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Drinking the Blue Kool-Aid
By John
I've talked before about how horribly inept the Air Force has become at the fine art of public affairs. Right now, the AF is in the middle of a large-scale modernization effort that is as controversial as it is needed. They have a fleet of aircraft that are falling apart, with the average age of most airframes being appx. 27 years.
The modernization plan is expensive. Way expensive, actually. And the Air Force is having a tough time justifying the acquisition of $200 million dollar fighter aircraft while the Army and Marines scream for funds to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wouldn't hurt to start talking like human-freakin-beings instead of a corporate cliche machine. Take this Air Force news story on a senior leadership conference onfleet modernization:
Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley underscored the impact these strategic plans have on Airmen who accomplish the Air Force's mission."I'm very pleased with the level of discussion and critical thinking that went on here today," he said. "Our Airmen should know that their service's top leaders are fully engaged and working hard to ensure that (they) have the right tools at the right time to defend the nation in the fight tonight and the fight tomorrow."
The summit concluded with senior Air Force leaders -- including major command, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve leaders -- sharing a common vision of a comprehensive, capabilities-based force structure plan to enable continued Air Force mission success.
"America depends on the Air Force to maintain global reach, global power and global vigilance today, tomorrow and into the future," General Moseley said.
Today, tomorrow, and into the future. BLECH. Yeah, that's going to win us plenty of support. What a meaningless quote. Instead of considering the Air Force's need for new jets, I'm still trying to figure out the difference between "tomorrow" and "into the future." Maybe next time we go in front of Congress for funds we can justify it by farting out the core values then demanding a 30 billion dollar check.
The Air Force is not going to be able to win the political backing needed to modernize until they reengage themselves in this fight. That means they stop talking like Hal from 2001: A Space Odyssey, cowboy up and sacrifice some of their new fast movers for a big honking fleet of COIN birds. You know how many A-10s you can get for the price of a single F-22 Raptor? 20. 20. And a full compliment of 22 Super Tucanos for nearly the same price. Even cheaper is the MQ-9 Reaper. We should have so many CAS birds flying over CENTCOM's AOR that you could walk from Baghdad to Djibouti to Kabul on their wingtips.
Yeah, I know that doesn't fit the neat and tidy Five Rings concept of Air War. But if the Air Force really wants to get in the fight, that's precisely what they need. They've got to stop thinking about fighting other states, at least for a while, and start thinking about killing Tangos.
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I fully support the abolition of the Air Force with the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. Will prevent further public affairs snafus, today, tomorrow, and into the future.
Lugo,
I'd wouldn't say that there's a shortage of CAS, so much as a shortage of aircraft which are the right tool for the COIN job. Every ETAC or Combat Controller I've had dealings with preferred the A-10, hands down, over multipurpose platforms like the F-16, F/A-18, etc. But the A-10 lacks the built-in loiter and sensor capabilities of the MQ-9, even if it's got a better intimidation factor.
Face, the blue suiters just refuse to be dirt divers.
A 27 year old airframe is not "old". Unless it has been shot up and patched up.
As much as I dislike the 22 it is a needed bird. As someone else posted in another thread there is china and now the ruskies are coming around again.
If I was dictator/master of the universe, I would build more A-10's and F-15D and E mods. With todays avionics and we know with the needed mods the Eagle is untouchable! And please dont bring up the Hornet yes it is a great fighter but we are talking long range and heavy payloads, plus four eyes are better than two.
So many things.
First the United States has to be prepared for the full spectrum of conflict not just "killing tangos".
Which is why the USAF could be spending its money a hell of a lot better than it is on:
More airlift
New Tankers
A new heavy bomber
A-10's
New Special Forces helicopters
The if four eyes are better than two ( which they are)-why is the USAF so hung up on single seat aircraft. Why not buy F-18F's which buy the way are not as bad fuel wise as you may think. (On par with the F-15).
Concur on the observations regarding PA and getting into the fight, but as Skippy said, there's a lot of other stuff we've gotta be prepared for. I think the real problem is that the public in general doesn't really have a good idea of what we do or bring to the table, COIN and otherwise. I've got some related thoughts on the matter . I think the bottom line is that until the public gains an appreciation for what the USAF does and, more importantly especially WRT big nation high intensity warfare, CAN do, we stand no chance in hell of getting any of this budget stuff resolved.
Time is running out, the FY 09 budget is going to be the big cutoff date as far as the F-22 and C-17 are concerned.
Crap, I suck at HTML apparently. The hyperlink should've been in an imaginary "here" in the sentence before where it is. Regardless, link is still to the right place, just formatted rather badly.
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We should have so many CAS birds flying over CENTCOM's AOR that you could walk from Baghdad to Djibouti to Kabul on their wingtips.
Is there an actual shortage of CAS?