Originally Posted by
just another jocky
Does anyone have an idea what the critical mass would be for any particular ac type? By that I mean the minimum number of sqns to be able to sustain the training, the staff posts, the engineering, the detachments etc etc.
The numbers quoted are scarily low.
You missed out the one vital requirement - operational sorties.
How many aircraft do you need to launch 'a' 4-ship 24 hrs per day?
A key requirement is aircraft or weapons system/target matching. When we had a small sector in Germany and a known number of targets then the effort could be calculated.
Now it looks like we have to calculate what we can target with the aircraft we have.
Anyone remember the joke going the rounds may be 20 or more years ago? The USA would have one FJ. The USAF would operate it 3 days per week and the USN the other 3 days. The USMC would get it one day a month.