Nope, we had an American request for mine sweepers. And there's not much political enthousiasm to provide even that.

I heard that Denmark ran out of bombs and had to get some from the Netherlands, who didn't bomb but did help enforce the no-fly zone.

Ah.. Well, that's probably what they said about the first plane that crossed the battle lines. It's just a new battlefield.

They have the tanks, but they're on a strict ration for spare parts.

And otherwise they would have gotten their 2500 ATV's from the Soviet Union. This at least made an uneasy peace for about 3 decades.

And you can bet there was a part of that deal that made sure that Israel held parity. Does anyone know about Egyptian air defenses?

You're right, this thing will never have to take on a Nimitz because it was never intended to do that. In Russian doctrine these were for local fleet defense. For attacking other ships they had their own battery of anti-ship cruise missiles.

I think I read somewhere that the Chinese removed these missiles but it's likely this carrier is more for training purposes and for showing the flag.

What's wrong with you guys? Everyone here immediately thinks in terms of "hard" killing them Carrier Killing Missiles. What's wrong with a good old bit of deception?

Not to mention the logistical nightmare they add. It's a great tank but it guzzles fuel like mad. And there's the support personnel, and the protection for the support personnel. And the people that supply them all. All in all you add a few hundred people to get 14 tanks over there. That's a lot of headache for a PR stunt.

Well, software for your new(old) nuclear reactor isn't exactly a firefox plug in. So yes, that was part of the deal with the German or Russian contractor.

And if I was Iran I wouldn't pay for Windows even if they payed me to use it. Oh.. And I still wouldn't use it. They're quite paranoid about the US as I understand.

I think Monty's strengths were more as an army/theater commander. Though brilliant at times, he had too many flaws to be in any top 5 list.

Miles Dempsey would probably be the top Brit for this list.

I think I'm going to love this thread. 5 best armor Generals and no Guderian, no Model listed yet. Let's get this on guys! FIGHT! :-D

I really liked the original concept but I never understood what these things became. They weigh 2500 tons, cost 700 million dollars, have a crew of 40 but have the fighting power of 1 attack helicopter. And that was when NLOS wasn't cancelled.

Yeah, yeah, I know an helicopter cannot linger around but come on, these are just fast (have to give 'em that) floating heli-decks.

I'd like to see fast fighting ships to go up close (about a "sea-hellfire" away) and beat the s*** out of pirates and speedboat swarms. Not just expensive targets.