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'Cowardly and Despicable': Hegseth Condemned for Sinking of ‘Defenseless’ Iranian Ship
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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For the dodging, the faster something goes, usually the easier it is to dodge because it can't change direction as fast. Like a bullfighter stepping aside to let the bull run through the red cape. But I guess the target can't change it's position very fast, and would have a hard time timing the move against something coming that fast.
And for the third jet. How long do you think it would be between the first missle launch and the third? Like how much time did he theoretically have to react. I assume alarms would have gone off in the cockpit of all three when the first missle launched.
Hey, lots of text ahead, but it seemed like you wanted some information of the situation so I did my best.
For the dodging, it's the opposite, the faster something goes, the harder it is to dodge it in the air. You can only move so fast, and you can only change direction so fast. Especially if you're only doing 300 knots
The missile is faster than you, and it's more maneuverable than you. Best case you can bleed it out of energy. But that's not gonna happen in this situation.
The f18 shot them from within visual range. Don't quote me on it. But from what I heard, he used IR seeking missiles. I don't believe the planes can give you an alarm for them. They're not blasting you with a detectable radar wave. It's looking at your IR signature with a camera. In this case, from a rear aspect. And modern missiles will narrow their focus a lot to avoid locking onto flares. You'd have to pre-flare a lot, and/or bloom your flares out while making a maneuver to have even the slightest chance of avoiding it coming from the rear.
Regardless, even if they would get an alarm. I highly doubt there's anything they could do. It's very short range, they're going slow. The missile is very fast. It's like you decided to go to the bathroom. And mid shit someone kicks the door open and starts to punch you. You don't exactly have a lot of options.
I do not have a time frame of the entire event. I'm not sure that kind of information have been made available. Though I have not been active in researching this daily. There are some very qualified people on YouTube that have been breaking down the few videos we have available. I've seen a few as they pop up. It's a very strange situation.
Shooting down 1 friendly is bad, really really, really bad... it can happen. But it's bad. Shooting down 2 is unthinkable, and 3, we're into the territory of seriously considering it must have been deliberate.
Maybe at some point in the future we will get a full rapport of what and how it happened.
But the F18, if it had its radar on, should have seen that those were friendly contacts. Planes "squawk" a signal. And we use that to determine if it's a friendly plane or not. Planes also have what's called a RWR system. Radar Warning Reciever. It detects when you are hit by radar waves, and can thus give you an alarm that someone can see you. And this is also what will detect if you are locked on to by another plane.
But it can't detect if something is visually locking on to you. Such as an IR seeking missile.
People familiar with the F18 and the training those pilots recieve, are very suspicious because they know what the training entails. You have to KNOW what it is you're shooting at. If you're not entirely 100% sure, they say the procedure is to fly within visual range and visually identify the target. At that point. It should be obvious for the pilot that it's not a drone, it's an aircraft. And it should be obvious that it's first of all, not a mig29. And should also be obvious that Iran isn't going to fly migs inside of Kuwait, while cruising at 300 knots.
Thanks, I do appreciate the condensed version you have here over watching a bunch of youtube vids myself. The vids are so slow. Lol.
I guess the maneuverability thing is fundamentally different in the air. On the ground, it's easier to change direction or what not the slower you are going. Mainly I think because you depend on friction against the ground to move in any direction. But in the air of course you are redirecting the air passing over a surface to turn first, then that changes the thrust vector which combine to maneuver. So speed increases the effectiveness of the first part.
I wonder if you had some kind of very powerful burst jet that could provide significant up or down thrust paired with the normal up or down controls... could you relocate the aircraft enough for a missle to go by before it can adjust course. It would have to be timed by computer of course. And those things ain't light. So it would have to be a heck of a lot of burst thrust in a perpendicular direction. But theoretically it should be doable. Just likely not practical.
Some planes also have thrust vectoring.
And there are ways to defeat missiles. But not when you're caught with your pants down.
"Typically" or at least what you would expect from two major powers. Is that you see the other plane on radar long before you ever see it with your eyes. You'll fire long range missiles, you assume they did the same. And then you start defensive maneuvers to bleed the missile out of energy.
And if you're so close to that IR seeking missiles are an option. You'll probably have to pre-flare a lot hoping their missiles lock on to your flares instead of you.
As to your theoretical idea. It is unfortunately not theoretically possible either. And you'll just have to take my word for it. But I don't think neither humans or aircrafts could survive the loads required