Why is the military closing down the highway in Michigan to launch their planes. I get back in the day the highway system was a backup if our airports got bombed but this has never happened before so why now.


https://www.thedrive.com/the-w...AF7ny5lwmkYEh-Nx52vA

Training exercise as a drill to prove it can be done, and to train for using the procedures if necessary.

Practice makes perfect.

It's a training exercise.

The US isn't the only potential battle ground.

Good airports are not an assurance in a foreign theater, especially at the outset.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
It's a training exercise.

The US isn't the only potential battle ground.

Good airports are not an assurance in a foreign theater, especially at the outset.

I get all that but why now after 60 years.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
It's a training exercise.

The US isn't the only potential battle ground.

Good airports are not an assurance in a foreign theater, especially at the outset.

I get all that but why now after 60 years.

A real-deal amphibious assault hasn't been done since the Falklands in '82, and on a larger scale since Incheon '50 but, it's still practiced and planned for.

Air power is a major part of warfare, knocking-out established air bases and supporting infrastructure will be amongst the first areas targeted, if not sabotaged before things kick-off. Somebody at the Michigan Nat'l Guard (remember the Guard gets folded back in to DoD for deployments) is dusting off some Cold War-era plans, making sure such familiarity and practices aren't completely foreign to its members. The A-10 was designed to operate in austere and ad hoc conditions, look at how wide its landing gear is, its made for this.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
It's a training exercise.

The US isn't the only potential battle ground.

Good airports are not an assurance in a foreign theater, especially at the outset.

I get all that but why now after 60 years.

What makes you think this is the first time in 60 years?

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
It's a training exercise.

The US isn't the only potential battle ground.

Good airports are not an assurance in a foreign theater, especially at the outset.

I get all that but why now after 60 years.

What makes you think this is the first time in 60 years?

I probably shouldn't have said the first time in 60 years. The article says the first time in history that anyone can remember a highway being shut down to do an exercise like this. I'm 55 and I know I've never heard of the military doing this at all much less in a populated area.

When I was in the USAF, we would from time to time would do an exercise in which we had to set up a runway and support facilities from nothing. IIRC, the goal was to have it operational in 24 hours. This A-10 exercise is similar.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
When I was in the USAF, we would from time to time would do an exercise in which we had to set up a runway and support facilities from nothing. IIRC, the goal was to have it operational in 24 hours. This A-10 exercise is similar.

Yep, we did the same a few times a year. You weren’t in a Combat Comm group were you?

Nope. Security Police. A certain number of us in the SP Squadron were "mobility designated". Those who were had to go out on the bare base operation. And Combat Comm was the first unit on the ground for this type of thing.

Flying Harriers we regularly practiced landing and taking off from 2-lane roads. We’d refuel and rearm on metal matting in the woods while watching cars drive by on the road we just landed on.

Practice, for landing on Chinese highways after all their airstrips have been eliminated..

There are rumors of an upgraded A-10 coming, and of course the usual talk about extending its life. This was always part of the A-10's capability, perhaps it was just finally time to test it.

The Swedes have been practicing this for years, hiding their Viggens and Gripens out in the woods close to a road suitable for using as an airstrip. They use a road with a mobile refueling/rearming crew set up, get refilled then back in the air.

Sounds to me like practice of close ground support for the suppression of domestic extremists. Just kidding of course.

Every couple of months I get an email from the FAA that the military is doing an exercise where they will be blocking the GPS signals.

I get them almost daily, and in the Western US, its not uncommon at all to find GPS degraded somewhere at any given time.

If you've ever been to Nebraska, you will know what I speak of.

There is a stretch of I-80 south of Lincoln that runs straight as an arrow for a long distance.

There is a persistent rumor that it was stressed for bomber ops since Lincoln hosted a bunch of SAC bombers for a long period.

Never verified by the USAF.

RMD