Quote Originally Posted by Cliff View Post
I disagree that you have to have a huge ground force. Ground observers help, but the information you are referring to shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of the CIA, DIA, State, etc.
They don't have a good track record, and in the case of State, once the balloon goes up, they are not much help in providing intelligence.

There are too few CIA/DIA with the requisite language skills and area expertise, and technical intelligence and high altitude or space ISR are not all-seeing or all-weather. In places like China, North Korea, Lebanon, Iran, and Venezuela our CIA/DIA presence is no doubt small, the targets, area, and system is large, and terrain and underground facilities are not always conducive to high altitude and space ISR.

What you are talking about is definitely a part of Warden's 5 rings, and obviously the first step in just about any conflict - see the Libya thread for the most current example.
The only part of the 5 rings it appears are being attacked are military targets, as of now. General Ham says we are not targeting Qaddafi...the Brits and French have their own ideas but fewer cruise missiles and fighters than we do. We have many cruise missiles fired from as few as four former nuclear missile subs and others from destroyers. Wouldn't the same missiles function equally well against China or Russia, particularly if stealth is added and munitions such as JASSM-ER? New long range stealth bombers also are planned.

Why spend a fortune defending conventionally against threats we are highly unlikely to fight due to economic interdependence and MAD? We have more than ample air and seapower for any other threat...and still more than enough for China with planned systems not requiring radical shifts in funding priorities.

That said, it's tough to keep a runway out of commission permanently, and you can't be sure that the other guy doesn't have some aux fields you missed - hence why air to air is important even after you've killed the runways.
Don't buy that in Iran, North Korea and definitely not Libya or Lebanon. China might be tougher considering how fast industrious personnel rebuilt bridges etc, in Vietnam.

But with stealth bombers escorted by F-22, stealth JASSM-ER and cruise missiles, and future unmanned attack aircraft you can't hide an airfield from repeated attacks and soon fewer aircraft are there to launch. AWACS would rapidly identify other launch locations, and it is harder to move large fuel supplies and ordnance/maintenance facilities.

The mobile TBM able to take out OUR Pacific airfields are a much tougher target. What would we be doing now in Libya if Italy and others were not providing land airfields or if Libya had China's, Iran's, or North Korea's TBMs?