GovernmentExecutive.com

A new Air Force strategy document says the service must control not only the skies, but space and cyberspace too, or risk U.S. security and the failure of future military operations.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley laid out his service's strategy for the next two decades and the "urgent actions required to cope with today's and tomorrow's challenges" in a Dec. 29, 2007, white paper released earlier this month. "No future war will be won without air, space and cyberspace superiority," he said.

The Air Force must achieve and maintain "cross-domain dominance," Moseley said, to be able to carry out strikes at will and prevent any attacks on U.S. interests from the skies, space or the electromagnetic spectrum. Only Air Force dominance across those realms, will enable the other services -- the Army and Navy - to conduct operations ranging from humanitarian relief to full-blown war.

Future wars are unlikely to resemble current fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the United States must be prepared to win large-scale wars, Moseley said. In the strategy paper he emphasized the importance of maintaining a modern Air Force as a deterrent against any potential enemy. "Deterrence is a function of capability, will and credibility and, thus, exists in the eye of the beholder," he said. The Air Force must be able to see and destroy any potential target anywhere in the world.

According to Moseley, the hub of innovation in science and engineering has shifted from the United States and Europe to Asia. "We cannot assume that the next military revolution will originate in the West," he said.

Moseley also listed a number of technologies where potential enemies could make breakthroughs: cybernetics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, electromagnetic spectrum physics, robotics and advanced propulsion. Threats to Air Force dominance include: Generation 4-plus aircraft; sophisticated air defense systems; ballistic missiles armed with conventional warheads or weapons of mass destruction; commercially available satellite imagery, and cyberspace attacks.

The Air Force strategy paper highlighted the threat to surveillance, communications and navigation satellite constellations posed by China's destruction of an orbiting satellite by a missile early last year. Moseley said the Air Force must develop "high-altitude, high-speed, air-breathing" surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, as backups to newly vulnerable satellites.

Although Moseley did not specifically reference any Air Force weapons or aircraft programs, he said the Air Force's inventory of aircraft was the oldest in history, "battered by 17 years of continuous combat." That figure included the decade that Air Force jets spent patrolling Iraq's no-fly zones.

Moseley highlighted the future capabilities the Air Force requires, including advanced unmanned aircraft; directed energy weapons; a new combat search-and-rescue aircraft; standoff weapons; and notably, penetrating manned aircraft, a bomber able to penetrate next generation enemy air defenses. There had been speculation that future Air Force bombers would be unmanned.

The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review called for the Air Force to build a long-range stealth bomber by 2018, in addition to the service's plans to field a new bomber by 2035. At an October 2007 Government Executive event, Moseley said the 2018 bomber was a top priority. But the Air Force's fiscal 2009 budget request does not include any money for a new bomber.

COMMENTS

• WOW did I make a mistake reading this thread. Lidstone, you're a moron. There was no respect in your reply and your understanding of Air Power is as limited as your understanding of history. I'd go on, but you know what they say about fighting with a pig (well, you probably don't). J. Faris - the tanker deal was not awarded to France. Plane parts will be bought from a a military consortium and the plane would be built and militarized in the US - craeting jobs. Take a minute and look at Boeing's latest attempt at the contract - oooh, look at all the pretty outsourcing! Wake up schmuckatelli, they aren't concerned with US jobs, they (Boeing) are concerned with their "bottom line" - so they're going for chearper labor OUTSIDE the US. Saint Posted October 6, 2008 8:15 AM
• With all due respect Sir. The U.S. Air Force is clearly broken if it cannot currently support Infantry operations. Given the current situation in theater, long range pipe dreams for wars that do not exist are not only irrelevant, they are essentially insane. The problem is actually quite simply solved. Deliver effective Close Air Support to Infantry troops on the ground within a moments notice. You have failed. Inventing a new war, that does not exist, for lack of a mindset to fight and win a current war does no service to the U.S.A.'s Constitution, let alone its durability. You clowns remind me of Stalin and Hitler and Mao. You have a hole in your marble bag, Sir. Semper Fidelis, De Oppresso Liber & Live Free or Die. lidstone Posted April 29, 2008 5:49 AM
• The major mission of the USAF along with the other branches of our military is to protect our coubtry. That should include protection of our country's economy. The recent award of the next generation refuel tanker program to a country that hates our guts (France) at a loss of 100,000 U.S. jobs doesn't cut it. In fact, any one in our government or military who had anything to do with that decision should be deported as unfit to be an American. We need another Ronald Regan to restore the pride of this country. We've become the laughing stock of the world. James C. Faris Posted March 12, 2008 7:56 PM