[Bedford Forrest]

The Blue Suiters in their little Electric Airplanes do not do interdiction, much less close air support. They have the best tankbuster [the Warthog] since the Stuka and they have systematically tried to send them all to the smelter at DM. Ask any Army infantry commander which he would rely on for close air support - cute little Blue Suiters in their cute little Electric Airplanes or Marines and squids in their grungy, clapped out F-18's flying off USS Boat at 0 dark thirty, tanking twice inbound. The Blue Suit bomber community [Buffs/B-1s/B-2s] is good and should be retained. But their tacair community has been a total farce and a gigantic money pit since the 60's. See, e.g., The Red Baron Report. The mission in which they fancy themselves expert has not existed since WWII and, since WWII, they have proven themselves to be unwilling and/or incapable of performing the missions assigned, namely, air to mud right here and right now. Air Farce tacair is an ongoing embarrassment and should be disbanded. As before, the Nav and the Marine Corps are the most effective [and cost effective] tactical/regional warriors of the 21st century. And in the event of a confrontation on the strategic level, once again the Navy's capabilities are more effective and reliable than the air force's, by orders of magnitude. [Does anyone think the Air Farce's missile silos scare the wacko mainland chicoms?] But for those selfsame chicom wackos, the USN boomers are another matter - believe it.

[Bedford Forrest]

The mission in which they fancy themselves expert

That is to say, the provision of air superiority. First, as the Pacific war showed, the Nav and the Marines do not need the Air Farce to provide air superiority. Second, beginning with the end of WWII, the need to provide effective interdiction and close air support has eclipsed the air superiority requirement. The Air Farce has, quite simply, refused to accept this fact of life. Their miserable and in fact criminal performance in Kosovo bears this out. They have a severe case of cultural arrogance and they get away with it because they are past masters of stroking all of the right pimps in Congress.

[Pukin Dog]

Even with my historic bias, I don't subscribe to your opinion regarding the Air Force. They are the second most effective fighting force in the world. The fact that the Navy/Marines are the best, does not make the Air Force terrible.