Arlington, VA, September 14, 1999
— In its 1999-2000 Force Capabilities Issue Paper, the Air
Force Association reiterated its call for full and timely
funding for the F-22 fighter program.
AFA said that the entire future
force structure will be endangered if the F-22 is not fielded
on schedule because it provides technologies that allow the
future Joint Strike Fighter and other elements to do their
unique jobs.
The paper noted that “without the
F-22, the Joint Strike Fighter will have to be drastically
redesigned and the requirements and costs for all of the
services will substantially increase.”
In the area of long-range global
attack, AFA pointed out that Operation Allied Force in the Balkans
demonstrated the flexibility, range and effectiveness of the
B-2, B-1 and the B-52 bombers. The association called for a
reexamination of the current Bomber Roadmap with the goal of
speeding up bomber modernization.
AFA urged full funding of a
range of precision munition programs, including the Joint
Direct Attack Munition that was so successfully employed in
the Kosovo air campaign, the Sensor Fuzed Weapon, the Joint
Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, and the Wind-Corrected
Munitions Dispenser.
Information dominance is another
key to success in current and future warfare, according to
the paper. AFA called for the integration of relevant in
formation assets from Air Force Space Command, Air Combat
Command and the Air Intelligence Agency. The association
also reiterated its call for full funding for the Joint STARS
surveillance aircraft.
In the area of electronic warfare,
“the Kosovo and Iraq operations have shown these forces to be
severely — dangerously — overtaxed,” the paper stated. AFA
urged full attention be given to providing sufficient tactical
aircraft with electronic warfare suites and that current
electronic intelligence shortfalls be addressed.
The association also eiterated
its longstanding support for deployment of theater and national
missile defense systems. AFA cited new intelligence estimates
of North Korea’s potential to threaten the continental United
States with ballistic missiles and “the very fast missile
proliferation process among many nations seeking to acquire
asymmetric responses to Western capabilities.”
###
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Stephen P. Aubin, Director of Policy and Communications
(202) 745-2121 [Sept. 14-15]; (703) 247-5850 [after Sept. 15]
E-mail: saubin@afa.org
The Air Force Association is an independent, nonprofit,
civilian aerospace organization whose objective is to promote
greater understanding of the role aerospace power plays in
national defense. AFA is a grass-roots organization with a
membership of 150,000. The Air Force Association was incorporated
in the District of Columbia on February 4, 1946.
