USAF Change of Command

[Archimedes]

The Secretary of the Air Force and the USAF Chief of Staff have been required to resign:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/05/pentagon.firings/index.html

Apologies for the lack of any analysis in this post, but thought it might be of vague interest...

[Two's in]

but thought it might be of vague interest...

Archimedes,

What should be of interest is that the Military and Civilian Head of the Service were fired because they were ultimately responsible for some God awful decisions made further down the chain. I think it's called "accountability" but obviously no-one in the UK Government has cocked up enough recently to warrant this kind of action...unless anyone knows differently of course.

[NP20]

Another widely touted possibility in the US Media as the to the sackings/resignations is Gates' frustration at the Air Forces' unwillingness/inability to 'step up to the plate' and play a bigger roles in the GWOT (should have been Total War Against Terror, but thats another story). He has been particularly outspoken about the inability to deploy enough UAVs to theatre, see

http://www.defenselink.mil/News/newsarticle.aspx?id=49639

To quote from the above article:

Getting more ISR support to deployed forces “may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not,” Gates said.

“For those missions that still require manned missions, we need to think hard about whether we have the right platforms,” he said. Particularly in environments where the United States and its partners have total control of the skies, “low-cost, low-tech alternatives” may provide the basic reconnaissance and close-air support needed, he said.

[brickhistory]

Yep, Gates is plenty pissed about not getting more UAV orbits in theater now.

Getting more ISR support to deployed forces “may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not,” Gates said.

Never mind that the USAF advised him that they can do it, but at the cost of sending every MQ used for training, every IP, every sensor operator, and thus shutting down the training pipeline for several months (or more) for each month of operations in that mode.

Gates wants results now, during this Administration. Fixing any training mess will be the next one's problem.

Go ahead, let the Army fly 'em like they do their very tactical drones. Watch the take-off/landing accident and mid-air rates skyrocket.

What should be of interest is that the Military and Civilian Head of the Service were fired because they were ultimately responsible for some God awful decisions made further down the chain.

Yep, the totally unacceptable buffoonery of the ALCM scenic flight, then Minot failing their nuke surety inspection again, the fuses and warhead shapes sent to Taiwan instead of helicopter parts, the UAV situation, all played their parts in the firings.

Of course, the soon to go CSAF being named in an IG report as being involved (not in a good way) in a sole source $50M contract for audio-video support for the Thunderbirds given to a buddy and several recently retired 4-stars isn't helping either.

While I disagree strongly with Gates over the USAF 'not doing enough for GWOT' and the UAV issue, he did need to take some scalps.

I expect more to taken. Including the first ever court-martial of a USAF flag officer.

[TheInquisitor]

Getting more ISR support to deployed forces “may require rethinking long-standing service assumptions and priorities about which missions require certified pilots and which do not,” Gates said.

“For those missions that still require manned missions, we need to think hard about whether we have the right platforms,” he said. Particularly in environments where the United States and its partners have total control of the skies, “low-cost, low-tech alternatives” may provide the basic reconnaissance and close-air support needed, he said.

...and here is where Gates (and many, many others) miss the point entirely - the MQ1 / MQ9 are NOT 'Unmanned' - they are 'Remotely Piloted', and there is a big difference. Remotely Piloted, as the name suggests, still requires a qualified pilot, as both these platforms, with their capabilities, most certainly do, and not just for Launch / Recovery either.

[passiveobserver]

BH, you forgot to mention the ADM's report that states that the USAF N enterprise has been slowly sytemically f'ed up over the last 10 years and the view that nothing has been done since the infamous Minot to Barksdale flight which ultimately led to airman playing games on their mobiles whilst guarding 'stuff'...other than that spot on!

Definitely more heads to roll - a FO court martial would make interesting watching!

[L J R]

Hey Brick-History, You appear remarkably informed on your UAV bit and the SECDEF....

[brickhistory]

Hey Brick-History, You appear remarkably informed on your UAV bit and the SECDEF....

I believe that will a first for me ever being accused of being 'well informed' much less 'remarkably' so.

Publicly available press reporting material; recently retired USAF line doggie trapped in the Pentagon for the last few years, conversations over beers, etc, etc.

Re the lack of standards in the nuclear side of the house - besides the ALCM's US tour flight, Minot just fubar'ed, their nuke certification inspection through absolute stupidity.

But at least the folks there know what they'll be doing for their summer.......

[US Herk]

Nominated replacement is probably first-ever non fighter-bomber guy - Pure C-130 guy with lots of SOF stink on him. Norty Schwartz will be an outstanding CSAF if his nomination is successful.

[GreenKnight121]

Not the first, the second.

Gates has named General Norton Schwartz as the new Chief of Staff. Schwartz is outgoing head of US Transportation Command and a long-time Special Operations Hercules pilot. He'll be the first non-fighter pilot as CoS since Lew Allen (1978-1982).* Schwartz's relief at USTRANSCOM was supposed to be GEN William Fraser III, a bomber guy. But now Fraser is being moved over to the Vice Chief of Staff position instead, with the current Vice Chief moving over (or down) to fill in at USTRANSCOM. That's a pretty clear indication that Gates wants to break the grip of the fighter mafia on the senior Air Force leadership positions.


* Allen was a technogeek extrordinare, working in nuclear weapons, space systems, and intelligence programs that were way outside the main Air Force mission of the era. Before Allen, the CoS job had been dominated by bomber pilots all the way back to LeMay. After Allen, it's 100% fighter jocks.

[FFP]

Not surprising that the biggest reception to Gates and his decision came from Scott AFB......;)

[herkman]

I am sure that "Norty" will grab hold of the Mafia segment of the USAF officer corp, and bring some real values to the USAF, which may impact elsewhere.

The USAF C130 fleet is in bad shape and like the K models are well past their use by date.

Perhaps we may see more uplift capacity, dare I say more C17's which could result in the line being extended, which my resolve the uplift capacity problem of both the RAF and RAAF.

I think he is a level head person, and from my friends hear that he is an excellent pilot and far more importantly a good leader.

Good to see that Gates had the balls to pull the offenders up and send them on their way.

Nothing but good for us all will come from this.

Regards

Col

[US Herk]

Lew Allen was a bomber pilot.

When I wrote "fighter-bomber" I should've written "fighter/bomber" - Allen was the last of the Curtis LeMay types in the top spot...followed by a long string of fighter pilots.

Saw Schwartz two weekends ago at the Worldwide Combat Talon Reunion in Ft Walton Beach - he was also the key-note speaker for the Memorial that weekend. He is the genuine article & will do well.

[NP20]

Oh dear, another bad press day for the USAF. It would appear that somebody with a bit of 'insider knowledge/uncanny knack for asking the right questions' has a problem with the Air Force. Either that or the leadership has been spectacularly blind to political sensitivities (again).

First Class for Brass on Air Force Jets? - Washington Post Investigations (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/07/the_air_forces_use_of.html)

Are the Pentagon top civilian staff preparing the ground for substantial USAF cuts, to fund more 'boots on the ground' and a less 'platform based' US armed forces iaw QDR06?

That assertion may fall down on the fact that the current executive have only a few months left in office, and also that US defence contractors (see the US Tanker thread) have considerable influence when it comes to spending the Yankee (tax) Dollar. Either way, it don't look good.

though it could all just be a storm in a (china) tea cup...