Discussions of air superiority in both military and civilian circles too often concentrate of fighter technology. There are reasons for this: Jet fighters are really cool, as are the men who fly them. Mark Bowden allowed this coolness to overtake any good sense in evaluating the F-22, to disastrous effect. However, air superiority is determined by much more than the quality of fighter aircraft. David Axe provides a useful corrective to aircraft centric discussions:
Consider all the aspects of air superiority you rarely hear about in public debate:
* Maintenance of airplanes, weapons, airfields and ground equipment
* Training of pilots, ground staff and air controllers
* Command and control, whether airborne or ground-based
* Weapons, including guns and ammo and air-to-air missiles
* Electronic warfare for passive reconnaissance and jamming enemy systems
* Aerial refueling for extending the range of fighters and support planesWithout all these things, an F-22 is just a $140-million lawn ornament.
These factors affect the debate in two ways. First, dire warnings of the superiority of the Sukhoi-of-the-Week over the F-15 ignore all of the above. Further, the United States Air Force (and Navy) currently excel in all of the above, such that the United States starts with a tremendous advantage over any conceivable competitor before we even start talking about fighter capabilities. Second, to the extent that concentrating on the F-22 or the F-35 reduces US effectiveness in the above areas, it’s wasted money and wasted effort; while it’s hard to assess exact determinants of air effectiveness, I know that I’d much rather have the best pilots than the best aircraft.
Along those lines, I’ll confess that I don’t share Spencer’s enthusiasm for this argument:
A super-maneuverable new air-to-air dogfighter with all–passive electronics, far smaller with far higher maneuvering performance than the best of the F-16s and thus able to outfight the F-22 or any other advanced fighter in the world. (Emitting no radio/radar signals whatsoever, this new fighter will obsolete the F-22’s electronics, defeat any enemy fighter’s passive warning/identification-friend-or-foe system, and render useless the enemy’s radar-homing missiles which rely on seeking our fighter radars.)
Indeed. It would be awesome if, instead of building the F-22, we started from scratch and built a fighter that was radically cheaper and radically more capable. I’m certain that there would be no technical issues whatsoever. What I don’t understand is why no one ever thought of that idea before…
–Robert Farley
