibalized for parts, or modified for integration into a new/different airframe. I have no idea what “liquidated” means in this context…we’ve never sold off stuff like this before, and if we do, that is truly worrisome.
Anything but sexy fighter jets don’t really go obsolete anymore because they can’t. Congress is so busy funneling money to the newest hottest sports car, that the planes that actually do real work for the AF have to keep scrounging for funds to stay flying. We don’t still use the RC-135 and U-2 because they’re cool…we use them because, as hard as it is to believe, the political will isn’t there to budget for the development of true replacements.
This was my job in the AF, and specifically in airborne reconnaissance acquisition. AMA if you want.
Sorry, that was a misleading summary. It seemed like they had an overhaul for digital equipment recently (though I’m not sure if that was actually completed?). But, as you say, useful sensors wouldn’t be included in any sale, hence they’d be a bit useless as things to sell. Then it seemed they would ideally be replaced, but (as you say) there’s never been any money in Open Skies and the like. Happy to say that doesn’t really equal just ‘obsolete’, though.
One thing that would be interesting to know is how important the actual intelligence gathered this way is vs satellite imagery?
Edit more questions - Part of my thinking was also that given the sensors still exist and so do other spy planes, then if they did destroy them but got Open Skies back then the military would probably find a way to make flights (though clearly not as good a way). Is that just madness? Also, I know there’s requirements for things to be certified as part of the treaty, is the problem that that process needs to be for the full package and so there would be a big delay while a whole ‘new’ aircraft was put together for it?
Star Wars was never much more than very expensive PR promoted by Reagan in the 80s. Same, as far as I know, for the programs that have followed. The accuracy of anti-missile technology may have improved but the practical relevance hasn’t changed, really. The money the Soviets/Russians would have had to spend to keep up is what pissed them off.
This is what I believed until the iron dome got deployed in Israel in real life. That whole stars wars doesn’t really work bullshit was just our government lying to us again I’m pretty sure.
I’ll admit I don’t know the ins and outs of the treaty…it could possibly require rigid specifications for the aircraft itself.
However, if it doesn’t, we absolutely have the ability to rapidly stand up one-off/unique airborne reconnaissance assets using existing systems, by the same program office that oversees the current aircraft.
They would probably convert an existing RJ-135, which are also handled by Big Safari.
However! Worrying about the planes actually being mothballed is probably a moot point. There are hundreds of ways to slow down the process in the field, and since no commander wants to lose their assets, the guys at Offutt are probably already thinking of ways to drag their feet long enough so that when/if Biden puts us back into the treaty, the planes are miraculously still available, and only need a couple systems “reinstalled.” Systems like…seats for the radar operators, or the sink in the bathroom. There’s a lot of paperwork and procedures to do if you want to mothball a plane…
Why do klingons being allowed to work with the federation have to do with continuing to pursue our cases on the most corrupt election in universe history, we are moving warp speed ahead. We will never concede to fake ballots and the dominion!