Wild Blue Yonder Baby

Everybody loves the baby!


Spoiler Alert!

Like one of poppa's girls plotting to replenish fiscal abilities - it is much the same for Great Satan's military services getting all 'cited to vie for fundage in the new fiscal year.

As the baby service - i.e., the youngest branch of Great Satan's big stick  - USAF actually has an awesome if not readily recogged pedigree. No Midways or Guadalcanal Chosin Valley Forge Chickamaugas.


"...Air Force personnel are well aware of their lack of traditions comparable to the Halls of Montezuma or John Paul Jones..."

What ev - truth is - the spiritual great grandsons of the cats that literally bombed das Dritten Reich into a mudhole, clawed Luftwaffe out of the sky, suffering horrendous losses on desperate raids at Regensburg avec Schweinfurt and Ploesti did way more stuff than making 'flak' slang au courant or getting Ray Bans into highly desirable fashionable all weather eyewear.   

"...In many ways, the Air Force is a victim of its success. During Cold War, it was inconceivable that the United States could deter or contain the Soviet Union and its proxies without an overwhelming air-power advantage. From the iconic Strategic Air Command ( "Peace is Our Profession - War is just a Hobby" - nicht wahr?) to the gritty Tactical Air Command, from missileers to homeland-defense squadrons, the Air Force provided an iron umbrella over America’s global interests.

"...In doing so, it shaped the nature of modern warfare while driving technological change that spread around the world. Some of the stunning joint creations of the Air Force and America’s defense industrial base, such as the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird, will likely never be repeated."

Memes that Great Satan fans take for granted like Air Dominance and now - Global Air Dominance are directly hooked up with the happy fact that Air Force created and maintains the modern world that Great Satan built.

This is significant.

Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq proved Air Power is simply the most best way to get the point across - indeed, even Great Satan's Combat Rock Stars developed fast track communications to precisely apply formidable air power to sensitive tender spots during Surge - and any COIN ops.

Great Satan's hyper puissance depends on it.  Lost among civie leaders, and maybe within bits of the Air Force herself, is the understandment of strategic airpower and her hot role playing in doing Great Satan's national - whoa - make that internat'l - security policies.



"....Given the distances involved in defending America’s global interests and upholding its responsibilities, the Air Force is by necessity the first responder in most cases, be it disaster relief or regional conflict. It must have the planes and bases it needs to carry out this role; if properly equipped, it can prevent crises from spreading and give the U.S. footholds that might be too expensive to attain later. It can reach where other military services cannot, and can inflict the most severe damage on an enemy with minimal risk to the U.S. forces involved.

 Cutting tho'ts about cutting Air Force "...are misguided and will in the long run cost far more to the nation than they will save today. Retiring 650 combat fighters before replacements are ready will necessarily reduce the availability of needed planes and thus U.S. credibility. 

"...Flying airframes until they are falling apart is inexcusable in a country that can spend billions of dollars filling in potholes and repaving curbs. No airman should be expected to fly planes that are older than he is, but today’s B-52 pilots fly airframes built in the 1960s, and F-15 pilots fly the same planes as did their fathers. 

"...The lack of progress on the Next-Generation Bomber similarly puts America’s strategic options at risk. Unless a future president wants to start lobbing ballistic missiles at enemy fortifications, a modern bomber fleet remains necessary to penetrate the heavily defended airspace of potential adversaries.

Eons past - Great Satan's avuncular Vulcans knew a future worth creating involved Great Satan's creation and maintenance of a 30 year in the future military 

"...Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. 

Oh, it's true bay bee!

"...If the United States wants to maintain the ability to be a global actor, to protect friends, and to dissuade adversaries, then a 360-degree Air Force is a prerequisite, as it has been for the last 60 years. For its part, the Air Force must reclaim its unique spirit, recommit to core competencies in its nuclear mission, regain control of spiraling costs and procurement problems, and reassert itself in the political process and public debates. Anything less risks failure in the air and a loss of America’s unique role in the world.

In the last millennium - Navy Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan got all psychic with "The Influence of Seapower upon History" and was proven correct - Napoleon and Kaiser Wilhelm totally failed to truly understand and implement seaborne puissance. And - like today's upgrade of the Influence of Airpower upon History - those who fail to heed the deed of air dominance may not only fail the airpower test - but the longevity one as well


Pic - "Air dominance by collecting intelligence and using long-range bombing to control the enemy’s skies, and also provided full tactical support for ground troops engaged in combat."