From Noah Shachtman in Danger Room:
In this month’s issue of the American Prospect, our pal Robert Farley makes a teeny-tiny little tweak of a proposal: Disband the Air Force, and give its jets to the Army and Navy, instead. He writes:
Continue
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
One tiny problem.. You cant use the airforce aircraft in the environment that the navy uses them in..
An acquaintance that was/is a test pilot for years was flying F-4’s (A while ago) and was doing simulated aircraft carrier landing’s on a runway when to his horror he watched an airforce pilot match his approach in a non navy F-4. The exact same landing approach and touchdown resulted in the gear being mangled badly on the airforce version of the plane.. The pilot managed to land but was in deep shit for wrecking his jet.
This is just a simply analogy but it idea of killing one branch just doesnt fly.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:21 pmAm I mistaken, or is this sort of a repeat of when they tried to get rid of the Marine Corps?
November 1st, 2007 at 8:39 pmThat is absolutely silly…The Air Force is entrusted with the “Big Bombs”. The Marines of course would have already used them
The Army would still be building up its never ending supply and the Navy would have to create a new super duper fleet for nuclear protocol
November 1st, 2007 at 9:41 pm$$$$$$$$$ and thats what its all about. The fact is the AF has been pimped out to the arms industry who call the shots @ the pentagon and we foot the bill while the ground troops suffer.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:19 pm“Separation of business and state” before corporate greed puts the nail in the coffin of our country.
When I look at the cost of the planes that have been approved for the AF it makes me ill and the useful aircraft get nixed and mothballed year after year.
F-22 Raptor, an aircraft whose sole purpose is the destruction of advanced enemy fighter planes, during the course of two counter-insurgency conflicts against low-tech enemies. Cost? When the F-22 began development in 1986, the Air Force projected a unit cost of $86 million. Eighteen years later, the unit cost is almost $300 million, and the plane is not yet in service. The U.S. taxpayer has “invested” some $41 billion to date and still not received any discernible dividend after nearly two decades.
F-35 Joint strike fighter $75-80million a copy and they want 1800 of them. Joint Strike Fighter project will hit a budget overrun of around USD 20 billion even before the first plane is put into service . Revamp the 16’s, 15’s, A-10’s because they work well and stop spending this nation into ruin.
Not gonna happen.
Just as Future0311 (the infidel) was saying. They tried to do the same shit to the Marines.
Same shit different day.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:28 amConverting AF planes to a Navy config for carrier landings would be a huge cost. And where on the already crowded carrier would you put them per chance?
The only air force craft that should maybe be transfered to the Army is the A-10.
The air force budget is ridiculous. Keeping up with emerging technologies is one thing. Building air craft that we do not currently need is another.
The F-22 is operational, and is a fine machine. Langley pilots will tell you it stomps everything that is out there in the 1st and 2nd world. And why in the GWOT do we suddenly need the F-35?
The air force shouldn’t be done away with, it just needs a good bean counter that is smart enough to concentrate on the GWOT in budgeting and keep the newer technologies in the test phase. In other words, build the F-35. Just don’t produce it..We need bombs and bullets, not bells and whistles.
The author takes the wrong approach and is dead wrong.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 amIt ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Dan, I like bells and whistles.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:37 amThis is a foolish idea.
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:49 amGonna have to go with Dan the infidel on this.
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:38 pmI’d rather have a Cadillac than a Mercedes.
November 2nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm“The Air Force is entrusted with the “Big Bombs”. The Marines of course would have already used them
”
“The F-22 is operational, and is a fine machine. Langley pilots will tell you it stomps everything that is out there in the 1st and 2nd world.”
It is and it will.
November 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 pm