03-10-2022, 03:58 PM
Fritz wrote:
I wonder if anyone can explain what took NATO so long to "discuss" the possibility of a NFZ over Ukraine.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/mas...022-03-09/
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Russia would view countries that joined a no-fly zone as "participants in a military conflict."
Even if launching a no-fly zone did not precipitate a catastrophic all-out war with nuclear-armed Russia, there is no guarantee it would actually be successful...
Referencing a RAND study in the case of Kosovo, Pietrucha and Benitez noted that "despite a world-class air force’s best effort against a second-rate defense," the United States never gained air supremacy and vital surveillance aircraft required to support the operation had to be kept out of the region to avoid being attacked. "Though Slobodan Milosevic did eventually capitulate, Operation Allied Force is generally viewed as an operational failure that happened to succeed — and that was over 20 years ago," they wrote.
The two authors added that to enforce a no-fly zone today against a nation "with any semblance of artillery, man-portable air defense systems, and/or advanced surface-to-air missiles" was "neither operationally feasible nor politically appetizing."
"The no-fly zone is the wrong tool for the wrong job and would create dangerous and destructive outcomes for the United States and its NATO allies," they concluded...