The Decline and Fall of Airpower

This is the title of my latest transformation article at Opeds.com:

Recent events in the Middle East seem to prove that airpower is still supreme, at least for the near future. Yet the aerial decapitation of Iraq’s most wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was not conducted by America’s stealth fighters, which many billions have been spent on in recent decades, but a 25-year-old F-16. The nimble and inexpensive F-16 has been on the frontlines of all of America’s conflicts since 1980, from the Gulf War, to Kosovo, and today in the Middle East. They will likely continue this unmatched service for many years to come.

Modern air strategists look on America’s fleet of stealth fighters and bombers, like the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as the future of aerial combat. In fact, because of excessive costs in the hundreds of millions for each plane, as well as decade’s long development periods, it is likely this generation is the last of America’s long infatuation with manned combat aircraft.