Air Force adapts to ‘different kind of war’

The new leadership of the Air Force faces the challenge of redefining the service’s role in what many see as the kind of combat the U.S. military will face in the immediate future, namely counterinsurgency. The problem, critics say, is that the Air Force priorities of establishing air supremacy and perfecting the timely and pinpoint delivery of high explosives tend to be less useful in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.

In particular, critics have singled out a reliance on air strikes in Afghanistan as a barrier to the success of a “hearts-and-minds” strategy on the ground, given the inevitability of collateral damage, or the accidental killing of civilians.

“From an Air Force perspective, we were told to plan for a different kind of war,” said Lt. Col. Michael Pietrucha, commenting on the general direction of post-Cold War strategic thinking, which emphasized the potential for conventional conflicts with strategic competitors or regional powers such as China or Iran.

Col. Pietrucha, a specialist in irregular combat who until recently worked at the Air Force Warfare Center, stressed he did not speak for the service.

He said it was appropriate the Air Force had different priorities because of its strategic roles in assuring “force projection” - the ability of the U.S. military to strike anywhere in the world - and in operating the nation’s nuclear-strike capabilities.

“We have a set of global responsibilities that require us to keep a slightly different focus,” he said, adding that while counterinsurgency might be the most common kind of conflict the military would face in the immediate future, “The most common conflicts are not necessarily the most dangerous.”

Observers say the choice of Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, a veteran of special operations who most recently headed the Air Force’s Transport Command - in charge of mobility and lift - as the next Air Force chief of staff is significant, given the service’s culture.

“It’s not something I ever expected to see in my lifetime,” said retired Air Force Col. Chester Richards, a strategist who has studied and written about military power for three decades.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said it was “mobility, jointness, special operations and being very, very smart” that led him to pick Gen. Schwartz.

Mr. Gates also sent former Air Force official Michael B. Donley’s name to the White House to be the next secretary of the beleaguered service.

The recommendations came after Mr. Gates announced on June 5 that he was removing Air Force Gen. T. Michael Moseley as chief and Michael W. Wynne as its top civilian.

Col. Richards said the nominations represented a chance for the service to “reinvent itself” and “shift [the Air Force] away from being a force that just kills people on the ground” to one that brings to the table other capabilities more relevant to the hearts-and-minds mission.

The Air Force says it already provides relevant capabilities, such as surveillance and lift and the ability to move troops and material around the combat theater.

“No one in the world can replicate the speed, volume and flexibility of the United States’ air mobility team,” Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Olivia Nelson said.

She said that on average an Air Force mobility aircraft was launched somewhere every 90 seconds, and that in Iraq, Air Mobility Command was flying more than 200 sorties a day.

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