There has been some talk about how the US might enforce a no-fly zone by shooting down any Russian aircraft that violated it. It would not work quite that way. Upon detecting a Russian aircraft in the no fly zone, the US fighters would radio it, on guard frequency, and order it out of the area. If the Russian complies, all is well and good. If it does not comply, the US fighters would follow up with the traditional shot across the bow. And possibly some hot rod flying to scare them off. Only after all that fails would shooting start for real.
Another question. Would shooting down a single Russian fighter be enough to kick off nuclear war? During the Cold War, the Russians shot down several US recon aircraft. We sent diplomatic nastygrams to the communists, but we didn't threaten war over a single aircraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment