They worked their butts off to kill Army aviation back in the sixties even though they had no interest in buying the aircraft and doing it themselves.
Now that UAVs are turning out to be much more useful and flexible than anyone had ever suspected, the Air Force is determined to get a hammerlock on them.
The alternative will be to become even less relevant in the future.
BUMP!
IMHO, the entire debate is very similar to Communications and Data control within the staff ranks.
At senior field to flag rank officer levels, within staff planning functions, there has always been a tendency for particular staff officers to lay claim to all resources in theater under their charge to unify their control of those resources.
With respect to aviation assets, the arguments are operational and tactical and strategic. From the grunt perspective, the resources need to be directly attached to their units, decentralized control, centralized command.
Same may be said of computers and wireless comm. Local users need their utility as tools to perform their work, whereas broader policy makers see them as the resources available to manage, and without centralized management, they fear loss of efficiency and control.
IMHO, perhaps the issues need to resolved at higher levels, maintaining certain resources remain dedicated as part of the T/E of lower echelon units to retain their unit integrity, not to be reassigned by staff organizations to other priorities.
A MAGTF without its air, isn’t a MAGTF anymore, nor is a VMU squadron supporting the MAGTF when reassigned to a higher headquarters.
Same arguments apply to the Army and Air Force. WRT aviation assets, it also gets more complicated attempting to deconflict air control within remote areas. It is as nutty as sending in black op units into the AOA without coordination with that JTF Commander/Staff.
Anyone who saw the difference between AF and Marine technique for close air support in Viet Nam would agree.
They worked their butts off to kill Army aviation back in the sixties even though they had no interest in buying the aircraft and doing it themselves.
***So they were the “dog in the manger”. Maybe Bill O’Reilly can make a big deal out of that.