Monday, July 02, 2007

Preparing for New Wars


This report from Strategypage reveals the amazing new fighting power of our Armed Forces, thanks to the advent of precision weapons:


The smart bombs have eliminated speed as a problem, and made that
larger bomb carrying capacity a virtue. The targeting pods enable the pilots to
make out armored vehicles from 20,000 feet up, and twenty kilometers away. The
fighter pilots keep quiet about it, but they are eager to strut their new stuff
against a large enemy armor force. In theory, a force of fifty fighters (F-16s,
F-15s, F-18s, F-35s, even F-22s) could destroy an enemy tank division in a few
hours. The potential enemies, particularly the Chinese, are alarmed at this
prospect, and are desperately seeking a solution. So far, they haven't found
one. Not yet.


I've written ceaselessly on this subject here and elsewhere. ( try this for a primer) I think the US has mastered the old style conventional battles of WW 2 and the Cold War. We seem to be having a little trouble with the new insurgency conflict, but perhaps we're almost there too.