Not news; the U.S. force structure roadmap is in a terrible mess.
Force structure will be difficult to repair with both a lack of money and strategic leadership. If only we had strong strategic leadership, the force structure plans might be fixable with the bleak funding roadmap.
In the end, the U.S. will go into any major conflict in the Pacific with a gross imbalance in force structure. Wrong platforms and communities eat large amounts of logistics better used for effective war-fighting forces.
As Aviation Week's Defense Technology International editor Bill Sweetman stated recently, would the United States Air Force have entered the Advanced Technology Fighter (ATF) project (wich gave us the F-22) in 1986 if they knew that they would only get 140 fighters and spend a billion per year on upgrades? The answer is probably; no. A similar line of thought can be used with the F-35 and other weapons systems.
Good force structure depends on well fed and capable engineers. We have been down-sizing that resource since the end of the Cold War.
Without proper air power domination in the Pacific, you end up with results like this. Also, any overseas bases we currently have can end up as POW's or worse. Much like the fall of the Phillipines at the beginning of WWII. Obsolete carrier air wings mean sunk ships and lost battles.
American industry can't provide the kinds of weapons our Allies need in the coming years. You can get parity products or better for less money from the Russians or Chinese. Want an affordable, effective and sea-worthy frigate for policing your waters? You can't get it from the U.S.
All of this means loss of deterrance which helps to stop wars. And, unless we change course to fix this, we will get war. We will lose influence. We will have to retreat.
And with that retreat, goes any hope for democracy and free speech in the Pacific Rim.
Ideas for U.S. strategic control of the Pacific Rim-
Part 1, Strategic Strike for Anti-Access Threats
Part 2, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)
Part 3--Energy
Part 4--Their Weapons
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1 comment:
Force structure? Lots of things that swim (on and under) and need a minimum of logistics tail that follows them; lots of thing that fly over long distances or in MEO; and a couple of lean mean fast folks that can go over the beach. And all of them should be tac nuke equipped.
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