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Time to abolish the Air Force?


hobbitcid

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Return to course...

Another screed from Mr. Farley... https://medium.com/war-is-boring/1a7733c66b52

Not that you should judge someone before you meet them but looking at his bio, he appears to have no real experience actually in the military, seems like a cheerleader/groupie. To have an iota of legitimacy on advocating for a MASSIVE shift in the Defense structure of the US, you have to have some real world experience. Reading a lot of Stephen Ambrose books does not count. Serving in some capacity, at a significant level to see the nuances, the strengths and the weaknesses of the culture and outlook of each of the branches is just a requirement.

Edited by Clark Griswold
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  • 1 month later...

Mr. Farley has a book coming out about abolishing the Air Force. Shocking.

It's called "Grounded," and you can go argue with him about it on March 15.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/9d5bc01f0602

I can't believe this is still being discussed. I only read 6-9 lines of the link, but he mentions "Air Force planners helped develop Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign designed to force Hanoi out of the war. The campaign wreaked significant destruction on North Vietnamese economy and society but failed to budge Hanoi’s leadership."

Pretty sure Rolling Thunder's success wasn't tied to the USAF's planning or execution.

Edited: In order to ward off the grammar police

Edited by Right Seat Driver
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I can't believe this is still being discussed. I only read 6-9 lines of the link, but he mentions "Air Force planners helped develop Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign designed to force Hanoi out of the war. The campaign wreaked significant destruction on North Vietnamese economy and society but failed to budge Hanoi’s leadership."

Pretty sure Rolling Thunder's success wasn't tied to the USAF's planning or execution.

Edited: In order to ward off the grammar police

Using that logic, we should also abolish the Marine Corps because of Beirut.

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  • 3 weeks later...

If Putin knew we deployed forces as a political/social "tripwire," I think he would be likely to back off.

That said, we won't. We don't want a military confrontation over Ukraine, and deploying any American forces would increase the risk of military escalation.

...my opinion. Worth what you paid for it.

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The problem is the Air Force has moved into a fiscally and politically environment with the same dogma that has always plagued it..."Bigger, Faster, Higher, Technologically superior, Next-generation, etc...When you put yourself in the position where you have a massive amount of spending and infrastructure to support 21 airplanes like the B-2 for example...You have a serious problem moving forward...This goes for the F-22, F-35 too...These airplanes are amazing, but we need to have an Air Force that NEEDS airframes, not a small fleet of expensive "silver bullets"...Just an observation from the lower deck...

Edited by Kaman
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The problem is the Air Force has moved into a fiscally and politically environment with the same dogma that has always plagued it..."Bigger, Faster, Higher, Technologically superior, Next-generation, etc...When you put yourself in the position where you have a massive amount of spending and infrastructure to support 21 airplanes like the B-2 for example...You have a serious problem moving forward...This goes for the F-22, F-35 too...These airplanes are amazing, but we need to have an Air Force that NEEDS airframes, not a small fleet of expensive "silver bullets"...Just an observation from the lower deck...

2

Reading "Boyd" right now and the Mad Major was fighting the good fight for this long ago, we need someone there now (HHQ levels) who believes in the quality with quantity mantra also...

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2

Reading "Boyd" right now and the Mad Major was fighting the good fight for this long ago, we need someone there now (HHQ levels) who believes in the quality with quantity mantra also...

Air University turned OODA into an 8-step process. He's gotta be spinning in his grave.

//derail end//

Edited by VSP or 365
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Air University turned OODA into an 8-step process. He's gotta be spinning in his grave.

//derail end//

8 steps, with 8 steps at each major step and 3 techniques for each minor step. So it's really about 200 steps. Efficiency.
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8 steps, with 8 steps at each major step and 3 techniques for each minor step. So it's really about 200 steps. Efficiency.

Air University turned OODA into an 8-step process. He's gotta be spinning in his grave.

//derail end//

Yup, that checks...

frabz-IM-NOT-SAYING-IT-WAS-OVERANALYZING

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8 steps, with 8 steps at each major step and 3 techniques for each minor step. So it's really about 200 steps. Efficiency.

But those 200 extra steps represent at least 80 ACSC and AWC papers creating such a rats nest of pseudo-academic citation loops that everyone involved is clearly a better leader for having participated in the process. Remember, wars are won through a detailed understanding of the AU Style Guide... That and a cursory understanding of Clausewitz.

Edited by BuddhaSixFour
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With a cost of around 200M for the new tanker, does this come as a surprise?

Yep, when a large airliner lists at that kind of price, what do we expect for a stealthy bomber with mission systems?

Edit: no super cruise according to Wikipedia. And it's always right.

Edited by SurelySerious
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Not surprised about the cost but the idea that it will actually get funded at $550 mil a copy is surprising. Given the financial realities, that is just a bridge too far and I doubt Congress or anyone else believes that it will actually stay at $550 mil a copy, some new requirement will come up and the gold plating begins.

Not opposed to us having nice things but we've got to break the habit of bending the budget around the next superstar while everything else gets screwed, the B-1 did this in the 70's and the F-22 did this in the 90's to 00's and the F-35 is currently shredding our budget and credibility to run our own affairs, hence the original theme of this thread, serious attack on the existence of the AF as an independent branch. This would either not be happening or have no credibility given to it if we had been able to get our projects on time and budget (Congressional and Contractor meddling not withstanding).

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I don't think you've got to much to worry about being the only service sitting in front of congress looking foolish when it comes to acquisitions.

Everybody has their big pile of fail to fall on. Navy has the LCS debacle. Army has ######ed up Comanche and the future ground combat vehicle not to mention Crusader. Marines have the expeditionary fighting vehicle and it's gonna take 30 years to pay off the Osprey Karma no matter how well the thing performs now.

We as a military are ######ed when it comes to getting new stuff, just uniforms are a bridge too far now days. Billion dollar development programs are just a bigger circus of fail.

Edited by Lawman
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