Posted on 02/26/2012 11:21:20 PM PST by U-238
The Air Force will cut airmen and ditch some underperforming and unwanted aircraft, focusing instead on purchasing fewer but more capable new models in order to bridge a years-long investment gap, officials said.
At the top of the list are aging fighters, bombers and air-refueling tankers. The service is bent on replacing or beginning to buy upgrades for all three within a decade, even if it means foregoing other programs, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz.
“The bottom line is, these are important capabilities for the nation and ones we will make sacrifices elsewhere to sustain,” Schwartz said at a Pentagon news conference. “The challenge is sequencing these programs in a way that meets budget targets.”
The Air Force’s fleets are already smaller and older than when the military made a similar reduction in budget and force after the Cold War. The effort is all the more important after 10 years of conflict that emphasized equipping ground forces.
Using that logic, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula said these modernization programs are long overdue.
“We have a geriatric Air Force,” he told National Defense. “We’re flying 50-plus year old bombers, we’re flying 50-plus year old tankers and our fighters are falling out of the sky because we’re putting more hours and years on them than they were designed for.
“We saw over the last decade a dramatic increase in funding for the Army and Marine Corps to the detriment of the Air Force,” he said. “Now it’s time to shift resources to the things that have been neglected. These are important capabilities needed for national security. It becomes an entire defense enterprise issue. Cuts should come from across service lines, not just within the Air Force.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaldefensemagazine.org ...
All of this sounds like “let’s kill the A-10 and get out of the Army support business”.
Plus they will never allow the A-10 to be transferred to the Army or the Marines who will use it more effectively than the Air Force did.
- Lenin
Even communists are right on very rare occasions.
Give the A-10s to the Southern Border states for use against the Mexican gangs.
Damnit! The military was buying stuff to fight wars instead of spending money on those planes that were needed to dogfight with the taliban air force.
They are not killing the A-10, but they are reducing the numbers.
What the Air Force is saying is "let's kill those brand new C-27J Spartan theater airlift aircraft we just bought, and get out of the Army logistics support business."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.