Americas Defense Meltdown - IT Acquisition Advisory Council

114 • A Traveler’s Perspective on Third and Fourth Generation WarCOL. ARN: Of course not. Any piece of equipment that is too expensive to lose isalso too expensive to use.ME: Would that rule out the new American Joint Strike Fighter?COL. ARN: The JSF is a flying piano.ME: Could you tell me something about your aircraft types?COL. ARN: The helos and the transports are standard, but our attack aircraft issomewhat different from what you will find elsewhere. Its closest cousin would beyour A-10. Ours is prop-driven, but the design philosophy is the same. It is cheap,rugged, built around powerful cannon for strafing, and highly survivable. Its designreflects the most important fact of life in the ground support business, namely thatthe problem is not hitting targets but finding and identifying them. That can only bedone at low altitudes and slow speeds. You are going to take hits. Our attack aircraftare designed to take them. I’ve seen them come back with hundreds of bullet holes,one wing, one prop and no canopy. But the crew was alive.ME: Why don’t you have any fighter aircraft?COL. ARN: Because we don’t want any fighter pilots.ME: Do you have an air refueling capability?COL. ARN: Yes, the transports can convert to refuelers.ME: Lord Dorn told me you don’t do much close air support.COL. ARN: CAS is an emergency procedure. Our Jaeger pilots only perform thismission if the infantry are in real trouble. The infantry only requests CAS in suchemergency situations. They know the importance of having the pilots ranging forwardof them, finding gaps and keeping them open, pulling the infantry and light armorthrough. All know that when CAS is requested, someone has failed.ME: It is obvious that you know a fair amount about U.S. Marine Corps aviation. Howwould you sum up the difference between them and yourself?COL. ARN: Our pilots can look out of their cockpits and not only see but make senseof what is going on below them, on the ground. They decide how to use their aircraft