of the F-22 (more than DoD says but less than the AF wants) and the F35 -- as well as more C17s and C27Js. So I can dispense with going into all that but with regard to these items...
Quote Originally Posted by Cliff View Post
...Finally, with the USMC and USA focusing on OIF and OEF, it makes sense for the USN and USAF to focus on the higher end of conflict. We have done a crummy job of predicting what future conflict will look like.
In reverse order, not so. Not at all -- some in the system have most always predicted what would come and pretty accurately. The problem is and has been that the system is too bureaucratic to respond to the input and that senior people do not want to hear the world may be different than their preferences. That, regrettably, seems to still be the case. As to AF and Navy focus, I though that's what they were doing to the extent possible...
...so we need to preserve our capabilities at all levels, instead of focusing solely on the current threat and ignoring the medium and long term ones...
Agree.
... Otherwise we end up in the same situation we were in at the start of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam...
Three very different situations and not at all comparable to today. ForWW II, we had started building up in November, 1940, as rapidly as Roosevelt could convince Congress to act. Major aircraft, ship and army equipment programs were just starting to produce millions of tons and the services were slimming down and getting ready. At the time of Korea, we were sound asleep, period. For Viet Nam, most of the stateside Army was prepped, ready and trained for COIN -- problem was the Generals were not. None of those relate to today
... do we have the strategic depth, time, and ability to absorb the losses that would result? Curious to hear what folks here think.
Can't answer that because you didn't tell me what it is that will cause those losses?

If, just guessing, your concern is the potential loss of air dominance, I'd like to know why you think that may be a problem; I know what you said above and I agree that training has been allowed to slide but I doubt it's gone down that much. The F22 and F35 are in the pipeline so the issue is not no new and capable aircraft, it is simply that they are so expensive that in a time of peace (which is what everyone outside of some service guys in Afghanistan and Iraq and a few other places is experiencing now) we can't buy as many as some would like. Given a threat, the money tap gets turned on and production ramps up.

So I'm uncertain what causes your doomsday scenario...