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?”
The Air Force could conduct an operation like Israel's successful air campaign against Iran's nuclear sites, military leadership and air defenses, but readiness issues would make it risky, airpower experts said. Limited spare parts and training, low mission capable rates and few flying hours would put a drag on USAF's…