Current Operations: Changing Equipment to Meet a Changing Threat

摘要

In general, current USAF aircraft and weapons were designed for major combat against a major military force and a coherent government. These systems performed brilliantly against conventional military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq and helped rapidly dismantle the Taliban regime and Saddam Hussein s government. However, having defeated the enemy conventional forces and dismantled coherent national governments, U.S. forces now face a variety of insurgents, terrorists, and criminals that our aircraft and weapons were not designed to defeat. Could different equipment help us do the job better. The enemy air threat has been reduced to MANPADS and small arms. This means that aircraft can operate at slower speeds, lower altitudes, and for a longer time than they could against robust IADs. The enemy is now operating in small, dispersed, hard-to-find elements that tax our ISR assets. The enemy is also trying to prolong the conflict rather than engage in decisive combat and prefers to operate in populated areas where our current weapons may cause excessive collateral damage.