Posted on 11/29/2024 9:32:47 AM PST by Fish Speaker
WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald Trump’s new defense secretary takes the reins of the Pentagon next year, they may quickly be faced with an internal debate to settle: whether the Army should continue with its traditional role of providing defenses for air bases, or whether the Air Force steps up to the task on its own.
At the core of the issue is not only the capabilities brought to the fight by each service, but how they will be funded. The Army has traditionally been charged with defending air bases, which is part of the reason why systems like Patriot and THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) reside under the service’s control. But tepid investment during the Global War on Terror years, alongside the proliferation of missile threats from China and Russia, has led Air Force officials to begin openly grumbling that they feel the Army can’t, or won’t, make air base defense a priority — and that a change may be due.
Recent comments from Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall seemed to bring the issue to a head, after he reportedly suggested his service could take over the air base defense mission from the Army in its entirety. Of course, if that happens, Air Force advocates would likely want to see more dollars distributed to the service, whether they come out of the Army’s coffers or elsewhere.
Asked about the ongoing discussion on Nov. 20, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said he recently met with his Air Force counterpart, Gen. David Allvin, to help chart a way forward. But George made it clear that in his mind, protection responsibilities have to fall on the entire joint force going forward.
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...
I guess ORCUS and dragonfire aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. As a taxpayer I want my money back.
“At the core of the issue is not only the capabilities brought to the fight by each service, but how they will be funded. The Army has traditionally been charged with defending air bases, which is part of the reason why systems like Patriot and THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) reside under the service’s control. But tepid investment during the Global War on Terror years, alongside the proliferation of missile threats from China and Russia, has led Air Force officials to begin openly grumbling that they feel the Army can’t, or won’t, make air base defense a priority — and that a change may be due.”
This argument has been going on since the early 1950s. Guarantee you that if surface to air missiles are given to the Air Force, it won’t be five years before they’re cancelled and the funding diverted to aircraft.
Two days after PDJT takes the reins, this business will become a distant memory.
We won’t even hear about what happened to the last [expletive deleted] to try it.
But all the other [plural expletives] will know never to try it again.
I was stationed in Germany in the 80s and the USAF had geese around the perimeter to alert security. I’ve seen trained hawks take down drones. C-ram can take out anything.
As a child, I was confused when I saw U.S. Army Hawk missile batteries defending Travis AFB.
“C-ram can take out anything”
Not hypersonic.
Declare all bases a no-fly zone and shoot down the drones. The kids need the practice.
Another absurdity that needs to end is the disarming of troops when they are on base. If you are good enough to serve then you are good enough to be armed. If a recruit is too stupid or immature to be armed on base then they shouldn’t be in the military in the first place.
The air defence battery I was assigned to in the 80’s was tasked with the short-range air defence (SHORAD) of Sembach airbase in West Germany.
Wow. I think you’re right.
I hope the US doesn’t get stuck in the “trench wafare” mode like France did before WWII.
Technology changes and unmanned is the way to go with a decent size of our defense capabilities.
I dont know thing one about weapons so I may be completely wrong :)
I’m guessing we still have the best military in the world...I would imagine much better than China still.
But again, I dunno..
Declare all bases a no-fly zone and shoot down the drones. The kids need the practice.
___________________________
They have to generate something to excuse the current situation over military bases until they run out of excuses - then what? There have been incidents over ICBM sites in the past in the remote prairies of North Dakota with no one around and I never heard any ‘drones’ being shot down, even though the site’s electronics were supposedly frozen/neutralized for a time and the Minot Air Force Base was in the area. Now that these ‘drones’ are occurring over military bases, the excuse is - can’t shoot them down because it’s in ‘populated areas.’
My nearly five year tour was spent in a composite Chaparral/Towed Vulcan battalion with short range air defense responsibility at Hahn, Bitburg, and Spangdahlem ABs, 6/56 ADA "Motto - Night Hides Not."
There were spirited conversations in the Officers Club between us and the F-4 pilots. They usually turned their noses down at us.
I do recall one discussion, though. A pilot and I were getting into it pretty good when an AF major came over. He told the pilot, "I suggest you giving that Army LT a bit more respect. He's worth at least a full point on Base Survivability on NATO alerts and tac evals."
I never realized my ancillary performance on NBC inputs was so highly regarded. It started on my first trip to the Wing CP. While briefing the Wing Cdr on the deployment of our gun and missile systems, an input was dropped. The Disaster Preparedness Office, a Captain, was obviously intimidated by the 5-6 bird colonels in the Eagles Nest. He overreacted, recommending Alarm Red, i.e. full protective gear.
I jumped in, "Colonel may I make a recommendation?" Utter silence, lol, an ARMY SECOND LIEUTENANT actually speaking in their presence. I quickly offered my recommendation, Alarm Yellow and my rationale. The wing commander liked it, as did the NATO Team Chief.
A few minutes later, he said, "as long as I'm in command, whenever there's an NBC input, I want that Army Lieutenant up here." So it went for the next 18 months.
I envision a composite battalion with Patriot batteries, Stingers/Manpads, and a robust AI drone presence. Given that terrorist elements are near air bases, IMO you need Army soldiers for limited ground combat.
Having each Service provide this is redundant and wasteful.
They need to figure out how to protect each base especially those with the highest value assets.
Yes. God help the Army if the AF ever gets control of the Army’s helicopters.
Issue them goose guns. That’ll put a damper on this drone business.
Israel has been repurposing some M61 Vulcan 20mm autocannons
Night Hides Not wrote: “Five years? How about six months?”
Very possible. I just cannot see any Air Force officer wanting to serve in a ground based air defense unit. Just not a way to promotion.
BTW, I spent a year in 2/61 ADA Bn (Chap/Vulcan) at Camp Casey Korea. Most screwed up bn I’ve ever seen. The only thing the field grades wanted was to look good at Division so they could get promoted. The Bn was scheduled for annual service practice and didn’t have two chap tracks that would fire.
China recently had a brand new nuclear submarine auto-submerge at the pier. Another nuke sub killed its crew
A society that mostly builds substandard crap isn’t going to have quality military gear. Pakistan bought a bunch of Chinese shyt. The SAM radars don’t see aircraft that are visible to the naked eye. Missiles don’t track and they fly any old which way.
Chinese buildings only a few years old start to crumble because the the shyt quality concrete. Most things they build are crap.
The Chinese discovered that some of their ballistic missiles had water instead of fuel in the tanks. Apparently the fuel was being sold on the black market as cooking fuel.
Generalships in the Chinese Army are actually bought in cash. It is corrupt beyond belief.
Average Chinese soldiers get upset if they have to spend a week or two on maneuvers and they have to be provided special counseling. Due to the one child policy a huge proportion of Chinese men are spoiled only children, snowflakes.
The last major fight for the Chinese was against Vietnam. They got creamed. China has a huge incompetent Army. It’s Navy carriers are jokes. The Naval fighters can carry a full fuel load and ordinance at the same time and get airborne off the carrier.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.