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Victor_c3

(3,557 posts)
2. The one thing I didn't see mentioned was the capabilities of military hardware
Sun Mar 31, 2013, 06:23 AM
Mar 2013

Most of the North Korean military is made up of 1960s and 1970s era hardware. They did get some 80s, 90s, and even an example of a few modern pieces of hardware from the Russians that they have attempted to copy, but they don't have the capabilities to reproduce much of it.

Recall the stunning victory our conventional ground forces had in 1991 over the ground forces of Iraq in the first gulf war. The Iraqi Army was made up of similar weapons to the North Koreans. In the course of the "100 hour war" about 3,700 Iraqi tanks were destroyed while we lost between 3-5s tank (and I believe that all but one of those was attributed to friendly fire).

From our lessons learned in the 1990s, several modifications were made to our conventional forces to make them even more lethal. Even though we still field the same Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Abrams Tanks, they have been modified extensively.

Additionally, there has been a huge improvement in our command and control capabilities since the 1990s as well, further amplifying our ability to integrate air/ground fire and various resources for greater lethality.

And, unlike the North Koreans, we have a military that has (unfortunately) a lot of experience fighting wars.

As a US military veteran I'm probably a little full of myself and our capabilities, but the US Army would absolutely chew up the North Koreans. As the article cited, other than the damage that could be inflicted during an initial barrage of fire, the war would be very one-sided in the South Korean's favor. Without huge support from the Chinese and Russians like the North Koreans received in the 1950s, there is no way the North Koreans could last a long and drawn out war.

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