Security

Air Force's Biggest Enemy: Itself

Ask an Air Force general why he needs so many new stealth fighters, and he’ll warn of sophisticated "peer competitors," like China and Russia. Both countries are building up their air defenses. Both countries are making plans (however preliminary) for next-generation fighters. Both countries can’t be ruled out as future adversaries. But the Air Force […]

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Ask an Air Force general why he needs so many new stealth fighters, and he'll warn of sophisticated "peer competitors," like China and Russia. Both countries are building up their air defenses. Both countries are making plans (however preliminary) for next-generation fighters. Both countries can't be ruled out as future adversaries.

But the Air Force has done such a lousy job at managing its new plane programs that the air service worse enemy may in fact be... itself. By handling "military aircraft manufacturing" so poorly, the Air Force has become its "own peer threat," writes Center for Strategic and International Studies analyst Anthony Cordesman, in a new report, "America's Self Destroying Air Power."

The Air Force says it needs 200 planes a year, to replace its creaky fleet. Meanwhile, the service can't even manage to give out a contract for new tanker planes. Costs for F-22 stealth jets have tripled; an initial order of 750 planes has fallen to 183. The Joint Strike Fighter's price tag has increased by nearly 50%; its role as the “Chevrolet of the skies” is in doubt.

The Air Force isn't alone in its woes, Cordesman writes. The entire "U.S. defense procurement system has effectively become a liar‘s contest in terms of projected costs, risk, performance, and delivery schedules. Effective leadership is lacking in any of these areas." But the air service is suffering the worst, he adds, because it has "no meaningful public strategy." (Ouch.)

...it has no clear net assessments and justified mission requirements. It has no force plan, modernization plan, and procurement plan, and no program budget. A critical Air Force procurement is left in a limbo of slogans rather than explained in the kind of terms that allow clear analysis of the justification of the F-22. On the other hand, killing the program because of its cost is not a more meaningful answer, nor are vague statements about competing strategic priorities.

[Photo: USAF]

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