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Sometimes yes, but I've always wondered if it ended up that way because we didn't look at other options. In some cases, I suspect the answer is yes (as in we reached for the sledgehammer and wallet...

Absolutely. Soft airpower is just another piece in the whole airpower toolkit. Sometimes it may not be the first option, but there are clearly times when it should be, or when it should at least be...

But that doesn't always work, either. It's never an "either/or" thing, and that's just one of the issues that we need to work through. Americans seem to have a fixation with one single answer to a...

And I seriously doubt that DoD will be willing to give up the money needed to fund that "someone else." There's only so much to go around, and if HA/DR does become a major foreign policy factor, then...

I understand that, but as the need or policy need for humanitarian ops increases, there will be hard choices to be made. That was my point. The military may have to give up a bit of the resource pie...

And I can imagine the screaming when DoD's budget is reduced to fund such an agency.

Not arguing with you, but pointing out that funds for such an activity have to come from somewhere...and DoD is...

Quite so, and that was one of the reasons I really liked your article. The AF needs to remember the Berlin Airlift, and not just as a "feel good" lead-in to their role as an independent service. It's...

But he has no air-to-air kills....so he's clearly NOT a REAL Air Force officer....;)

I wondered about that, too. I'm guessing it's a pilot or similar aviator-type.

Not baggin' on ya, slap...just seemed an odd word choice.

As opposed to a Real JAG Officer?:D

I actually found Maj Maguinness's article interesting, especially when paired with our own LawVol's offering from a few months back. Perfect? No, but it's...

This sounds like "more of the same" to me, and it's a shame that they just can't change gears. Can the AC-130 crew really identify insurgents from the air with 100% accuracy? If target recognition...

Yeah...it's got more power, better speed, smaller target...and so on. Problem is that when it came up for re-bid in the late 1960s ('69 I think) Hughes jacked the price. The Army rebid, and ended up...

The RAH did get waxed, to the best of my knowledge.

Fixed-wing has a greater loiter time and payload capacity, as well as a larger body in general where more "stuff" can be added at a later date....

Much like they did in the old days. Have they gone back to older-style VR or is standoff scouting still the order of the day? Sorry for what may be a foolish question, but this stuff doesn't get much...

Davis would push speed because that's an AF mantra. It also flies in the face of most other studies, which concluded that speed is actually a detriment for CAS as it makes conventional bomb accuracy...

Kiowa's hard to see, but the OH-6 is harder to see. Quieter, too, on the whole.

I just got a research publication done in 1970 that compiled questionnaires done by scout pilots and observers who'd...

Agree completely on manned platform, Tom. You lose too much capability (and by that I mean all-around capability) by taking the pilot and nav/crewchief/door gunner/what-have-you out of the equation.

Stealth is not an absolute, IMO. It's a "nice to have," but if forced to choose I'd skip it before I'd skip any other function. Adding stealth tacks years and dollars onto any program, and the...

According to globalsecurity.org they were phased out of the USMC inventory in 1995. No real indication there as to why, although it's possible the age of the airframe played a role.

One of the most interesting things about the OV-10 is the way it was used by the AF and the USMC. While the AF wanted to restrict it to a total FAC role, the USMC pushed the plane to its limits...

Another good argument for keeping the "man in the loop" is the exploits of scout helicopter pilots and crewchiefs in Vietnam. The little birds played major roles in many incidents, and most likely...