Posted by
Bull 67 on Monday, March 31, 2008 12:05:33 AM
The following are the author's personal views only .
Air Force doctrine defines aerial refueling as a key war fighting function, yet the Senate is directing some aerial refueling missions be given to civilian contractors. (Senate wants to test commercial tankers; Air Force Times, 9 Oct 2007). Why are we entertaining the idea of civilianizing a core operational mission?
Outsourcing is now deeply ingrained into military culture. Civilians guard most our bases, maintain many of our aircraft and even fly. So what’s the harm in outsourcing the tanker mission?
There may be good reasons to do this, such as cost. However, this may have many negative unintended consequences. As ‘passing gas’ becomes lucrative foreign companies may bid for contracts. Retention may suffer as tanker companies offer high paying jobs to military personnel. It’s possible civilian tankers may eventually fly combat support missions. What signal will this send military tanker crews who’ve been told for years they are warriors and what they do is special? Finally, it begs the question: If aerial refueling can be contracted thenwhat mission can’t be outsourced?
Airman will still perform combat operations like close air support, right? To the contrary, if armed mercenaries perform Army missions in Baghdad why can’t they provide airpower missions from Balad? We’ve opened Pandora’s Box.
Even if combat operations remain safely in the hands of Airman we could still outsource ourselves out of existence. If these trends continue the Air Force may emerge as a service of a few thousand ‘operators’ supported by legions of civilians. Will it then be cost effective to maintain an entirely separate service? If this sounds farfetched take a hard look at current trends.
With 40,000 fewer by 2009, Airmen are becoming a rare breed. Second, our bomber, airlift and refueling fleets are not only rapidly aging, but shrinking as well. As they face an uncertain future our new combat aircraft, like the F-22 and CV-22, will be very few in number. Another important trend is we are becoming less unique. The other services have robust aviation components and fly many of the same aircraft we do, like the F-35. Finally, as the political battles over the Joint Cargo Aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicle programs drag on, it’s not even assumed the Air Force will control future core military aviation capabilities. To summarize, there are fewer of us every year; our fleet is getting smaller, older and less unique; and our place as America’s airpower leader is being questioned.
Why, then, are we still special enough to deserve our own service? 60 years ago our founders envisioned a strategic force able to fly global distances, strike the enemy, move tons of troops and supplies, and return home without ever touching the ground. Our strategic tankers make this vision reality. They make us unique. Without them there is no Global Reach/Global Power. Even considering outsourcing them is a wake-up call to the state of our present crisis.