Will Biden try to stop it?
Will Biden try to stop it?
U nable to defeat the Ukrainian army in battle, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has switched tactics. While Russian ground forces have mostly pulled back to defensive positions, the Kremlin has unleashed widespread bombing of civil infrastructure all over Ukraine. Only 3 percent of the Russian missiles are hitting military targets. All the rest have been directed against the means of support of Ukraine’s civilian population. The majority of Ukraine’s power grid has been damaged, and 30 percent has been completely destroyed. Without power, water pumps are failing.
While those living in houses can heat their homes by burning wood or coal, this is not possible for the large fraction of the population which lives in urban apartments. Ukraine’s GDP is already down 40 percent. It is set to crash further as it becomes impossible to operate businesses and factories without power. Without heat, light, or income, millions could die.
Ninety years ago, Kremlin leaders attempted genocide against Ukraine by forcibly denying its people the means of subsistence. In the resulting Holodomor — the Hunger Death — over 5 million Ukrainians died. Now, Putin is trying to do it again, this time using air attacks instead of grain-expropriation squads to get the job done.
There is another important difference, however, between Putin’s Holodomor and Stalin’s: America could easily stop this one.
Western air-defense systems are vastly superior to the offensive aircraft, drones, and missiles Putin is using to implement his extermination campaign. With the slightest effort, we could render Putin’s blitz completely impotent.
U.S. Patriot air-defense units can shoot down any aircraft or missile in Russia’s arsenal from as far away as 100 miles. We have 1,106 such batteries, and have given or sold 172 more to various allies. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has chosen not to send any to Ukraine.
The U.S. has over 4,000 F-16 fighter aircraft. These are no longer the best fighters we have, but they are much better than anything the Russians have. They are also relatively easy to maintain. The United States has delivered F-16s to 25 countries around the world — NATO members and non-NATO countries — even including such questionable nations as Pakistan and Venezuela. We have so many of them that the U.S. Air Force uses them for target practice. These could readily be used to shoot down any Russian aircraft or cruise missile. Used to provide close air support to the Ukrainian army, a hundred of these could decide the ground war in short order. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has chosen not to send any of these, either.
PHOTOS: Russian-Ukraine War
Much of the damage the Russians are inflicting is being done using slow-moving kamikaze drones supplied by Iran. These could be knocked down by any airplane with a gun. The U.S. has over 350 A-10 ground-attack aircraft that the U.S. Air Force has repeatedly tried to get rid of. These are armed with Gatling guns that can take out tanks. Used in a combat air-patrol mode in rear areas, they could easily destroy Iranian drones.
In fact, the Iranian drones are so slow that it would not even be necessary to use jets to shoot them down. The U.S. has light ground-attack aircraft called A-29s, which resemble World War II fighter aircraft. Derived from the Brazilian Super Tucano, these can travel at 360 mph, which is more than fast enough to hunt the 120 mph Iranian drones. In fact, even helicopter gunships are fast enough to catch and kill Iranian suicide drones. For example, Apaches can do 170 mph. We have thousands of them.
But President Joe Biden has chosen not to send any A-10s, A-29s, or Apaches. Instead, he has sent two NASAM 20-mile-range air-defense systems, with six more promised by next August.
Two anti-aircraft units are not enough. Next August is way too late.
We could readily stop Putin’s blitz and save millions of lives. We could readily win this war and restore the deterrent credibility of the Western alliance. Biden, however, has chosen not to do so.
The administration’s fecklessness is criminal. Where is the GOP critique?