Defense !—F-35—Air Power – Terrorism

Defense !—F-35—Air Power – Terrorism

In an IW environment, the traditionally recognized ability of airpower to strike at the adversary’s “strategic center of gravity” will likely have less relevance due to the decentralized and diffuse nature of the enemy.³ The amorphous mass of ideological movements opposing Western influence and values generally lacks a defined command structure that airpower can attack with predictable effects. Still, airpower hold)s a number of asymmetric trump cards (capabilities the enemy can neither meet with parity nor counter in kind). For instance, airpower’s ability to conduct precision strikes across the globe can play an important role in counterinsurgency operations. Numerous other advantages (including information and cyber operations; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance [ISR]; and global mobility) have already proven just as important. These capabilities provide our fighting forces with highly asymmetric advantages in the IW environment. Innovation and adaptation are hallmarks of airpower. Cold War–era bombers, designed to carry nuclear weapons, can loiter for hours over the battlefield and deliver individual conventional weapons to within a few feet of specified coordinates. Fighter aircraft, designed to deliver precision weapons against hardened targets, can disseminate targeting-pod video directly to an Air Force joint terminal attack controller who can then direct a strike guided by either laser or the global positioning system (GPS). Unmanned systems such as the Predator, once solely a surveillance platform, now have effective laser designation and the capacity for precision, kinetic strike. Airborne platforms offer electronic protection to ground forces, including attacking insurgent communications and the electronics associated with triggering improvised explosive devices (IED). Exploiting altitude, speed, and range, airborne platforms can create these effects, unconstrained by terrain or artificial boundaries between units. Forward-thinking Airmen developed these innovations by using adaptive tactics, techniques, procedures, and equipment to counter a thinking, adaptive enemy. To be sure, our IW adversaries have their own asymmetric capabilities such as suicide bombers, IEDs, and the appropriation of civilian residences, mosques, and hospitals as staging areas for their combat operations. However, they lack and cannot effectively offset unfettered access to the high ground that superiority in air, space, and cyberspace provides.

Defense !—F-35—Air Power—China

An effective Air Force is key to check China

Donnelly & Sullivan 8 (Thomas & Tim, a resident fellows at AEI, April 30, 2008 Wednesday
AEI: NATIONAL SECURITY OUTLOOK APRIL 2008, States News Service, Lexis)

Responding to the rise of China as a global power with growing military strength presents an increasingly complex operational puzzle. The immediate focus is the balance of military power in maritime Northeast Asia--a problem set that engages not only naval and air power issues, but also space and cyberspace--but it is clear that the size of the potential "battlespace" will expand in fairly short order. Yet it is likely that, as the Fulda Gap defined the strategically and symbolically central front during the Cold War standoff with the Soviet Union, maritime Northeast Asia will occupy a central role in hedging against China's rise. This puts increasing demands on the ability of the United States to project elements of naval, air, and space power to the region, combining the problems of persistence and sustainment with those of lethality and firepower.
Chinese nuclear war risk growing in the short-term – High probability w/o U.S. attention
Epoch Times 5 (http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-9-11/32195.html)

One of China’s most famous democracy advocates says that America has not paid enough attention to the threat of nuclear war with China. Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in confinement in China, spoke at a forum on Chinese leader Hu Jintao at the National Press Club, sketching a disturbing picture of a powerful nation on the march to war. The forum consisted of China expert panelists giving their various perspectives on the underlying meaning behind the visit of Chinese leader Hu Jintao, who has been in power for the last two years. Wei stated that China needs the distraction of a war with Taiwan to turn attention away from the Chinese people’s frustration with rampant corruption and failed policies at home. Wei also stated that a number of factors allow them to consider traditional warfare against Taiwan and even nuclear warfare against the U.S. First, Russia, who China has often seen as an enemy, has offered a tacit agreement to China’s military plan, said Wei. He pointed out that “China has signed a treaty with Russia that basically says if China invades Taiwan, Russia will not support the U.S.”, that meant that they would defend Taiwan if the island came under attack. China also teamed up with Russia recently for joint military exercises on the Shandong Peninsula, an area fairly close to Taiwan, indicating both China’s intentions and Russia’s acceptance of those intentions. Wei said that China had also been considering nuclear war against the U.S. as a way to defeat America in the war. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is considering nuclear war, Wei said, because it is not afraid to sacrifice China’s people.

Directory: 2011
2011 -> Enterprise Network Management iPost: Implementing Continuous Risk Monitoring at the Department of State
2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis
2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle
2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg
2011 -> January 1: Ecstasy zZz January 2: King of Anything Sara Bareillis
2011 -> Tracks, Mixes, Masters, and More!: Analyzing Preservation Priorities for Multitrack Recordings
2011 -> Department of Electrical Engineering 2011 Annual Report
2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative
2011 -> Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad(apmo)
2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018

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