On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 21:11:31 -0500, "Ray Drouillard"
wrote:


"phil hunt" wrote in message
...
What would be sensible strategies/weapons for a middle-ranking
country to employ if it thought it is likely to be involved in a war
against the USA or other Western countries, say in the next 10
years?

One word: Surrender

I must admit that this post by Ray has motivated me to consider the
original problem more thoroughly :-)

One of the primary goals, as I see it, is to try and maintain control
over the air. If a country can control it's airspace, the US (or
perhaps China or Russia or whatever major power is becoming
bellicose), being at the end of a very long supply chain, is going to
have some serious supply problems.

However, it will be very difficult and expensive to maintain an air
force capable of battling it out in the air with US forces, if it is
even possible at all.

I think the problem can be subdivided into two problems - the first is
the aircraft carrier issue, the second is ground based aircraft.

Nukes are a definite possibility for sea "defense", IMO. While I'm
sure the US won't be happy to have a carrier fleet nuked, it seems to
me that it is a lot less likely to result in your country being turned
into a plain of glass than a nuclear attack on ground based forces.
The delivery system of choice remains a problem. I would think a
relatively unguided ballistic missile would be the best choice,
especially if it could be reasonably well armored. Decoys would also
aid penetration. If terminal guidance technology becomes advanced
enough, the decoys can be given conventional warheads and seeking
capability.


However, it would be better to do the job without nukes if possible.
The original idea of autonomous weapons might be able to work here (as
in the terminal guidance missile weapons I mentioned above, or
LCCM's). Torpedoes are another definite possibility, to avoid having
to deal with the antimissile and point defenses. They'd either have
to have a very long range, or be air droppable, or preferrable both
(but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to have both).

The next problem is the one of ground based aircraft. Anti-runway
weapons seem to me to be the weapon of choice here. This is another
area in which LCCM's or terminally guided munitions might work well.