The Thirty-Year Drought

摘要

The Pentagon's new 30-year aircraft investment blueprint delivers to the Air Force this unmistakable message: The pace of USAF modernization will range from slow to extremely slow for many years.rnThe plan calls for a hiatus of at least 10 years in production of new strategic airlifters and long-range bombers. It envisions acquisition of fewer than a dozen tactical transports per year, on average. It calls for buys of F-35 fighters to build slowly and then level off at a rate that won't meet required force levels until 2035.rnThe KC-X tanker will be the only large airplane purchase through 2025. Simple, unmanned aircraft will be increasingly prominent. For half of this decade, USAF's airplane budget will be smaller than the Navy's.