As I wrote yesterday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates planned to address the Air Force Association (AFA) today.
U.S. News & World Report compared Gates’ appearance at the AFA, an association “made up in part of retired pilots and Air Force brass who were shocked when Gates last year fired the Air Force secretary and chief of staff over reports of a nuclear mishap,” and who were further shocked when Gates cancelled the F-22 program, as going into the lion’s den.
It remains to be seen whether Gates tamed the lion, but, in my opinion, he accomplished three things: He definitely re-established the fact that he is in charge, he clearly laid out his vision for the future U.S. Air Force and, third, he left no doubt as to how much he appreciates and admires the job the U.S. Air Force and its members are doing in the war on terror and other conflicts.
He started his address by telling a story about civil-military tensions involving the famous General Hap Arnold and FDR. Gates concluded the story with a frank “Well, I’m afraid the early hour precludes our breaking the ice – literally and figuratively – in a similar manner this morning, but it is a pleasure to be here.”
He then generously and extensively praised the men and women of the U.S. Air Force, who “Since 9/11,…have gone about their duties – usually unheralded, and unrecognized by the usual metric of medals and media coverage. Often they are on the ground, in the dirt, and sometimes under fire – doing their jobs without fail and without complaint. More than 100 have made the supreme sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
The Secretary gave specific examples of professionalism, dedication, heroism and sacrifice.
Without specifically addressing the hot subject of the day, his halting of F-22 production, Gates did express his continuing support for air power and air superiority with the following “admonition”:
It would be unwise to assume that conflicts of the future will be like those of today or the past – the fatal conceit of military planners since antiquity. The crumbling remains of the Maginot Line and the cemeteries in Flanders Fields are monuments to that tragic folly. And with regard to air power, it would be irresponsible to assume that a future adversary – given enough time, money, and technological acumen – will not one day be able to directly threaten U.S. command of the skies. As an allied commander from World War II said, “Air power is like poker. [The] second-best hand is like none at all – it will cost you dough and win you nothing.”
By the way, the Air Force Association, a strong opponent of Gates’ efforts to halt the F-22 production, had reportedly “plastered an F-22 picture across the cover of the convention’s program.”
Gates expressed his support for the F-22 aircraft by saying: “Our commitment to this aircraft is underscored by the nearly six-and-a-half billion dollars provided over the next few years to upgrade the existing F-22 fleet to be fully mission-capable.”
He also discussed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and how “All told, the combination of F-22s, F-35s, and legacy aircraft will preserve American tactical air supremacy far into the future.”
Of course, Gates discussed the importance of “a key additional – and yet untapped – part of this mix of capabilities,” unmanned aerial vehicles and his favorite subject of irregular warfare.
Gates also discussed his commitment to “long-range strike capability” without repeating the mistakes of the B-2 program:
What we must not do is repeat what happened with our last manned bomber. By the time the research, development, and requirements processes ran their course, the aircraft, despite its great capability, turned out to be so expensive – $2 billion each in the case of the B-2 – that less than one-sixth of the planned fleet of 132 was ever built.
Looking ahead, it makes little sense to pursue a future bomber – a prospective B-3, if you will – in a way that repeats this history. We must avoid a situation in which the loss of even one aircraft – by accident, or in combat – results in a loss of a significant portion of the fleet, a national disaster akin to the sinking of a capital ship.
This past April, Gates “pulled the plug on a potential $15 billion effort to build a new bomber to follow the radar-evading B-2, designed by Northrop Grumman Corp in the 1980s.”
Gates also emphasized “some areas that underpin America’s strategic strength and global reach – areas of ongoing and future importance to the Air Force and the United States,” such as the protection of digital communications and the satellites and data networks that support them; other satellite based capabilities—from GPS-guided munitions and navigation to missile defense and communications; and the Air Force’s nuclear stewardship.
Gates left the best news literally till the end.
Just before closing his remarks he announced that he was returning source selection authority to the Air Force for the KC-X refueling tanker, with a draft Request for Proposals to follow.
Gates had stripped the Air Force of the tanker source-selection authority last year when the Air Force attempted to procure Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 tanker after a bitter and controversial competition against Boeing’s KC-767.
But Gates admonished:
I don’t need to belabor the importance of getting this done soon and done right, and my office will continue to have a robust oversight role. We are committed to the integrity of the selection process, and cannot afford the kind of letdowns, parochial squabbles, and corporate food-fights that have bedeviled this effort over the last number of years.
Gates concluded with a call “on all of the elements that make up America’s defense establishment – military and civilian, Congress, industry, retired flag officers, veterans’ groups and military service organizations – to step up and be part of the solution. To be willing to stretch their comfort zones and re-think long-standing assumptions for the wider and greater purpose of doing what is necessary to protect our country,” and with a thanks to the United States Air Force and its Airmen for having protected our country for many decades.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.