WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The US Navy would rather build aircraft carriers, McPeak noted, to compete with the Air Force in the tactical aviation arena, which is very costly air power, including the most expensive version of the F-35 fighter jet.
"We could defend the country at lower cost if we managed to figure out how to get the services to end needless competition and rivalries over roles and missions." McPeak said. "We have tried over and over again but the military services are too powerful institutionally to be backed down from these practices."
US Navy and Marines provide just a fraction of the air power in combined US air campaigns, McPeak claimed, including Desert Storm and operations against the Daesh in Iraq, Syria and Libya.
"The US Air Force is flying out of fixed bases at Incirlik, Turkey, and elsewhere in the Middle East, and it is providing most of the sorties." McPeak said. “From time to time US Navy [and] Marine aircraft provide a contribution, but you could certainly do that whole air campaign we’ve got going against ISIS [Daesh] with land-based air and do it cheaper."
General Merrill “Tony” McPeak headed the US Air Force during Operation Desert Storm and is the author of the Aerial View Trilogy which recounts his 37 years in the air force.
