Talk about odd statements, there is this one made by USMC Gen. James Cartwright July 9 during the Senate testimony in which he made the OSD case for only 187 F-22s: “There is a study in the Joint Staff we just completed and partnered with the Air Force on that, number one, said that proliferating within the United States military fifth-generation fighters to all three services was going to be more significant than having them based solidly in just one service, because of the way we deploy and because of the diversity of our deployment.” That drew this barbed response from a senior defense official: “Does that mean that we should also put ships, tanks, infantry in all the services as well?”
Since President Donald Trump first unveiled his “Golden Dome” missile defense initiative in late January, much of the focus for it has been focused on space—how the Pentagon may deploy dozens, if not hundreds, of sensors and interceptors into orbit to protect the continental U.S. from missile barrages. But the Air…