random notes

Sunday, July 12, 2009

WASHINGTON — Air Force officials are warning that unless their budget is increased dramatically, and soon, the military's high-flying branch won't dominate the skies as it has for decades.

After more than six years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Air Force's aging jet fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft and gunships are at the breaking point, they say, and expensive, ultramodern replacements are needed fast.

"What we've done is put the requirement on the table that says, 'If we're going to do the missions you're going to ask us to do, it will require this kind of investment,'" Maj. Gen. Paul Selva, the Air Force's director of strategic planning, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"Failing that, we take what is already a geriatric Air Force," Selva said, "and we drive it for another 20 years into an area of uncertainty."

... here there is a short term need to be able to face ...
... a possible collapse of the dollar ...
... a peak on the oil pricing ...
... a loss of revenue due to retirement of the baby boomer generation ...
... and a generalized world crisis ...

... now, the us has still the option of keeping printing money ...
... however the "area of uncertainty" is coming ...
... now common sense would suggest to operate a very large ...
... increase of technology spending ...
... to prepare for the age of the skinny cows, holy or not ...

... all air and naval forces of the planet are facing the same dilemma ...
... of how to mantain an equivalent readiness with reduced budgets ...
... whereas the term "reduced" can be caused by fuel and inflation ...

... in the us case it may be more simple ...
... because of a perceived cultural interest in anything needed ...
... to support "large orizont" worldscale interventions ...
... however the industry will have a serious issue ...
... on finding foreign markets unless the need of others are considered ...

... foreign markets are going to demand ...
... highest compatibility of engines across lines ...
... lowest life cycle costs ...
... capacity of operation outside of airfields ...
... lowest dependency to external systems and stations ...
... and possibly cross-utilization for civilian-military use ...

... under this circumstances ...
... with the partial exclusion of specific lines ...
... such as "air superiority" and strike ...
... that could also benefit of engines interoperability ...
... stol capacity, and low maintenance requirements ...
... it seems evident that new or retrofitted lines ...
... are needed to reduce operational costs ...
... and so it could be the whole concept of "western" and indeed "eastern" ...
... defense concept model ...
... to be in need of overhaul ...

... in the incoming age of scavenging ...
... it seems prudent to recompute the reorganization of a military system ...
... from the model of unlimited resources ...
... to the one of total mobilization ...
... up to and eventually to a model of prototypes ...
... just in case something may go in a different way than planned ...

# posted by intcoex : 11:32 PM

<< Home

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]