The catastrophic success of the u.s. Air force

[Kathianne]

I found this fascinating, from a commonsense position only, makes sense to me. Anyone with actual military knowledge see it differently?

http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/the-catastrophic-success-of-the-u-s-air-force/

[CSM]

I found this fascinating, from a commonsense position only, makes sense to me. Anyone with actual military knowledge see it differently?

http://warontherocks.com/2016/05/the-catastrophic-success-of-the-u-s-air-force/

This is a HUGE topic of discussion within the Air Force and its leadership right now. The USAF has not faced an equal adversary (in technology, competence, etc.) in a very long time. It has not had to face the impact on morale (at least not service wide) that combat losses inflict on personnel in recent since Vietnam. Exercises like Red Flag at Nellis AFB in Nevada try to simulate (sometimes poorly) conditions pilots may face but they are no where near the reality. I have been out to Nellis and participated in these events (love my work!) so have a pretty good idea of how things stack up.

Currently, there are virtually no pilots left in that service that have experienced actual air-to-air combat against a real, capable (technologically and training wise) adversary. It remains to be seen how US air forces perform I that "contested environment".