I think it's plausible that an alien surprise attack could result in large swaths of the USA falling into alien hands.
The primary focus of the U.S. military is projecting force abroad. They are not organized, equipped, or deployed in an optimal way to stop a foreign invasion of the mainland. Despite the large size of the U.S. military, the U.S. is not a heavily garrisoned country; there's virtually no military presence in most cities and you can travel through large swaths of the countryside without even seeing a military base. Also, recall that after the 9/11 attacks, it was revealed that large areas of the country simply don't have active fast-reaction air-defense coverage. This has now been addressed to some degree, but it's geared towards a 9/11 style event, and it's easy to see how sending up 2 F-16s wouldn't necessarily help much against a huge alien invasion.
One interesting angle: If a hypothetical alien invasion force appeared over the Dead Sea, they would probably encounter much less initial success than they would over the U.S., because the national defenses of Israel and Jordan ARE set up to counter a sudden invasion preceded by a massive aerial onslaught; troops are dispersed, there are garrisons in or near major population centers, certain forces are on permanent alert, there are plans in place to move heavy armored forces anywhere in the country on very short notice, and fighter aircraft are kept in underground armored bunkers rather than parked out in the open. The main question is how long it would take the two countries to decide to cooperate with one another!
reply
share