Offiziere.ch: Imagining the “Air Force After Nextâ€
by DAVID AXE
The U.S. Air Force’s fighter fleet modernizes on a roughly 20-year cycle. It takes at least that long for most new planes and munitions to complete development and enter service in meaningful numbers. Consider the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, which entered squadron service in 2005, 24 years after its initial requirement was written. New weapons are both driven by, and in turn drive, new tactics and procedures.
Broadly speaking, every couple decades represent a “generation†for the Air Force. Since the weapons completing development today will serve for decades to come, we know what the next generation will look like. But what about the one after that — the one we can start building today, essentially from scratch? What about this “Air Force After Next�
I propose that the Air Force After Next could be represent the first generation in a century to take advantage of new ways of buying and using air power, particularly when it comes to fighters. By embracing the private sector’s “just-in-time†philosophy, the emerging “fast, inexpensive, simple and tiny†acquisitions model and the “orbit†construct that is rapidly gaining Pentagon currency, the Air Force After Next could be the most powerful and adaptive tactical air force, ever.
Read the full proposal at Offiziere.ch.
(Photo: Bryan William Jones)
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