Changes

A proper missile defense system is built to be highly mobile, given they themselves are legitimate military targets.  On trucks, their job is to find a firing location, set up, fire at the target, withdraw and hide until the next assignment. American teams take about 25 minutes to set up, Russian teams about 5 minutes.  In the 20 minute time difference, assuming the radar hasn't been switched on, they themselves still are legitimate targets if their location can be detected.  The US Patriot systems, Russian S-300, 400, 500 and BUK systems are all designed like this. Since the end of WWII, the US has focused on air superiority - aerial attack; whereas the Russians have focused on aerial defense.  Hence, while America boasts of "aerial superiority", it is widely recognized that Russia has missile and aerial defense superiority (a missile and jet aircraft are basically the same thing, a rocket engine).  This fact requires some adjustment in American thinking. While [[Ronald Reagan]] is credited with bankrupting the Soviet Union by outspending on missile defense - and that may be true - the Russians have never lost their edge in missile defense and electronic warfare, given that has been their highest defense priority since the US focus on air superiority beginning in 1945. [[User:RobSmith|RobS]]^{[[User talk:RobSmith|''Give Peace a chance'']]} 04:35, January 18, 2023 (EST)

A proper missile defense system is built to be highly mobile, given they themselves are legitimate military targets.  On trucks, their job is to find a firing location, set up, fire at the target, withdraw and hide until the next assignment. American teams take about 25 minutes to set up, Russian teams about 5 minutes.  In the 20 minute time difference, assuming the radar hasn't been switched on, they themselves still are legitimate targets if their location can be detected.  The US Patriot systems, Russian S-300, 400, 500 and BUK systems are all designed like this. Since the end of WWII, the US has focused on air superiority - aerial attack; whereas the Russians have focused on aerial defense.  Hence, while America boasts of "aerial superiority", it is widely recognized that Russia has missile and aerial defense superiority (a missile and jet aircraft are basically the same thing, a rocket engine).  This fact requires some adjustment in American thinking. While [[Ronald Reagan]] is credited with bankrupting the Soviet Union by outspending on missile defense - and that may be true - the Russians have never lost their edge in missile defense and electronic warfare, given that has been their highest defense priority since the US focus on air superiority beginning in 1945. [[User:RobSmith|RobS]]^{[[User talk:RobSmith|''Give Peace a chance'']]} 04:35, January 18, 2023 (EST)