For those who responded to my previous Post about Russia rattling it's cage in response to our shooting down one of Syria's Warplanes. Some would think that the Russians are a bonifide threat to our military in the MIddle East.
Let give you few reminder's.
We have Dozen's of FA-18E fighters spread throughout the region. We also have hundred's of F-16,F-15 and F-14's To match this with Russia's best, they have about 25. Of these 25 only 10 are outfitted to be tactical. In addition the Squadron of our F-22 Stealth fighter's are poised to respond to any confrontation and if by some chance Russia would be lucky enough to down one of our Aircraft, the Stealth fighters would have it down before it could return to it's base. To top that off, the Carrier USS George Bush is poised in the Mediterranean with a full complement of Fighter and recon aircraft. With this we are augmented by hundred's of Tomahawk Missile's from that Carrier group and additionally various Tomahawk Missile installations in Turkey, Iraq and elsewhere in the region. Russia would commit pure Suicide in any attack on our Aircraft. The only thing Russia is prepared for in that region is Defense.
They have installed a lot of Ground to Air sites and that could be the only threat to our aircraft. That being said, they would immediately be eliminated by a barrage of Tomahawk missiles.
The moral of this story is this, Putin is blowing smoke. Our Government knows this and are assuring us that's all it is. He know's it also. He has great intelligence in the area and knows fully that any attack on our Aircraft would be a huge mistake. It could boil down to a Tit-For-Tat incident or could escalate, but either way, Russia would be mortified. They have no chance.

There has to be a certain amount of sabre rattling allowed. That's how they save face.

Well, it's comforting to know they can't stop us from killing people who are fighting ISIS.

I don't know their parades look purdy intimidating.🤔.

I don't know if our military is as capable as it was before the dune coon took over. Do we still use Tomcats?

I understand the F14 is long gone.

That's what I thought. Sooooo no hundreds I take it😗

The mix of Hundreds is a Combination the F-15 and F-16 with a few of the old F-14's left. They won't be replaced except with maybe the F-35. I doubt it because the F-35 is extremely costly and though technically superior to anything the Soviets have, we have enormous amount of Air Power over the Soviet's, so it's really unnecessary. With the way we have the Middle East constructed now almost anything is overkill. Besides when all is said and done, we aren't at war with Russia. It's ISIS that we have a gripe with and that's almost a matter of time. We might have an issue with a few Syrian planes with Russian Pilots, but that's not insurmountable.

From Wiki:

The last two F-14 squadrons, the VF-31 Tomcatters, and the VF-213 Black Lions conducted their last fly-in at Naval Air Station Oceana on 10 March 2006.[57]
The actual last flight of an F-14 in U.S. service took place 4 October 2006, when an F-14D of VF-31 was ferried from NAS Oceana to Republic Airport on Long Island, New York.[59] The remaining intact F-14 aircraft in the U.S. were flown to and stored at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group "Boneyard", at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona; in 2007 the U.S. Navy announced plans to shred the remaining F-14s to prevent any components from being acquired by Iran.[60] In August 2009, the 309th AMARG stated that the last aircraft were taken to HVF West, Tucson, Arizona for shredding. At that time only 11 F-14s remained in desert storage.[61]

The F-14's been out of service for 11 years. Your claim that the U.S has F-14's in the regions is factually incorrect.

Cats are long gone, sadly. Another BRILLIANT move by the Navy..

The Navy probably thinks the F/A-18 accomplishes the same mission better.

Most of the planes we are using are superior to the russian planes.

What about the factual accuracy of the rest of his comments antelope sniper?

Are you saying that because of the F-14 retirement that we no longer have the best in the world? I'm sure he is correct, but our arsenal of F-15, F16, FA-18E's and the stealth fighters are so overwhelming in numbers and good pilots that the Russians are no threat at all.
Rest easy my friends, Putin is just a blowhard.

Well, the navy would be wrong.

I read where the dept of the air force is thinking about retiring the F-15 and retro fitting the F-16 to provide the air to ground mission

Jorge, please expound upon the superiority of the Tomcat over the Super Hornet.

Other than the obvious, longer legs, faster speed, and of course the Phoenix.

How do they really compare in the air at Aim 9 range, or when it comes time to put steel on target?

The Air Force has claimed for twenty years that the Falcon could anything the A-10 could do. Funny how the boys with boots on the ground disagree.

How much did that cost?