A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics
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A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics | |
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July 13, 2008One Big Reason Why USAF's In TroubleIt's been questioned in the blogosphere recently why the Air Force has been by far the worst at adapting to the post-Cold-War environment (I'd even push the problems back to the Cold War). One big answer to me is success. Success breeds arrogance. If you read histories, you see a remarkably identical attitude in the UK's Royal Navy from the Napoleonic Wars the 19th eentury, right through WWI. They hated to adapt because they felt they were on top of the world because of who they were rather than what they did. USAF has what the military calls dominance. It's by far the most powerful air force on the planet, in a world in which the air is the key to military power. I'm sure you can see where I'm going next, and you're right. Navies were the key to the world for thousands of years, right until the airplane got good enough to deliver more of a striking punch than navies, and to transport a good-sized striking force, in WWII. And, the Queen's Navy ruled the waves, being the biggest Navy, well, until WWII. I've just been reading David Howarth's British Sea Power: How Britain Became Sovereign of the Seas, and, I've read Churchill's notes as First Lord of the Admiralty, before and at the beginnings of the two World Wars. There's a clear pattern of the Royal Navy absolutely hating change, and resisting thinking much about threats. That's why the RN bought no military subs for almost a century and a half after the US invented them in the Revolutionary War. We also have the most powerful fleet and army in being, but, still, the USAF has tons more problems than her sister armed services. I don't think that's coincidence. Any thoughts on what we can do? Posted by Jon Kay at July 13, 2008 12:25 AMComments
Well, perhaps we should start by giving a little thought to what might do to the Air Force what aircraft did to the RN. Satellites? Space Crift? I have no idea. But once we know that, we can at least start working on that (as a separate service!), and let the AF budget stagnate. Of course, what would work is not something we can do, nor want to have happen. A few examples of asymmetric forces strikes on AF Bases, with nowhere effectively to strike back at, would serve as a real effective wake-up call. Let's just pray we are spared that harsh a cure. Posted by: wj at July 13, 2008 12:42 AMI'm more concerned with the fact that the Photoshop gap between the US and Iran has been closed..... Seriously I am concerned about the long term tendency of the USAF to use fighter superiority over numerical superiority. Especially now that there is greater advanced missile A-A combat capability. I mean, you can load up 10 older F-16s with more advanced avionics and A-A comat systems and take out some pretty advanced(read very expensive) planes. You can probably even put a couple of AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles on Bob Hoover's P-38 Lightning. They should rethink this.
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