Help‘Hold the line … hold the line’
September 16th, 2009 | Uncategorized | Posted by Michael Hoffman
Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz wants to move on.
He is tired of answering questions about the F-22, or apologizing for the nuclear mistakes that led to the firing of his predecessor. Schwartz told the audience during his keynote speech at the Air Force Association’s Air & Space Conference on Sept. 15 he plans to use his second year in office to work toward the future.
“We were asked to put out some wildfires that had gotten out of control, and although we aren’t off the fire line just yet, I’m here to report that the smoke and flames no longer obstruct our view of the future.”
Schwartz plans to remain focused on rebuilding the service’s nuclear mission, most notably with the recent stand up of Global Strike Command, but he urged the audience of airmen and defense industry officials to take measure of their recent accomplishments and support a transitioning service.
The service strengthened its relationship over the past year with the Pentagon and Congress after the two ripped Air Force leadership for allowing its nuclear mission to erode, and focus on the F-22 to over take that of unmanned aerial vehicles.
Schwartz defended the decisions he and Secretary Michael Donley made over the past year – such as the recommendation to end F-22 production – in front of some of the same leaders who outspokenly criticized it. Schwartz said these decisions have “better integrated” the Air Force with its “joint teammates” in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“We did this by making tough, sometimes painful decisions internally – choices that set the course for our future; choices that restored a measure of institutional freedom of action that will allow us to embark on an even more assertive journey in the coming years,” he said.
That journey is one that Schwartz signaled would include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and next generation long range strike aircraft. The Air Force must remain the world leader in “detecting, identifying, and targeting” an adversary, he said.
The Air Force must also maintain its airlift capability and ensure the U.S. can “rapidly project and sustain joint forces anywhere in the world,” he said.
These might not be the goals some Air Force leaders had envisioned – ones that included many more F-22s – but they are in line with the changing landscape of America’s military.
Schwartz said that one day the Air Force would once again lead from the front, but for now, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan place the onus on the Army and the Marine Corps.
“In the future, we likely will find ourselves once again in an operation that emphasizes Air Force contributions, but in the meantime, we will devote ourselves fully to providing the Joint force commanders whatever capabilities they need to prevail, because in the end, there is no Air Force victory in war, or Air Force loss in war. Only the United States of America stumble or succeeds,” he said.
