There's at least two sides to every story.
The RAND report on air dominance posted here last week raises fundamental questions about the US Air Force's vision for air dominance based on stealth, beyond visual range combat and forward basing.
Richard Hallion, former US Air Force official historian, has recently presented the "other side" of the air dominance story, a 53-slide briefing that explains the reasoning behind the USAF's approach. I present it here to help inform and balance the discussion.
Reading both presentations -- and the comments prompted by the RAND report -- it's very clear that there are two rational -- but distinct -- theories about the future of airpower and how to achieve it. Both sides can't be right.
Sadly (or, perhaps, very fortunately) there is almost no useful empirical data to conclusively prove either point, since there has not been a decisive air war between the world's most sophisticated air force since the early 1970s. (I'm sure this is a debatable point, and I'm interested to know other views.)
The RAND report on air dominance posted here last week raises fundamental questions about the US Air Force's vision for air dominance based on stealth, beyond visual range combat and forward basing.
Richard Hallion, former US Air Force official historian, has recently presented the "other side" of the air dominance story, a 53-slide briefing that explains the reasoning behind the USAF's approach. I present it here to help inform and balance the discussion.
Reading both presentations -- and the comments prompted by the RAND report -- it's very clear that there are two rational -- but distinct -- theories about the future of airpower and how to achieve it. Both sides can't be right.
Sadly (or, perhaps, very fortunately) there is almost no useful empirical data to conclusively prove either point, since there has not been a decisive air war between the world's most sophisticated air force since the early 1970s. (I'm sure this is a debatable point, and I'm interested to know other views.)
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