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The Air Littoral and why small UAS may be the next AF pilot career
Great article from War on the Rocks discussing the Air Littoral and why the USAF cannot guarantee Air Superiority in future wars.
For decades, the Army need not worry about threats from above and have been able to enjoy the freedom to maneuver across a battlefield because the Air Force has their back. However, Ukraine and Syria have shown that advanced multi-million dollar 4th and 5th Gen fighters can do little against multi-hundred dollar quad copters with grenades duck-taped on the side (or even worse, long-range Artificial Intelligence driven SUAS with serious weapons e.g. shaped charges, chemical weapons, cluster munitions etc.). In the next peer fights, we aren’t talking about onsie-twosie SUAS, we are talking thousands. This article argues the AF is behind in this fight, and the authors are not wrong. The AF needs to not only counter this capability, but develop its own SUAS corps to return in kind.
But what should this look like? Who should fly it? Maybe the Army is best suited for this fight, or perhaps the dwindling AF Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) would be a logical fit. I’d argue that AF pilots would be best suited to integrate the total air picture while controlling multi-type SUAS. I am curious your thoughts!
warontherocks.com
Drones, the Air Littoral, and the Looming Irrelevance of the U.S. Air Force - War on the Rocks
Today, the U.S. Air Force faces an almost-existential crisis. During the past several years, the service has been battered by the loss of its prestigious
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