The US Air Force UU You have an option: buy more planes or keep the (old) ones you have.
The US Air Force UU You have an option: buy more planes or keep the (old) ones you have.
The US Air Force UU You have an option: buy more planes or keep the ones you have.
But he can not do both, according to a Government Accountability Office report .
"The Air Force will have to balance the reconstruction of its existing force with its desire to grow and modernize," the GAO told Congress.
In September, Secretary of the Air Force. Heather Wilson He said the Air Force needed to expand to 386 operational squadrons, 24 percent more than the current 312, by 2030 to keep up with threats like Russia and China. At the end of the Cold War, the Air Force had 401 squadrons.
The problem is that the Air Force is already having serious problems to maintain the squadrons that it has operational. The Air Force has lacked combat pilots almost every year since 2006.
A previous GAO report found that numerous types of aircraft could not meet their availability objectives Due to the lack of maintenance and shortage of air pieces. The GAO has also documented training deficiencies that resulted in fighter pilots who received insufficient training due to lack of aircraft availability and training facilities.
The poster boy for the problems of preparation of the Air Force is the F-22 Raptor. Another recent GAO report found that Availability F-22 it has been destroyed by various Air Force practices, such as making Raptor squads smaller than normal hunting squads, and splitting F-22 squadrons into small detachments abroad.
All of which raises a question: if the Air Force can not maintain the squadrons or the list of pilots that it has now, how will it face an air fleet 25 percent larger? Presumably, the errors of the F-35 will be fixed by 2030, but even in the best scenario, the Air Force will devote a lot of time and resources to the new fighter.
"Looking to the future, the Air Force will have to balance the reconstruction of its existing strength with its desire to grow and modernize," the GAO concluded. "To meet current and future demands, the Air Force has stated that it needs to have more squads. However, the costs of such growth are not yet known, and they will have to compete with other military services that seek to increase their force structure and recapitalize their forces. Even with growth, the Air Force will depend on today's strength in the coming decades and should remain focused on rebuilding the preparedness of existing forces. "
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The GAO also reminds the Air Force that other services compete for defense dollars, especially the Navy's plan to expand its fleet by 25 percent, at a cost of $ 800 billion, as well as a modernization of $ 1.2 billion of the United States' nuclear forces. "All these investments should be made amid the deterioration of the national fiscal outlook," adds GAO.
GAO warns that the Air Force is not alone: there are "persistently low levels of preparation throughout the army." But given the vital role of air power in the US military strategy. UU., As well as the unfavorable publicity attracted by problems with hundred-million-dollar combat aircraft. Like the F-35, the Air Force could find arranging what has a better option than buying more than it can not fix.
Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National interest. It can be found at Twitter Y Facebook .
Image: Wikimedia
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