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"Starfire" and Stepping Backwards by Dale Brown, ![]()
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT
DaleBrown.Info, 02/05/2014
...and I don't find much at all.
As I've written about in the past 3 novels, I believe the future of the
U.S. military is space and cyberspace. The U.S. should not just have a
presence in space (which since the retirement of the Shuttle we do not) but
we should militarily dominate space, exactly like we dominated the seas and
nuclear warfighting after WWII. Space should not be just the realm of GPS
and reconnaissance, but of offensive rapid-strike capability; cyberspace
should not simply be the ability to defend ourselves against cyber attack,
but to attack any potential enemy instantly from cyberspace and render any
enemy's network useless.
But what are we building instead?
The F-35 Lightning II fighter-bomber was designed in the mid-1990s. It is a
single-engine, single-crewmember (no 2-seat combat or trainer models are
planned) small fighter-bomber, with an 18,000-lb. max payload, only
slightly higher than the F-16 Fighting Falcon it is scheduled to replace.
Very high-tech compared to the F-16 and F/A-18 it is supposed to replace,
but compared to fifth-generation adversaries being developed in Russia and
China, it is not a game-changer.
The Air Force's Long-Range Strike bomber, formerly the "Next-Generation
Bomber"--is non-existent. Any plan to build one would probably not be
operational for another 10 years at a bare minimum.
Our return to space is also non-existent, except for a handful of private
contractors working to provide resupply services for the International
Space Station, which for now (except for a couple experimental private
missions) is solely provided by the Russian Federation, who could cut off
such support at the blink of an eye. We have no plans right now for a
persistent presence in space.
"Starfire" and previous novels proposed a very radical departure from
current strategic planning: slash legacy weapon systems and quickly invest
in 21st and 22nd century technologies. Yes, the risk is great, but so is
the potential reward. It's risky, very risky. But we need to do it.
Plan of action:
Read "Starfire" to see how these ideas might be put in motion!
GBA, Dale...
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