The extended op-ed by Robert Farley about disbanding the Air Force is now online in full, and revealed for what it is: a rather ill-structured and highly selective recycling of old arguments.
Selective? Consider this: continued production of the F-22 Raptor is an absurdity during the course of two counter-insurgency wars, says Farley. Maybe, but how much use is this...
...against the Taliban? (Apart from lashing them to the periscope, or torpedoing them when they charter a ship for a cruise vacation.)
Old? We can argue the effectiveness of the World War 2 strategic bombing campaign until we are all blue in the face. I would merely suggest that, in the absence of any plan to fire-bomb Tehran with B-29s, it's of limited relevance.
The question is not "Why do we need an Air Force?" because in classic terms that "begs the question" - that is, it implies that there is some reason that the Air Force rather than any other service is expendable.
For example, Farley would abolish the Air Force but adds that "some elements of tactical airpower would pass to the Marine Corps." If the United States does not need its own air force, why the bloody hell does the US Navy's own army need its own air force?
Of course, in the world of DC, that question has a simple answer: any proposal that the Marines don't like stands as much chance as Barney in the velociraptors' cage...
Read the rest of this story from our partners at Aviation Week HERE.
-- Christian
