You did not have to sucker them in, it's just that Franks was feeling vengeful and bloodthirsty and wanted them at point-blank range before they realized that they really needed to run. And she managed to convince Burns that doing so was worthwhile.
Uhh... let me clarify what I was getting at and ask you a direct question to avoid any possibility of misunderstanding.
I am aware that, following General Franks' advice, General Burns allowed the Victorian jets to get much closer to Commonwealth troop positions than was strictly
necessary, and that our surface to air missile batteries, firing from positions north of the Raisin River, could have engaged the Victorian jets at considerably longer ranges than they did in the aforesaid engagement.
However, what I was specifically considering was a different question:
Are our SAM batteries so long ranged that they can hit targets at the airports near Toledo, the ones that Russian or not!Russian supply transports might fly in and out of, from positions north of the Raisin?
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Now, this is not
out of the question. The distance from the Raisin River itself to Toledo Express Airport itself is something like 20-30 miles, and the SAM batteries, while probably located out of mortar range of the river and thus a few miles farther back, may not have been
many miles further back. The range of a first-generation heavy surface to air missile, even a crude one like Chicago can plausibly make from home using "garbage birb" manufacturing techniques, can be quite long. It all depends on just how big and heavy it is, can be quite great indeed. The SA-2, a Soviet system the US got a lot of unhappy experience with in Vietnam, for instance, does have a 28-mile maximum range if Wikipedia is to be believed. And heavier, longer-range SAMs did get built, too.
The other sizeable airport I can find from a quick examination of the situation around Toledo is Erie-Ottawa International, which is some distance east of the city and quite close to the coast- it would actually be well within naval gunfire range, though the shallowness of the lake and Victorian positions on the nearby islands would be an issue. Plus also I'm not sure the runways are long enough to support heavy transport planes or F-16s anyway.
There may be other airports farther back and inland, I'm a bit short of time to continue my Googling, but the Victorians themselves can't be operating that far inland, and there are only going to be so many candidates.
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Basically, my question is the bolded one. I'm a bit uncertain as to whether or not we can actually do that.
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If we CAN do that, our chances of stopping supply flights into the Victorian-held pocket during a siege improve, but by the same token the temptation for the Russians to escalate by 'lending' Victoria a squadron or two of modern jets to do airstrikes from out of Buffalo and blow up our SAM sites increases.
If we CAN'T do that, then the good news is we're less likely to eat airstrikes, but the bad news is that the enemy has probable access to a supply line we can't cut.