January 20, 2021
Aircraft Shortages Could Undermine America’s Pacific Strategy
America's airpower is being overworked and under-maintained.
by Michael Peck
Here's What You Need To Remember: There are the usual no-brainer solutions for American airpower: more planes, better maintenance, fewer deployments. But the real problem is that the U.S. military has to prepare for a variety of missions, including peacekeeping or counterinsurgency operations that may be not combat-heavy, but are maintenance-intensive.
Like a trucking company with too few trucks and too many deliveries, America's airpower is being overworked and under-maintained.
Two studies from last year by RAND Corp. and the Government Accountability Office paint a grim picture of U.S. airpower. The RAND study examined whether the U.S Air Force has the capacity to fight in four types of future conflicts: a new Cold War with Russia or China, accompanied by a major regional conflict similar to the Korean and Vietnam Wars; a new Cold War, alongside a short regional conflict such as Operation Desert Storm, peace enforcement operations such as no-fly zones, and a counterinsurgency campaign. Drawing on historical data from actual Air Force operations in such conflicts, RAND estimated whether the Air Force could meet demand for eight categories of missions, including air superiority, strike, airlift, aerial refueling and C3ISR (command and reconnaissance).
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/aircraft-shortages-could-undermine-america%E2%80%99s-pacific-strategy-176682
