Despite Shake-Ups, Air Force Unlikely to Change Anytime Soon

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has put the U.S. Air Force in the doghouse, firing its top civilian and military leaders. The service earned Gate’s wrath not only for accidentally flying nuclear weapons over U.S. airspace and sending nuclear weapons fuses to Taiwan, but also for playing favorites in contracting and not contributing enough to counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the smart money is on the Air Force to weather any setbacks and survive with most of what it wants, according to Independent Institute Senior Fellow Ivan Eland.

The Air Force has neglected its unmanned surveillance drones, although drones have contributed to operational successes in the battlefield. Instead, it has devoted much effort to lobbying Congress for the more expensive F-22 stealth fighter jets—even though the Soviet fighters they were designed to challenge never came into existence.� It has also neglected its role in transporting troops and equipment to the theaters of operation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The underlying theme seems to be that the Air Force wants to be Top Gun in the halls of Congress by making costly fighter planes and pilots—not the support of other armed services—its number one priority. With Gates set to leave when administrations change in January, the Air Force merely has to play the waiting game. Any meaningful reform, therefore, could occur only in the long run.

“The one thing that could be done to at least loosen the grip of the military-industrial-congressional complex is to require the Air Force to drop excessively unique military specifications for components of weapon systems and instead use commercial components or slight variations thereof,” writes Eland in his latest op-ed. “If subcontractors had commercial business to fall back on when defense procurement was slow, there would be less pressure for the Air Force and Congress to buy unneeded systems to keep the welfare queens of the dedicated defense subcontracting industry aloft.”

“Can the Air Force Be Reformed?” by Ivan Eland (6/30/08)

Also see, “Promoting Air Power: The Influence of the U.S. Air Force on the Creation of the National Security State,” by Arlene Lazarowitz (The Independent Review, Spring 2005)