Sequester may force USAF to retire entire fleets of aircraft

Flight International ^ | 09/18/2013 | DAVE MAJUMDAR

[lavaroise]

Indeed, i see Obama phones in Colorado saving flood victims. ( sar off)

[lavaroise]

Indeed, the liberals antiwar want us to become suicide bombers. islam is peace indeed, what an appetite.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

General Hostage???

Straight outta Central Casting. ;)

GENERAL GILMARY MICHAEL HOSTAGE III

Gen. Mike Hostage is Commander, Air Combat Command, with headquarters at Langley Air Force Base, Va. As the commander, he is responsible for organizing, training, equipping and maintaining combat-ready forces for rapid deployment and employment while ensuring strategic air defense forces are ready to meet the challenges of peacetime air sovereignty and wartime defense.

[lavaroise]

The faster, the greater the coverage. It’s a combined arms system approach of cavalry and aerial artilery. Without a system it does not work.

F15s in Afghanistan would be able to pop anywhere in minutes or seconds and help direct artillery strikes or provide gunship overwatch.

[Gen.Blather]

Thank you for the information. My, apparently incorrect observations, came from a discussion with a Navy jet mechanic. So, why can’t they just mothball the existing aircraft and lower the spares buys to the lowest amount that will keep the contractor alive? Are they playing poker and bluffing? I know the Air Force has been trying to get rid of the Warthog forever. I thought they had given them to the Army.

[kearnyirish2]

“our Islamist enemies have been planning for years to bring the battle to the streets of the USA. If they succeed American taste buds may have a dramatic change.”

They brought it 20 years ago in the ‘93 bombing, and in the Brooklyn Bridge shooting, and the LAX terminal shooting, and 9/11, and Fort Hood, and the Fort Dix conspiracy, etc. etc. etc.

Americans would love to deal with our Islamist foes in the US; unfortunately we’re not allowed to. Most see no point is going halfway around the world to do it when the enemy is already inside the gates.

[af_vet_rr]

I call BS. The Air Force has been trying to make the A-10 go away for years but the Army objects. The Air Force signed up for the close air support role but don’t want it. I suspect they are using the sequester as an excuse.

It's a lot more than that. A lot of folks in Congress would like to make the older systems go away so that eventually (sooner) we have to build more new systems to replace them. That would make their defense industry lobbyists happy.

[saganite]

Except the Air Force doesn’t have a legitimate close air support platform on the drawing boards. They’ve proposed subbing the F-16 in the past and that’s not a solution.