FORCE REPORT // US AIR FORCE
’America’s military has no pre-ordained right to victory on the battlefield,’ says US Air Force chief Gen David Goldfein. So, what is being done to ensure it stays ahead of the field?
A TALL ORDER IN UNCERTAIN FISCAL TIMES
THERE HAS NEVER been a point in history when a statement by a US Air Force chief of staff has been more relevant. According to a recent Department of Defense publication, the US has been stuck in a state of ‘strategic atrophy’, where all services are starkly aware of a growing capability gap between them and potential threat nations. Compounding the situation is the lack of available funding and human resources to close that gap, resulting in the significant erosion of combat-readiness and sustainment.
Given the emphasis placed on air power, the USAF needs both modernization and significant expansion. Nearly three decades of continuous combat operations, massive budgetary woes and the hemorrhaging of pilots to the commercial world has put it in dire straits. In fact, the only other time the USAF has been as small as it is right now was when the Army Air Forces separated from the US Army, leading to the air force becoming its own service branch on September 18, 1947.
