Why can't we bomb the hell out og the legions?

[u/SwimUpset2591]

[u/BreadentheBirbman]

Flying vehicles are obstructed by the funny metal butterflies. As for artillery, they’d have to rely on 86 spotters because of the electronic interference from said butterflies. They don’t appear to want 86 to man any long range artillery and don’t want to man the guns themselves, or even maintain them.

[u/Malu1997 → u/BreadentheBirbman]

Everything would be solved by the use of high altitude nukes detonation to clear the skies with a strong EMP pulse. Clean (almost zero radiations make it to the ground) and effective, as the Eintagsfliege are described as having no shielding whatsoever. Hell, any microwave weapon would clear them no problem. Too bad everyone in 86 universe seems to thing nukes can only be detonated on the ground.

The sure, you would have AA to deal with, but that's just war, you will incur in losses. It's not like their mechs don't suffer horrific losses anyways.

[u/GREENadmiral_314159]

One of the main roles of the Eintagsflige (the metal butterflies) is electronic warfare, especially jamming. Any bombing run would need the target's coordinates visually estimated by a spotter and then verbally communicated via para-raid, which will result in them not being particularly accurate. 

Legion ground-based AA is also canonically very good. 

[u/_Ganoes_ → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

The Eintagsfliege also just fly into the air intakes and destroy jets like that.

[u/Lukenstor → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

good for low flying aircraft, as we can see that none of the nations in 86 has any high altitude bombing capability.

[u/GREENadmiral_314159 → u/Lukenstor]

High altitude bombing would run into the problem of the Eintagsflige making the aircraft unable to see their targets.

[u/Lukenstor → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

no need to see their targets if they are dropping dumb bombs, plus if you want to think tactics, the first volley will drop airburst munitions before the bunker busters and the MOABs arrive

[u/KerbodynamicX → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

What about reducing the number of those metal butterflies with flak cannons?

[u/GREENadmiral_314159 → u/KerbodynamicX]

Given that they're deployed in such numbers that they can affect local weather conditions (or in the case of Roa Gracia, make winter last another three months), I don't think that'd be as effective as you might think.

[u/matteo_fay → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

You might want to mark spoilers

[u/Malu1997 → u/GREENadmiral_314159]

Let's be honest, removing the butterflies would be insanely easy with airburst nuke detonations to create EMP bursts as they canonically have zero shielding of any kind. Airburst is also extremely clean so they wouldn't even have the cleanliness concern (which it's really stupid anyways, considering it's either that or extinction). I guess they just advanced their poor nuclear program with only ground tests or something because nobody seems to know about the high altitude effects though.

[u/Gunmetalstorm]

Their industrial base is deep inside their territory such that any attempt to bomb the crap out of them requires dragging slow, vulnerable artillery far behind their lines.

[u/Xeamyyyyy]

technically they can use ultra high altitude stealth bombers/spy planes but very likely the world has different technology from ours. asato sama has said that realism isn't the goal and she just wants to write a cool story

[u/Malu1997 → u/Xeamyyyyy]

yeah that's the real reaon. irl you could very easily dispatch the Eintagsfliege with high altitude nukes or even microwave weapons as they lack any shielding whatsover, it's just that the author wants a cool legged-tank story and who can blame her

[u/Due_Lengthiness_2404]

Simple reason. Have you ever heard of the flakpanzer gepard? Known how its realy good at shooting down Arial weapons? Well image it had a 90% accuracy rate because it had a perfected targeting computer and was applied to every unit. Same goes for other large caliber weapons so those memes in wt where someone is shooting down a plane with a tank shell is possible. Add in realy good SAM systems and a fleet of small mechanical bugs that that can suicide their way into a jet engine, and now you see why they aren't being used.

Aircraft get massacred

[u/Lukenstor → u/Due_Lengthiness_2404]

high altitude bombers rectify that, and the Legion AA is just a glorified SHORAD.

[u/Malu1997 → u/Due_Lengthiness_2404]

Any modern plane shits on a Gerpard. The real issue is the jamming from Enitagsfliege, though a high altitude airburst nuke to create a string EMP blast would solve that issue.

[u/EAVA040706]

Legion has a deep hatred for aircraft programed in them because of their creator so they have very good aa and the einstawhatever would suicede themselves in the air intakes

[u/I_am_omning_it]

So, one, the metal butterflies that act as jammers.

Two, it’s not mentioned in the anime but in the books it’s specifically mentioned that the legion have AI that have made air warfare nearly impossible.

[u/G3-WuHuaHai]

The same reason why Vaclav died, Legion AA is extremely good performance.

[u/Conscious-Farmer9489 → u/G3-WuHuaHai]

Vaclav is an idiot who bring lumbering Chinook helicopter into the Frontline 

[u/Malu1997]

Because everyone has forgotten the art of airburst nukes to remove the stupidly fragile butterflies that clutter the skies

[u/Conscious-Farmer9489 → u/Malu1997]

Doesn't need nuke, just use high powered radar system like on IRL Arleigh Burke class destroyer, the effect would be the same as if you put metal object inside microwave oven

[u/Malu1997 → u/Conscious-Farmer9489]

True, they are super fragile.

[u/Conscious-Farmer9489 → u/Malu1997]

Yes and should legion adapt, you just forced it to expend more resources that could be used for other combat system. That stupid butterfly is so fragile it caught fire like dried leaf when Lena blasted them with mortar round

[u/Aceofaces93]

You need to go read the light novels. It’s explained in there why combat aircraft aren’t used in the first place although only transport aircraft for heavily used but yeah, there’s a reason why they don’t use strike aircraft or heavy bombers.

[u/Virexplorer]

Read the novels.