Drifting further into tactical and strategic dispersion I find it interesting to note that the Marines have never operationally used the Harrier for what it was built for, that is forward, improvised, airfields.
Back at the F-22, I stick to pork, no other real reason for a 44 state spread. If the people in charge were really concerned with strategic dispersion I don't think there would have been such a multiyear fight to keep all of the east coast nuclear carriers in one homeport. After much screaming, whining and pleading by the Florida congressional delegation
(the same type of caterwauling that kept JFK commissioned about 10 years too long) it looks like Mayport will get one to replace the JFK. At one point my former ship, an LHA, was supposed to be the sacrificial lamb. The Navy really wanted no part of the move and it is going to cost a ton to upgrade the harbor down there to support a CVN.
Also, there is exactly one place in the world to refuel CVNs, I lived 2 blocks from it for 9 years. Not so tactical there? And yet, as I noted earlier, they also build half a sub and their buddies in CT build the other half. While enormously expensive I actually support this porking :D since by the time you need a shipyard to churn out lots of boats for a war it will be too late to whip one up from scratch. Which leads to the sad fact of thread drift that if it were not for the military, the US ship building industry would not exist. Greedy unions, lazy union workers, and onerous regulations can all revel in that national embarrassment.
But if I'm wrong about the extent of current strategic plans of dispersed forces I hereby volunteer my property to park a team's worth of M1A1s. I have excellent fields of fire and I won't even drive them....
much Now a long time ago we were talking about a MiG that was rather unlucky. I would like to see what the German MiGs do if they are ever in combat. I've long thought the new SU and MiG fighters would reign supreme if given to people with first world avionics packages and airborne command systems. Beautiful planes, one unlucky Iraqi pilot. Somewhere I've got a picture of a German Fulcrum on short final to our carrier, might have to scan that one and post. No, he didn't land, nor did their F-4s, sadly enough.