The Bush Administration plan to expand US ground forces by 92,000 soldiers and marines will be too late to ease operational stresses caused by the war in Iraq, and “given world realities … looks like a marginal if not poor investment,” writes Editor in Chief Robert Dudney in Air Force Magazine. Dudney believes there will be “a pernicious indirect effect” of this ground force buildup—“cannibalism” of the Air Force and Navy as bill-payers. The planned growth in ground forces has spurred Air Force leaders to reconsider the plan to cut 40,000 airmen, however Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley told House lawmakers that the service doesn’t have enough money to sustain it current personnel and stay relevant with equipment.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…