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Post by 101ABN on Jan 25, 2015 13:57:56 GMT -8
USAF's Dubious Priorities Results In Axing Of F-15 Aggressor Squad For the last few years, the Pentagon's budget blade has been looming over the 65th Aggressor Squadron, the USAF's F-15 unit that are masters at mimicking large enemy fighters like the Su-27. Sadly, the days of F-15s flying in the adversary role are coming to an end as the unit will be shuttered this month. At full strength, the 65th AGRS has an inventory of 19 F-15C and F-15D Eagles. Located alongside their F-16 flying sister squadron, the 64th AGRS, at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 65th supports a wide range of training and developmental missions. These include supporting the USAF Fighter Weapons School, taking part in operational testing and evaluation of new tactics and technologies, as well as providing enemy threat profiles for detachments of both indigenous and foreign fighter aircraft training on the Nellis Range Complex. Yet what the 65th AGRS, and the 64th AGRS for that matter, are most known for, is their participation in the Red Flag and Green Flag large force employment exercises. foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/usafs-dubious-priorities-results-in-axing-of-f-15-aggre-1633886869Warrior, what's your take? |
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Post by warrior1972 on Jan 26, 2015 5:15:18 GMT -8
My initial reaction is that this is an excellent article.
Due to OPSEC, we rarely get such a detailed description of any service's combat capability being
so drastically reduced. I'll be reading the article several times to develop an in-depth response.
Other than that, my initial response is probably predictable:
Anger.
One of the main reasons our air forces (to include Navy and Marines, as well as Air Force) have enjoyed overwhelming superiority over the decades has been the extremely high number of training hours our pilots get. There is no substitute for flight training other than actual combat, and when the combat is real, "you dance with who brung ya".
Our land and sea operations are based on air superiority as a given. The F-15 and F-22 have a ground capability, but in recent years their primary mission has been on establishing and maintaining that air superiority. It is understood that the vast majority of our conflicts have been of the "low intensity" type where our air superiority is never questioned. But if we ever have to go against the "heavies" such as Russia or China, or even North Korea (it takes less than 30 minutes to fly the length of South Korea, for instance, at mach 1), we had better be ready.
That, after all, is the primary reason why we have an Air Force in the first place.
I would love to know what were the higher priorities that got spared the chopping block, to say the least. Keeping the F-15 aggressors in the air would have been one of my highest priorities. There is no substitute for training, other than combat experience, which comes at a far higher price. Compared to that price, a few hundred million is cheap.
That's my take, 101. Let me know if you want to discuss this further.
I am at your disposal.
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Post by 101ABN on Jan 26, 2015 8:35:00 GMT -8
For all our disagreements, Warrior, it's heartening to know there are areas where we march as one.
WTF are these people thinking?
WHAT higher priority is there that is more important than readiness to fight and WIN?
This makes my blood boil.
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Post by Sailor on Jan 26, 2015 18:19:09 GMT -8
"Other than that, my initial response is probably predictable:
Anger."
Understandable. "WTF are these people thinking" crossed my mind also. What could be a higher priority than keeping our edge well honed?
I also have to ask "are the lives of our warfighters THAT unimportant?"
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Post by warrior1972 on Jan 26, 2015 19:46:19 GMT -8
For all our disagreements, Warrior, it's heartening to know there are areas where we march as one. WTF are these people thinking? WHAT higher priority is there that is more important than readiness to fight and WIN? This makes my blood boil. Exactly, 101. You don't get second chances. And a word off-subject: Yeah, we've gone hammer and tongs some times over the years. But you've made a friend, and I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way. -A Warrior from 1972 |
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Post by warrior1972 on Jan 27, 2015 7:26:18 GMT -8
FROM THE ARTICLE:
"It is pretty disappointing that the USAF is choosing to standown its most capable aggressor squadron, when even that squadron will soon lose parity with the equipment that our potential enemies will be flying. In light of geopolitical developments of the last year, the story should be about how America is enhancing its aerial threat simulation programs not dismantling them. Yet in an Air Force where programs like the F-35 suck so much marrow out of the fiscal bone, there is little left over for actually learning to fight with the gear we have, yet alone the more expensive stuff we will supposedly be getting sometime in the future."
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Post by 101ABN on Jan 27, 2015 7:26:35 GMT -8
For all our disagreements, Warrior, it's heartening to know there are areas where we march as one. WTF are these people thinking? WHAT higher priority is there that is more important than readiness to fight and WIN? This makes my blood boil. Exactly, 101. You don't get second chances. And a word off-subject: Yeah, we've gone hammer and tongs some times over the years. But you've made a friend, and I, for one, wouldn't have it any other way. -A Warrior from 1972 Roger that, Sir, roger that! |
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