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Updated: Fri Jul 30 14:32:11 UTC 2010
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APA NOTAMS ISSN 1836-7135
F-35 JSF and the SecDef's Nightmare
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Air Power
Australia - Australia's Independent Defence Think Tank
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Air Power Australia NOTAM
13th
November,
2009
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Kris Kafka,
Guest Contributor
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| Contacts: |
Peter
Goon
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Carlo
Kopp |
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Mob:
0419-806-476 |
Mob:
0437-478-224 |
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The opening line of Franz
Kafka’s novella, ‘The Metamorphosis’, translated to English is:
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“When
Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found
himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.” |
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And so it goes with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
This vain attempt to produce a world-class monopoly air combat fighter
is becoming a nightmare for the Western world. Development time
is dilating to chasm-like proportions. Potential enemies are
getting a measure of the beast of ‘stealth’, and opposing weapons
systems’ capabilities are developing at a pace that will short circuit
the Lightning II before it becomes operational. Worst of all, costs are
increasing, devouring funds that could and should be applied to more
effective defence programs.
In a truly Kafkaesque move, the Administration has put a stake through
the heart of America’s only operationally competitive aircraft, the
F-22A
Raptor. The Great American Eagle lies mortally wounded, and will
certainly die unless those, who know it needs brave and capable
warriors
to protect a Nation, take action to rescue it from this deadly
environment.
In this Kafkaesque world, picture this:
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The Secretary Of Defense
has
this nightmare.
There is a war in the
East China Sea in 2020 – just a year or so after the F-35 becomes
operational with the USAF, USN and USMC. Surprise attacks with
medium-range ballistic missiles swarm a Carrier Battle Group (CBG) and
several ships are sunk. Massed air attacks are flown against
Taiwan and American bases including Kadena AFB, Okinawa and Anderson
AFB, Guam. Many aircraft are destroyed in the open on these bases
– there are no hardened structures to protect aircraft. Those few
aircraft that struggle into the air, as in Pearl Harbour, 1941, are
annihilated by overwhelming forces.
A week later, the
remaining F-35s are redeployed from the US mainland, but are
overwhelmed by long-range air combat aircraft, and many are lost as
they ditch, fuel exhausted after their supporting tankers are blown
from the sky. America, sensing that it has no answers to this dominance
of the air, sea and space, withdraws from the Pacific to lick its
wounds.
His nightmare makes a
schizoid to Wall Street, where the plunge in stock values makes
the Global Financial Crisis look like a minor correction. Some
canny investors move their funds and the Shanghai and Hang Seng indices
rise by 50 percent in a week. Those slower off the mark are
ruined, and in a ghastly replay of the Great Depression of the 1930’s
and events more recent, many bodies tumble slowly off tall buildings.
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He wakes in a cold sweat. “Is this
nightmare a portent of American loss
of power and influence?” he shudders.
Next morning, he assembles his Chiefs of Staff, and still shaken,
describes the nightmare. “Have
you done the assessments of the
2020 military capabilities in the Pacific?” he demands. The
Chiefs
glance at each other, wondering who will be the first to speak. They
look pointedly at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who clears
his throat nervously, wondering if what he must say will be his last
statement in his illustrious appointment.
“Well Mr Secretary,” he opens
cautiously, “firstly, let me say,
such
studies are very sensitive, time consuming and expensive to
conduct. So, since the high operational tempo days of the Iraq
and Afghanistan offensives, and in more recent times when there has
been so much pressure on the Defense budget, there have been a number
of activities that have been, well, err – deferred. As you know,
this has been one of those activities!”
The Secretary’s pallor changes from white to red. In a rare departure
from his normally genial manner, he bangs his fist on the table. “Get
me the results – and fast. Gentlemen, you have a week from this moment”.
Exactly a week later, the even more nervous Chiefs assemble. The
Secretary enters the room, sits down, and commands: “Well?” The
still standing Chiefs motion to a Colonel who starts the PowerPoint
brief. The opening slide is a Satellite Toolkit video of massed
missiles descending on a CVBG. Many warheads are destroyed, but
some get through and the ship icons on the screen start to burn and
sink. The focus changes to Taiwan where F-16 aircraft scrambling
into the sky are destroyed by mainland-based SAMs. The deployed Raptors
make a good account of themselves, but there are too few to make a
difference. More burning aircraft images are shown at Kadena and
Anderson AFBs. But the most grievous damage is to the F-35 JSFs, which
are gunned down by Sukhoi fighters like flocks of pigeons in an pest
eradication program.
“Is this reasonable and representative”,
asks the Secretary, now in a
much humbler voice.
“Yes, Mr Secretary” answers
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Do you have a plan to recover from
this mess?” asks the Secretary.
“We do,” replies the
Chairman firmly, and hands the Secretary a
letter to the President and Commander in Chief, advising him of the
assessment, and a plan on what it will take to turn the tide.
Flanked by the other Service Chiefs, the Chairman takes a more
forthright stance and says, “To
enable our people to make this plan
work, we suggest you tender this to the Commander in Chief, as well, Mr
Secretary”, handing him the draft of a letter from the Secretary
to the
President, resigning from the Office of Secretary of
Defense. “And, Mr Secretary, our
resignations will be on your desk
within the hour.”
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Article Two of the United
States Constitution
Clause 1: Command of military;
Opinions of cabinet secretaries; Pardons
The President shall be
Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of
the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service
of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the
principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any
subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices.
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Air
Power Australia Website - http://www.ausairpower.net/
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Analysis - http://www.ausairpower.net/research.html
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