Sooner or later Russia is gonna turn on the S400. Then shit's gonna get real.

It's not foolproof, but we would have to escalate to attacking Russian air defense forces directly at that point if we wanted to keep operating in Syria.

And, at that point... that means they have shot down one of our jets. So if we go to take out the S400, which would be a daunting operation, then Russia would feel the need to deploy 5th generation fighters to protect their ground troops.

Now you have Migs and Raptors in a direct air battle... that would probably be considered the beginning of WWIII unless either Putin or Trump backs down before that point.

Considering what we know of the two men, the odds of that aren't great.

:hidetomato: