Actually, what's funny about that is that the Air Force is probably the branch with the MOST to fear from the advance of technology. The Army now has a laser-energy weapon capable of bringing down a missile in flight, and it's only a matter of time (a few decades at most) until the weapon is portable enough for battlefield deployment (it's currently only useable for protecting fixed assets). Once we have a portable high energy laser weapons system coupled with a high speed mirrored targeting system, we'll have a weapon capable of targeting and destroying any aircraft on the visible horizon in MICROSECONDS. With queued targeting, one of these things could conceivably down 10+ aircraft per second.
Given the history of warfare, it won't take more than a few more decades before the technology is in the hands of the worlds other nations. At that point, aircraft in warfare become obsolete. The ONLY things that will be flying will be very small and ultra stealthy ROV's, and stealth missiles, capable of evading the targeting sensors of these things.
This, of course, is just another nail in the carriers coffin.
Who in the Army has a laser energy weapon capable of bringing down an aircraft in flight. I hadn't heard that there was anything other than in the testing phase.
As for the capability, they said the same thing about the Sgt York as I recall.
Assuming the scenario of other nations gaining this technology is true(and there's certainly n o reason not to think so) then we will be in big trouble: I don't think a C-5 ot C-17 would fall into the "very small and ultra stealthy ROV" category.
What that means is we either get out of the force projection business entirely or find ways to protect our airlift and sealift capability (because they've been cutting into those programs to pay for lasers and stealth fighters and computer systems and operations that Congress won't appropriate for like Bosnia and Somalia).
Here is something I learned through experience in this field: You can gab about capabilities all you want (there's a whole boatload of people who do that, us enlisted folks call them officers) but unless you plan for your limitations you are going to get your butt handed to you most ricky tick. Counting solely on technology will get you killed.