Over the next few weeks, keep your eyes on the Middle East

GDead_Tiger

Heisman
Dec 7, 2021
13,109
34,585
113
Hegseth said today that we have a huge stockpile of 500, 1,000, and 2,000 unguided munitions we're going to start using.
 

BigPapaWhit

All-American
Jun 15, 2014
3,303
5,202
113
Hegseth said today that we have a huge stockpile of 500, 1,000, and 2,000 unguided munitions we're going to start using.
There you go again with all the numbers. Which is it?

mo money 90s GIF
 

HunterPKP

Heisman
Nov 11, 2004
139,269
42,070
98
@HunterPKP I’ve been very reluctant to think those F15Es were intentionally shot down, but as details emerge, it seems more and more likely.

It appears now that the F/A-18 was within VR and sent sidewinders up the tailpipes, which explains all three jets being hit from rear aspect.

What is unclear is how the hornet pilot could have possibly confused three jets each the size of a tennis court for the enemy, within clear enough sight to achieve tone. It’s hard to avoid concluding that it was intentional.

Mover and Gonky are a couple of my favorite fighter pilot YouTubers:


I’ve been skeptical of it being an accident from the start. One is an accident. Three is a mistake that may have been intentional. Still, more thoughts here and I have not seen pure confirmation it was a F/A 18? I’ve also been heads down with my day job all day so maybe some of you can confirm yes or no on that.
 
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PawsFan

Heisman
Dec 17, 2019
14,781
42,185
113
@HunterPKP I’ve been very reluctant to think those F15Es were intentionally shot down, but as details emerge, it seems more and more likely.

It appears now that the F/A-18 was within VR and sent sidewinders up the tailpipes, which explains all three jets being hit from rear aspect.

What is unclear is how the hornet pilot could have possibly confused three jets each the size of a tennis court for the enemy, within clear enough sight to achieve tone. It’s hard to avoid concluding that it was intentional.

Mover and Gonky are a couple of my favorite fighter pilot YouTubers:

Because moments before 3 Iranian jets made a push into Kuwait and Kuwait air defense was scrambling to stop them. The IR jets headed back into Iran while we (the US) halted the F-15E's coming off a strike to do a DCA cap over Kuwait. The Eagles were awaiting gas when the F-18 mistook them for the Iranian they were sent to intercept.
 

LUV DEM TIGERS

Heisman
Apr 1, 2003
13,786
23,222
113
oh I see you only used a portion of my comment...you realize that majority of my classmates who are still friends today served or still serve. My brother was special ops...I understand what boots on the ground means. But way to C&P only a portion of my comment. Hope it made you feel good

Typical liberal move
The only thing missing is calling you a Nazi.
 

tigerworx

Heisman
Dec 23, 2008
26,655
34,134
113
Understanding all of these acronyms would take a semester class for me
Agree.
So much has been lost in the name of cool.
Add hand gestures and you're almost there.

bottomline
Pure evil must be dealt with, if even by a lesser evil
 

HunterPKP

Heisman
Nov 11, 2004
139,269
42,070
98
Yeah. I’m not buying the F/A 18 story. Even in a cluster formation, popping off and knocking down 3 F15s isn’t even plausible from one F/A 18. However, there is no known airframe on the planet that can evade our PAT III.

my point is this is 100% not confirmed.
 

GDead_Tiger

Heisman
Dec 7, 2021
13,109
34,585
113
Need to read it but WaPo has a story about how the military is using the Anthropic’s AI system “Claude” and their own “Maven Smart System” to do a bunch of targeting for strikes
 

DividedPi

All-Conference
Nov 23, 2016
1,187
2,999
113
Need to read it but WaPo has a story about how the military is using the Anthropic’s AI system “Claude” and their own “Maven Smart System” to do a bunch of targeting for strikes
I thought they just ended the Anthropic contract?
 

GDead_Tiger

Heisman
Dec 7, 2021
13,109
34,585
113
I thought they just ended the Anthropic contract?
I'm not entirely sure. To avoid politicizing it, SecDef/the admin was mad that Anthropic didn't want to do domestic surveillance with their AI (OpenAI agreed to that of course) but it seems like they need Anthropic for fighting abroad. It appears the contract is still in place and future ones are questionable.
 

GDead_Tiger

Heisman
Dec 7, 2021
13,109
34,585
113
According to the Financial Times, the US and an unnamed Gulf State have now approached Ukraine to buy drone interceptors from them. Multiple deep ironies here as, according to Retuers, Ukraine ran out of F-16 missiles over the winter due to supply restrictions from us.
 
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GDead_Tiger

Heisman
Dec 7, 2021
13,109
34,585
113
Ok so some reporting on the school and health clinic that got blown up on the first day in Minab.

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s...school-was-more-extensive-than-first-reported (This article has the best information)

https://people.com/nearly-200-killed-strike-iranian-girls-school-un-urges-investigation-11918212 (This article has the best pictures)

So combined with the reporting on using AI systems for target selection and coordinates, it seems like:

1-The bombing came from our end of things. It was in our area of operations, not the Israelis.

2-We hadn't updated our target info to account for changes to the base and building usage that occurred more than a decade ago.

3-We put info into the AI systems and they spit out targeting info, and we used that without doing more due diligence.
 

ChucktownK

All-American
Oct 28, 2010
5,237
9,346
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Ok so some reporting on the school and health clinic that got blown up on the first day in Minab.

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/04/nx-s...school-was-more-extensive-than-first-reported (This article has the best information)

https://people.com/nearly-200-killed-strike-iranian-girls-school-un-urges-investigation-11918212 (This article has the best pictures)

So combined with the reporting on using AI systems for target selection and coordinates, it seems like:

1-The bombing came from our end of things. It was in our area of operations, not the Israelis.

2-We hadn't updated our target info to account for changes to the base and building usage that occurred more than a decade ago.

3-We put info into the AI systems and they spit out targeting info, and we used that without doing more due diligence.
Horsesh*t