This article, IMHO, is ACC’s (aka the “Fighter Mafia”) attempting to keep all of their aircraft at the expense of the Republic’s security.
The General Mike Hostage, ACC/CC, failed to mention the last two, or is it three now?, Joint Operating Environment (JOEs) studies. These are unclassified studies signed off by all services that address security issues covering decades. In 2008, the JOE made a major shift in defense orientation when it stated that irregular warfare (aka terrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan) would be the predominate threat facing the US through 2025 because it was the only form of conflict that nations/non-nations who opposed the US could engage in and survive.
That report, again signed off by all the services, not just a major service component, meant that the majority of ACC’s aircraft are inappropriate for the threats facing us for the next 15 plus years. What good is a Mach-1 plus stealthy fighter with limited air-to-ground munitions loads in irregular warfare? Check the impact of the Mach-1 plus fighters with limited air-to-ground munitions loads in Vietnam as documented by the GAO and AF Historian reports.
As for the MC-12W Liberty Aircraft; it is the primary method of locating ground irregular warfare fighters. Without it ACC would have to operate more expensive AWACS and JSTARS aircraft to collect some of the same targeting data required by the F-35 to be effective. Its a “kill chain” issue.
IMHO, General Hostage’s remarks are nothing less than another attempt by ACC to absorb Special Operations and spend its Congressionally controlled monies on ACC projects. I saw it first in the mid 1970s and again in 1995. That year I had documentary proof in the form of an ACC internal briefing recommending that AFSOC become a numbered AF under ACC control. The notes page for the first briefing slide cautioned staff members NOT to discuss the briefing with AFSOC or SOF personnel at any level. Things got interesting when the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict forwarded the briefing with notes to me and others for comment and review.
The faster, the greater the coverage. It’s a combined arms system approach of cavalry and aerial artilery. Without a system it does not work.
F15s in Afghanistan would be able to pop anywhere in minutes or seconds and help direct artillery strikes or provide gunship overwatch.