Pete Geren, the Acting Secretary of the Air Force, has some sobering news: The service’s recapitalizaton problem, he says, will still be around to haunt Air Force leaders 20 years from now. He believes the age of the service’s aircraft inventory is “particularly critical now” because USAF has not been able to recapitalize and modernize in such a long time. However, if the service buys the aircraft and upgrades planned over the next five years, the problem will still exist. In effect, “It will never go away,” Geren maintains. He adds, “There will never be a time” to be “complacent about the need for investment in new technology.”
Control of the skies in Operation Epic Fury is enabling the Pentagon to rely more on satellite- and laser-guided bombs, throttle back on expensive long-range standoff munitions, and move to a new phase of air war, defense officials said on March 4. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen.…