Army starts its own... Air Force?

[HuskyCaucasian]

Oh talk about American armed forces unity...

 

Edging Away From Air Force, Army Adds Air Unit

Ever since the Army lost its warplanes to a newly independent Air Force after World War II, soldiers have depended on the sister service for help from the sky, from bombing and strafing to transport and surveillance.

 

But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have frayed the relationship, with Army officers making increasingly vocal complaints that the Air Force is not pulling its weight.

 

In Afghanistan, Army officers have complained about bombing missions gone awry that have killed innocent civilians. In Iraq, Army officers say the Air Force has often been out of touch, fulfilling only half of their requests for the sophisticated surveillance aircraft that ground commanders say are needed to find roadside bombs and track down insurgents......

 

Senior aides to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates say that he has shown keen interest in the Army initiative — much to the frustration of embattled Air Force leaders — as a potential way to improve battlefield surveillance.

 

The work of the new aviation battalion was initially kept secret, but Army officials involved in its planning say it has been exceptionally active, using remotely piloted surveillance aircraft to call in Apache helicopter strikes with missiles and heavy machine gun fire that have killed more than 3,000 adversaries in the last year and led to the capture of almost 150 insurgent leaders.

 

The Army aviation task force became fully operational last July with headquarters at Camp Speicher, in the north-central city of Tikrit, and focuses its efforts on insurgents planting roadside bombs. But it also has located and attacked insurgents in battles with American and Iraqi troops, and has supported missions of the top-secret Special Operations units assigned to capture or kill the most high-value targets in Iraq.

 

Classy move Army! To quote Cartman: "Screw You Guys... I'm Goin' Home"

[Balta1701]

Actually, this is an interesting issue and it's reflecting some real strains in the armed forces. During the Cold War, the air force had a specific goal...it needed to be prepared to fight an air superiority campaign against the Soviet Union, and it needed to be able to hold its ground in a nuclear contest.

 

Now though, in this war, the Air Force sort of doesn't have a specific goal. Compared to the army, the stuff it wants just isn't that useful. The F-22 is almost useless in the war on terror. The Air force almost never has to fight an actual air superiority campaign any more, and even if they did, they could win over anyone else in the world with 25 year old technology. And on top of that...when the Air Force is employed in the battles we're fighting right now, it tends to make things worse, because even these precision guided munitions still kill a hell of a lot of civilians.

 

The Air Force really started to put itself in a bind with its behavior. They still want all their expensive toys, but the toys they want aren't useful in these type of wars. The B-52 has almost been the most effective weapon they've used in these wars, and it's 50 years old. So the Air Force pushed the boundaries of the laws by starting an ad campaign to "educate people about the air force and its mission", which they ran using government funds but which really looked like a lobbying campaign. Because the air force was so static on what it wanted, it wound up getting its leaders sacked a couple weeks ago. And now the Army is trying to turn its back on the force and say "you're not helping us and you're not serving our needs any more so we're going to do this on our own."

 

This is a symptom of a larger problem. Without a genuine air superiority fight on its hand the Air Force is a ground assistance force, and frankly that ought to be under the control of the army, as this is. But we do have an air force, so in order for the air force to keep its funds, they start looking for people that they might need to fight in the future, and that is the sort of thing that sets up hostilities with countries like Iran or China.

 

It's an interesting dilemma. The air force has gone in 10 years from perhaps the most important force the U.S. has to a sideshow in the wars the Bush Administration has tangled us up in, and the air force and the military structure hasn't adapted yet.

[lostfan]

The Army's already had UAV pilots. Unless I'm reading that wrong.

 

BTW, great post Balta, I couldn't have said that better myself.

Edited June 22, 2008 by lostfan

[Reddy]

but also, isn't the air force more focuses on space these days? to me this makes some sense that being the case. we still need someone dealing with our skies down here on earth.