Warplanes' Safety Record

choi

(1) Flying The Friendlier Skies. Strategy Page, Jan 14, 2012.
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htatrit/articles/20120114.aspx

Quote:

"Last year was the safest ever (since World War II) for airline passengers, with only 498 dying in accidents. In the previous year there were 829 deaths. Military aircraft had more accidents, but fewer deaths.

"Flight safety has gone up sharply since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, and shoddy Soviet military and civilian aircraft rapidly went out of service.

"American made F-15s and F-16s have an accident rate of 3-4 per 100,000 flight hours. * * * During the Cold War, Russian combat aircraft had an accident rate of about 100 per 100,000 flight hours.

"Combat aircraft have, for decades, been getting more reliable, even as they became more complex.

"Another factor in lower military aviation losses is the domination (of the air) by American warplanes for the last 70 years. The U.S. continues to lead the world in developing military aircraft technology, and this means no one has been willing, or able, to engage the U.S. in a major, and bloody, air war during that time. Thus for the last few decades, American (and Western) aircrew have gone into battle at little risk to themselves, at least compared to World War II and before. During that conflict, you were more likely to get killed flying in a heavy bomber over Germany, than if you were infantry fighting on the ground. That has gradually changed over the last seven decades. While American ground forces have reduced their loss rates by about two-thirds, the aircrew casualties have declined by over 95 percent.

My comment: In quotation 3, F-15s and F-16s are followed by a verb of present tense, whereas Soviet Union during the Cold War, by past tense.

(2) The Ultimate Reality Show. Strategy Page, Jan 13, 2012
http://strategypage.com/qnd/china/articles/20120113.aspx
(China)

(3) Teasing And Tormenting The Territorials. Strategy Page, Jan 13, 2012
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htpara/articles/20120113.aspx
("Britain is reducing the size of its army to 82,000, the lowest it has been in over 200 years. It was hoped, by the politicians doing the cutting, that the Territorial Army, similar to the US National Guard and Reserves, could be reorganized and retrained in order to make them able to quickly join the regulars for overseas assignments. * * * Currently the Territorial Army numbers around 29,000")

Note: The article says, "Indians are no longer associated with the Commonwealth."

Well, India is a member. See
member states of the Commonwealth of Nations  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis ... onwealth_of_Nations

(4) US Says Will Give No Missile Defense Assurances to Russia. RIA Novosti, Jan 13, 2012.
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20120113/170733294.html