Showing posts with label U.S. MILITARY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label U.S. MILITARY. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

DTN News - OSHKOSH DEFENSE NEWS: Fond Du Lac County Sheriff's Department Receives New Tactical Protector Vehicle From Oshkosh Defense

Asia News Report: DTN News - OSHKOSH DEFENSE NEWS: Fond Du Lac County Sheriff's Department Receives New Tactical Protector Vehicle From Oshkosh Defense
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Oshkosk Defense
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 19, 2011: DTN News acknowledges the undermentioned article from Oshkosh Defense as of to-date as follows;

FOND DU LAC and OSHKOSH, Wis.  — Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, located in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, will be the nation’s first law enforcement agency to receive the state-of-the-art Tactical Protector Vehicle (TPV) from Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) and leading provider of vehicles to the U.S. Military. The Oshkosh TPV will expand Fond du Lac County’s law enforcement capabilities and provide greater protection to officers during high-risk situations.

According to Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Mylan Fink, the area has seen a significant increase in the number of situations requiring involvement of the department’s tactical team – from delivering high-risk warrants, to call-outs involving armed suspects. “Our officers are managing high risk situations that continue to grow in severity and numbers,” Sheriff Fink said. “They are putting their lives on the line as they enforce the laws and protect our community, and keeping them safe is something we take very seriously. The addition of the new Oshkosh TPV to our vehicle fleet will expand our tactical capabilities and provide greater protection for our officers in these high-risk situations.”

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office is scheduled to receive its new Oshkosh TPV in Spring 2012. The vehicle provides officers with protection through an advanced armor system that utilizes ballistic steel and glass to enclose the entire crew compartment. The Oshkosh TPV offers a level of mobility and maneuverability unmatched by other protected vehicles in this class to meet challenging situations in congested urban settings as well as off-road rural environments. The highly customizable vehicle will be configured, both inside and out, with options selected by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office to meet a wide range of tactical mission requirements.

“The Oshkosh TPV is designed for the high-risk demands confronted by tactical law enforcement officers on a daily basis,” said Ken Juergens, vice president and general manager of Joint Programs for Oshkosh Defense. “We are pleased to provide Fond du Lac County officers with the TPV, which was engineered using state-of-the-art techniques and specialized materials, to meet the needs of law enforcement.”

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office’s TPV will accommodate nine officers and include electrically deployed drop-down skid plates for additional officer protection. The vehicle uses a 6.8-liter, 362-horsepower V-10 gasoline engine, can reach speeds of up to 75 mph, and has selectable four-wheel drive and run-flat tires.

Oshkosh is the leading provider of severe-duty, highly specialized vehicles for military, homeland security and government agencies around the world. The Oshkosh TPV is available through Oshkosh dealers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For dealer locations, visit www.oshkosh-tacticalprotector.com/findadealer.html. Bumper-to-bumper vehicle service is available through more than 61 service centers nationwide with extensive Oshkosh vehicle experience.

The Oshkosh TPV is being provided to the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office through FAE in Appleton, Wis.

About Oshkosh Defense
Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corporation, is an industry-leading global designer and manufacturer of tactical military trucks and armored wheeled vehicles, delivering a full product line of conventional and hybrid vehicles, advanced armor options, proprietary suspensions and vehicles with payloads that can exceed 70 tons. Oshkosh Defense provides a global service and supply network including full life-cycle support and remanufacturing, and its vehicles are recognized the world over for superior performance, reliability and protection. For more information, visit www.oshkoshdefense.com.

About Oshkosh Corporation
Oshkosh Corporation is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialty access equipment, commercial, fire & emergency and military vehicles and vehicle bodies. Oshkosh Corporation manufactures, distributes and services products under the brands of Oshkosh®, JLG®, Pierce®, McNeilus®, Medtec®, Jerr-Dan®, Oshkosh Specialty Vehicles, Frontline™, SMIT™, CON-E-CO®, London® and IMT®. Oshkosh products are valued worldwide in businesses where high quality, superior performance, rugged reliability and long-term value are paramount. For more information, visit www.oshkoshcorporation.com.

®, TM All brand names referred to in this news release are trademarks of Oshkosh Corporation or its subsidiary companies.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that the Company believes to be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s future financial position, business strategy, targets, projected sales, costs, earnings, capital expenditures, debt levels and cash flows, and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “project” or “plan” or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond the Company’s control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include the expected level and timing of DoD’s procurement of products and services and funding thereof, including the impact of the DoD’s allocation of certain tires which will restrict and delay certain FHTV sales; risks related to reductions in government expenditures in light of U.S. defense budget pressures and an uncertain DoD tactical wheeled vehicle strategy; the cyclical nature of the Company’s access equipment, commercial and fire & emergency markets, especially during periods of global economic uncertainty, lower municipal spending and tight credit markets; the Company’s ability to produce vehicles under the FMTV contract at targeted margins; the duration of the ongoing global economic weakness, which could lead to additional impairment charges related to many of the Company’s intangible assets and/or a slower recovery in the Company’s cyclical businesses than equity market expectations; the potential for the U.S. government to competitively bid the Company’s Army and Marine Corps contracts; the consequences of financial leverage, which could limit the Company’s ability to pursue various opportunities; increasing commodity and other raw material costs, particularly in a sustained economic recovery; the ability to pass on to customers price increases to offset higher input costs; risks related to costs and charges as a result of facilities consolidation and alignment, including that anticipated cost savings may not be achieved; risks related to the collectability of receivables, particularly for those businesses with exposure to construction markets; the cost of any warranty campaigns related to the Company’s products; risks related to production delays arising from supplier quality or production issues; risks associated with international operations and sales, including foreign currency fluctuations and compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act; the potential for increased costs relating to compliance with changes in laws and regulations; risks related to disruptions in the Company’s distribution networks; and the Company’s ability to successfully execute on its strategic road map and meet its long-term financial goals. Additional information concerning these and other factors is contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update information contained in this press release. Investors should be aware that the Company may not update such information until the Company’s next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Oshkosh Defense
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Thursday, December 15, 2011

DTN News - IRAQ WAR NEWS: U.S. Military Marks End To Nearly Nine Bloody Years In Iraq

Asia News Report: DTN News - IRAQ WAR NEWS: U.S. Military Marks End To Nearly Nine Bloody Years In Iraq
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 15, 2011: U.S. forces formally ended their nine-year war in Iraq on Thursday with a low key flag ceremony in Baghdad, while to the north flickering violence highlighted ethnic and sectarian strains threatening the country in years ahead
"After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at the ceremony at Baghdad's still heavily-fortified airport.
Almost 4,500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in the war that began with a "Shock and Awe" campaign of missiles pounding Baghdad and descended into sectarian strife and a surge in U.S. troop numbers.
U.S. soldiers lowered the flag of American forces in Iraq and slipped it into a camouflage-colored sleeve in a brief outdoor ceremony, symbolically ending the most unpopular U.S. military venture since the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 70s.
The remaining 4,000 American troops will leave by the end of the year.
Toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is dead, executed in 2006 and the worst sectarian violence has, at least for now, passed. But Iraq still struggles with insurgents, a fragile power-sharing government and an oil-reliant economy plagued by power shortages and corruption.
"Iraq will be tested in the days ahead, by terrorism, by those who would seek to divide, by economic and social issues," Panetta told the rows of assembled U.S. soldiers and embassy officials at the ceremony. "Challenges remain, but the United State s will be there to stand by the Iraqi people."
In Falluja, the former heartland of an al Qaeda insurgency and scene of some of the worst fighting in the war, several thousand Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal on Wednesday, some burning U.S. flags and waving pictures of dead relatives.
Around 2,500 mainly Shi'ite Muslim residents of the northern territory of Diyala protested on Thursday in front of the provincial council building for a second day against a move to declare autonomy from the mainly Sunni Salahuddin province.
Police used batons and water cannon to disperse demonstrators who tried to storm the council headquarters, witnesses said. Some protesters climbed to the roof of the building and raised green and black Shi'ite flags.
Some parts of Diyala are disputed territories between the minority Kurds in the north and Arab Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad. The long-standing dispute over land, oil and power is considered a potential flashpoint for future conflict in Iraq after American troops depart.
Iraq's neighbors will watch how Baghdad tackles its sectarian and ethnic division without the U.S. military. Events there could be influenced by conflict in neighbouring Syria that has taken on a sectarian hue in recent weeks.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who made an election promise to bring troops home, told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that Washington will remain a loyal partner after the last troops roll across the Kuwaiti border.
"WE NEED TO BE SAFE"
Iraq's Shi'ite leadership presents the withdrawal as a new start for the country's sovereignty, but many Iraqis question which direction the nation will take without U.S. troops.
"I am happy they are leaving. This is my country and they should leave," said Samer Saad, a soccer coach. "But I am worried because we need to be safe. We are worried because all the militias will start to come back."
Some like Saad fear more sectarian strife or an al Qaeda return to the cities. A squabble between Kurds in their northern semi-autonomous enclave and the Iraqi Arab central government over disputed territories and oil is another flashpoint.
Violence has ebbed since the bloodier days of sectarian slaughter when suicide bombers and hit squads claimed hundreds of victims a day at times as the country descended into tit-for-tat killings between the Sunni and Shi'ite communities.
In 2006 alone, 17,800 Iraqi military and civilians were killed in violence.
Iraqi security forces are generally seen as capable of containing the remaining Sunni Islamist insurgency and the rival Shi'ite militias that U.S. officials say are backed by Iran.
But attacks now target local government offices and security forces in an attempt show the authorities are not in control.
Saddam's fall opened the way for the Shi'ite majority community to take positions of power after decades of oppression under his Sunni-run Baath party.
Even the power-sharing in Maliki's Shi'ite-led government is hamstrung, with coalition parties split along sectarian lines, squabbling over laws and government posts.
Sunnis fear they will be marginalized or even face creeping Shi'ite-led authoritarian rule under Maliki. A recent crackdown on former members of the Baath party has fueled those fears.
Iraq's Shi'ite leadership frets the crisis in neighbouring Syria could eventually bring a hardline Sunni leadership to power in Damascus, worsening Iraq's own sectarian tensions.
"WAS IT WORTH IT?"
U.S. troops were supposed to stay on as part of a deal to train the Iraqi armed forces but talks over immunity from prosecution for American soldiers fell apart.
Memories of U.S. abuses, arrests and killings still haunt many Iraqis and the question of legal protection from prosecution looked too sensitive to push through parliament.
At the height of the war, 170,000 American soldiers occupied more than 500 bases across the country.
Only around 150 U.S. soldiers will remain after December 31 attached to the huge U.S. Embassy near the Tigris River. Civilian contractors will take on the task of training Iraqi forces on U.S. military hardware.
Every day trucks with troops trundle in convoys across the Kuwaiti border.
"Was it worth it? I am sure it was. When we first came in here, the Iraqi people seemed like they were happy to see us," said Sgt 1st Class Lon Bennish, packing up recently at a U.S. base and finishing the last of three deployments in Iraq.
"I hope we are leaving behind a country that says 'Hey, we are better off now than we were before.'"
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Sunday, November 13, 2011

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. To Build Up Military Base In Darwin To Counter Growing Chinese Influence

Asia News Report: DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: U.S. To Build Up Military Base In Darwin To Counter Growing Chinese Influence
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada, November 13, 2011: President Barack Obama will announce an accord for a new and permanent U.S. military presence in Australia when he visits next week, a step aimed at countering China's influence and reasserting U.S. interest in the region, said people
familiar with his plans.

The agreement will lead to an increase in U.S. naval operations off the coast of Australia and give American troops and ships "permanent and constant" access to Australian facilities, the people said. While no new American bases will be built under the plan, the arrangement will allow U.S. forces to place equipment in Australia and set up more joint exercises, they said.

The move could help the U.S. military, now concentrated in Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia, to spread its influence west and south across the region, including the strategically and economically important South China Sea, which China considers as its sovereign territory.

It was unclear how much the new presence would cost the Pentagon, which is facing years and hundreds of billion dollars in spending cuts.

But the expanded military presence is designed as a demonstration of U.S. commitment to the region, part of an effort to refocus on Asia as the U.S. withdraws from Iraq and draws its forces down in Afghanistan, officials in both countries said.

"It will demonstrate U.S. resolve, not just for Australia, but in the region," Maj. Gen. Tim McOwan, the Australian defense attaché in Washington, said in an interview this week.

At a daily press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Chinese officials "hope relevant countries' bilateral cooperation will be conducive to the Asia-Pacific region's security, peace and stability."

The strategy comes weeks after China sent its first its first aircraft carrier to sea, a defining moment in its effort to become a top-tier naval power that seeks to challenge U.S. military supremacy in Asia and protect Chinese economic interests that now span the globe.

Several Asian nations, fearful of the threat China poses, also are beefing up their arsenals, fearing that the U.S. security umbrella is being eroded by China's enhanced capabilities and possible U.S. defense cuts.

One base slated for the stepped-up American presence is in Darwin, on the country's north coast. Other locations are possible, including one near Perth, on the west coast, one person said.

"Strategically, we want to be able to reassure the rest of Asia that the American presence is still strong in the 21st century as China develops its force," said Ernie Bower, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

Officials declined to detail how many new troops or sailors would be part of the U.S. effort, or how many ships would be stationed in the area, ahead of Mr. Obama's announcement next week. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, while traveling throughout the region last month, vowed an expansion in U.S. influence, but also declined to specify costs or force sizes.

An administration official said the stepped-up presence will be phased in over several years under the agreement. The deal isn't yet final and details could change.

On his trip, Mr. Obama will mark the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Australian alliance with a speech to Parliament and a visit to a military base in Darwin, where he and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard will jointly address Australian troops.

Neither leader is expected to characterize the move as directly confronting the Chinese. But U.S. officials said one of the goals of Mr. Obama's Asia trip is to clarify free access to the South China Sea.

Mr. Panetta, after a meeting with the Australians in September, said that enhanced military cooperation would counter "threats and challenges" to come. "Security and prosperity of our two great nations depends on the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

The full range of U.S. naval ships is expected to rotate through the joint facilities, stopping for exercises as well as repairs and other shore work. Naval aircraft also will have access to a base in Darwin.

The increased U.S. presence will be a rotating force, one person said. In September, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the enhance cooperation would be "more ships in, ships out; more planes in, planes out; more troops in, troops out."

Gen. McOwan, the defense attaché, said the increase in U.S. naval operations will send a message to the Chinese that the U.S. is committed to defending the security of regional sea and air trade routes. The stepped-up American presence will reassure Australia and well as other countries in the region that the U.S. is engaged at a time when Chinese intentions are uncertain, he said.

Still, Gen. McOwan added that the American commitments Mr. Obama plans to announce are "not going to frighten the Chinese."

"It's more symbolic than real," he said.

—Julian E. Barnes,
Brian Spegele



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DTN News - MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT: Philippine Troops Seize Rebel Camp In Fierce Attack

Asia News Report: DTN News - MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT: Philippine Troops Seize Rebel Camp In Fierce Attack
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - November 11, 2011: Philippine troops Thursday scoured the grisly remains of a heavily fortified encampment that they seized in search of a breakaway group of rebels.

“Blood is everywhere,” said Lt. Gen. Raymundo B. Ferrer in a text message from the encampment. “The safe haven of kidnapping operations and terrorist activities in Zamboanga Sibugay has fallen.”

The seizure of the camp on the western coast of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was the culmination of a three-day police and military operation against what officials say is a breakaway group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a long-established Muslim separatist organization in the southern Philippines.

The attack, by all accounts, was fierce. The Philippine Air Force launched airstrikes against the encampment, which was defended by land mines and two .50-caliber machine guns. Two soldiers and at least 15 rebels were killed in the operation, which resulted in the evacuation of more than 19,000 civilians, government officials said.

“We could see the planes dropping bombs,” said Imelda Laquio, a resident of nearby Olutanga Island. “The bombs were shaking our house. My children were terrified. We have never had an experience like that before.”

Ms. Laquio, who was contacted at a relative’s house away from the fighting, said she fled the area with her husband and two young daughters because of rumors that the rebels might hide on the island.

“There was no military protection for us if the rebels came,” she said. “There was only the local police.”

The attack on the rebels came after clashes on Oct. 18 that left 19 special forces soldiers dead, and an ambush on Oct. 20 in which 4 police officers and 4 soldiers were killed. Though both incidents were linked to Muslim rebels, a military spokesman denied that the recent military assault and airstrikes were in retaliation.

“The police on Oct. 15 attempted to execute an arrest warrant in that area, and they were met with gunfire,” Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, a military spokesman, said by telephone. “The police sought the assistance of the military.”

Many media commentators and opposition politicians have questioned the motivation behind the raid, which came at a sensitive time for the government. An uneasy cease-fire has been in place since 2003 between the government and the rebels. President Benigno S. Aquino III has met with senior leaders of the organization in an attempt to broker a long-term peace deal that would grant a degree of autonomy to Muslim areas in the south of the Philippines, a predominantly Roman Catholic country.

The Muslim rebels have said its forces were not behind the two attacks that led to the military raid, and the Philippine military has been careful to state that the group it assaulted was a breakaway faction not under the control of the organization’s central leadership.

“We have crafted a deliberate and calibrated response,” said Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr., the chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces, at a news briefing in Manila during the fighting.

Mr. Aquino is walking a fine line between appeasing a restive military that lost 23 personnel in those two attacks — including highly trained, elite fighters — and pursuing his stated goal of achieving a lasting peace in Mindanao.

“We will not pursue all-out war,” he said shortly after operations began. “We will pursue all-out justice.”

The rebel attacks and military raid took place as the Philippines held joint military training exercises with the United States. Since Oct. 17, about 2,000 U.S. marines have been conducting mock beach assaults with the Philippine military on the northern island of Luzon.

U.S. troops were far from the fighting in the south, and when asked whether there was any involvement by the U.S. military in the operations in Mindanao, Colonel Cabangbang said there was not.

Although he acknowledged that U.S. military advisers were operating in Mindanao, he said there was no need to involve them in the operation. “This was a law enforcement action,” he said. “And besides, they don’t know the area where the operation was conducted.”

Colonel Cabangbang said the Philippine military assault on the rebel encampment took place near the small town of Payao. The only access point to attack was a slim peninsula fortified with land mines and .50-caliber gun placements. The airstrikes were used to clear the entrance in order for land forces to launch an assault, he said.

He noted that most of the more than 100 rebels in the area probably escaped via small rivers that run through mangroves. Their leader, the renegade commander Waning Abdusalam, who was a principal target of the operation, also escaped. Mr. Abdusalam, the military spokesman said, has been implicated in the 2007 kidnapping of an Italian missionary, the Rev. Giancarlo Bossi, as well as other crimes. Father Bossi was later released.


Related News;


*Rebels Reject Plan for Filipino Muslims

Islamic rebels said Tuesday that the Philippine government’s proposal “does not address the real issues” that have fueled the separatist rebellion in the country’s south over the past 40 years.

August 24, 2011
MORE ON THE MORO ISLAMIC LIBERATION FRONT AND: MUSLIMS AND ISLAM, PHILIPPINES, AL QAEDA
    *Filipino Rebels Agree to Stop Using Child Soldiers

    MANILA -- In what they called a breakthrough in the campaign to remove children from combat in the Philippines, U.N. officials said Friday that Communist rebels had agreed to ensure that there are no minors in their ranks. At a news briefing, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, announced that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines had agreed in principle to cooperate with the United Nations to identify and remove any child combatants ...

    April 9, 2011
    *Philippine Leader to Revive Talks With Separatists

    A law professor known for supporting the land rights of Filipino Muslims will be the government’s chief negotiator with Islamic separatists.

    July 16, 2010


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    Friday, October 28, 2011

    DTN News - U.S. AIR FORCE NEWS: Air Power - Lessons From Libya

    Asia News Report: DTN News - U.S. AIR FORCE NEWS: Air Power - Lessons From Libya
    *With resources thinning and China rising, the U.S. Air Force is all the more vital—yet it's due for major budget cuts.
    WSJ By Michael Auslin
    (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - October 28, 2011: Moammar Gadhafi was killed last week by Libyan rebel forces on the ground, but his regime would never have met its end if not for the Western air power that targeted his troops from the skies. As Washington considers slashing $500 billion from the defense budget over the next decade, the lessons of Libya should give pause to anyone whose plans will reduce the U.S. military's ability to control the air. The United States cannot fight in the future with a hollow Air Force.

    Allied air power saved the Libyan revolt from being crushed at least once, if not twice, this past summer. Nearly 8,000 allied strike sorties kept Gadhafi's forces on the defensive, destroyed their command-and-control network, and eliminated much of their supply infrastructure. Much of the direct air-combat activity was borne by the British and French but, as then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates noted, without U.S. air-refueling tankers, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets, the NATO missions would have been severely hampered and largely ineffective.

    Considering the broad range of U.S. interests and commitments around the globe, the capabilities offered by the U.S. Air Force will remain essential national assets. As Mr. Gates argued shortly before leaving office, in the post-Iraq/Afghanistan future, the U.S. is more likely than not to be unable or unwilling to commit large numbers of ground forces to overseas campaigns.

    If the Army loses up to 10 brigade combat teams and shrinks by as many as 75,000 troops, and with the Navy at its smallest size since World War I, there will be fewer traditional military options for projecting U.S. power and deterring or defeating adversaries. Any land and naval forces sent into harm's way will be smaller, with fewer reserves to call upon. And all of this will be happening while China develops missiles to target American aircraft carriers and modernizes and expands its air forces, including developing a fifth-generation fighter-bomber. The result will almost certainly be an increased burden on the U.S. Air Force.

    Fighting from the air reduces U.S. casualties on the ground. Air power can significantly destroy an adversary's strength, making follow-on operations far easier. The Air Force's unique global airlift and air-support capabilities, and long-range targeting and precision bombing, provide the umbrella under which ground forces and naval forces can act with impunity and assured lethality.

    Yet the Air Force is rapidly aging, with 30-year-old fighters and half its bomber force dating back to the 1960s. And the Air Force already receives the lowest percentage of defense resources (around 23%) of any major service.

    To shoulder the burden of increased responsibilities, the Air Force will need the resources to improve its capacity to act globally. But funds for procurement, maintenance and operations are already projected in the 2012 budget to decline by over $2 billion, and some inside the Pentagon expect annual cuts of $10 billion or more in a few years, even before any sequestration-imposed cuts.

    Even as funds shrink, the Air Force must continue all its air operations, modernize its tactical fighter and tanker fleets, build a new long-range strike bomber, maintain its global airlift tempo, and increase its capabilities in space and cyberspace. If the U.S. intends to remain the world's premier power-projecting nation, then we will have to adequately fund the aerospace force that allows us to reach anywhere on Earth at any time.

    Air warfare will not be the answer for every battle we enter, but it may become our most visible means of force projection in an era of smaller Army and Navy units. From the high plateau of national security decision-making, a future president and his top commanders will expect readiness, not excuses, when they order the Armed Forces to destroy the enemy.

    Being able to operate in both open and contested skies will ensure that any U.S. land and sea forces we send into combat will remain completely protected from the air, as they have been since the Korean War and as Libya's freedom fighters were this summer.

    Mr. Auslin is a resident scholar in Asian and security studies at the American Enterprise Institute.


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