Air Force To Focus On High-Threat Future, If Congress Lets It: James & Welsh

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/07/air-force-must-focus-on-high-threat-future-if-congress-will-let-it-james-welsh/



Air Force To Focus On High-Threat Future, If Congress Lets It: James & Welsh
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on July 30, 2014 at 5:18 PM

PENTAGON: The grander the title, the blander the content. That’s normally a safe rule in Washington. But if analyzed closely, this afternoon’s “State of the Air Force” briefing by service Secretary Deborah Lee James and Chief of Staff Mark Welsh, plus the accompanying pamphlet A Call To the Future, actually do articulate a remarkably clear vision of where the US Air Force wants to be — and where it fears it’ll end up instead.

So what does the Air Force want? Modernized nuclear, conventional, space, and cyber forces that are optimized against high-end adversaries such as China, with the “strategic agility” to adapt rapidly to new threats. “We [must] posture for the most demanding scenario, not necessarily the most likely,” the Call states bluntly.

What does it not want? First, no more mega-programs like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: “huge, long-term projects limit our options,” says the Call, saying the acquisition system in general is “cumbersome,” “brittle,” and lacking in “strategic agility.” Second, no wholesale shift to unmanned aircraft: “It’s not like they’re taking over” from humans in every mission area, said Gen. Walsh. “There’s a sensor we haven’t figured out how to replicate yet, and that’s the one that sits on your shoulders.”

What is the service willing to give up? First, size: It hopes to shed 23,000 servicemembers in five years. Second, it wants to shed what it considers low-end capabilities most suited to low-tech targets, like the A-10 Warthog ground attack plane. Congress might not let it cut either people or planes, however.

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Our last bomber, the B-2 cost over $2.4 billion dollars a pop AND it's up for refurbishing.

[bemildred]

1. Surprisingly rational, for a change. nt

[The Magistrate]

2. And They Ought To Let The Army, Sir

Take over the ground-support role they want to shed, with fixed wing types as well as helicopters. The A-10 is a very useful item, and there is no reason the Army could not operate it. The old political battle of an independent air force versus an army air corps is long over, and solidly won by the air force; such a shift in responsibilities would not endanger that.

[bemildred]

3. Indeed Sir.

The Army has been getting the short end of the stick for a long time now.