Penny Wise and Pound Foolish with American Airpower
By Tanner Tharp
June 28, 2024
Washington Should Not be Penny Wise and Pound Foolish with American Airpower
In modern warfare, airpower serves as a critical component of power projection, which is why maintaining air superiority has become one of the most critical issues that military planners grapple with today.
A recent report from the Five Eyes – an intelligence alliance comprising of the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. – has put the issue into sharp contrast by specifically highlighting how the People’s Republic of China is using private companies to recruit current and former Western military personnel, and former fighter pilots in particular, “to train PLA Air Force and Navy aviators.” The report concludes that the “PLA wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures” and that the insights the PLA gains from Western military talent “threatens the safety of the targeted recruits, their fellow service members, and U.S. and allied security.”
Such damning evidence shows how it is hard to overstate the risks that China poses to the United States and its closest allies. Policymakers in America are waking up to the threat, and polls show that public sentiment in the country regarding China acknowledges this reality. Yet at the same time, there are some here in the United States pushing to sharply limit investments in key defense systems such as the next-generation air dominance program and development of a sixth-generation fighter plane – purportedly to help combat the higher deficits the country faces. This approach is penny wise and pound foolish and would dramatically increase national security risks without providing any meaningful budgetary benefits. It must be reconsidered.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/06/28/penny_wise_and_pound_foolish_with_american_airpower_1041001.html
