The X37 Spaceplane Scam

Recent media reports have characterized the USAF's X37 spaceplane as
an attempt to move warfare to space. The USAF denies the X37 is a
weapon, and USAF supporters have gone further stating its not even a
potential weapon. Meanwhile, the USAF's view of its true purpose has
not been plausibly explained.

While the average American may be reassured that his Air Force isn't
escallating war to space, the first thing he really ought to be asking
himself is does he want his military spending his money on things that
aren't weapons. If the X37 isn't a weapon or potential weapon, then
everyone involved ought to be run out of the USAF for not doing their
job.

Of course, it is a weapon. No one in the USAF is stupid enough to
spend money on non-weapons. Which brings up the question of why to
spend any money on a new frontier of warfare.

At present, the USAF can beat the top three or four air forces in the
world in an air war all by itself. With just a little help from the
USN and USMC, it can beat all the world's air forces combined. Is
there any need for capability expansion?

But for the most part, the USAF is a lost service, still wandering
around after over 60 years of existence trying to define a separate
mission for itself. And going to space is just another attempt to do
that.

But is control of space relevant? Its clearly based on an expansion
of the idea that control of enemy airspace wins wars. But control of
enemy airspace has not brought victory to the US in Iraq and
Afghanistan, where its completely unchallenged, and did not bring
victory in Viet Nam or Korea.

Nothing has really changed since the day Winston Churchill wrote that
even if all German cities were rendered largely unhabitable, it did
not follow that Hitler's control of them would be lessened. Even in
the nuclear age, simulations at the war college showed that
distructive nuclear exchanges between the US and USSR did not cause
either side to quit. Yet the USAF has squandered our money for over
six decades trying to disprove this, and is now doing it again over
the control of space, with the additional devious twist that they're
not working on a potential weapons system.

Large manned bombers have been obsolete since the development of
ICBMs, yet the USAF still has hundreds. In conjuction with the USN
and USMC, there is enough air power to beat all of our enimies and
friends combined. While George Bush turned many from the friends to
foes column, not everyone hates us. Not yet, anyway.

The USAF has ample advanced aircraft to fulfill any actual mission
within the capability of air power. Those missions are air cover and
ground support for the people doing the real work, the US Army and
USMC , and defense of what is actually the US. And, considering the
poor job the USAF has done on a mission it can actually accomplish,
ground support, those aircraft should be placed under US Army control.

Its time to hand most of the boys in blue their pink slips. If they
want to do something militarily useful, they can learn how to dig
foxholes.

And while we're at it, let's scrap about half of the USNs carriers.
Because if the locals won't provide us with airfields on the ground,
they don't like us well enough we ought to be fighting there in the
first place.

We don't need miltiary control of space. Control of enemy air space
is proven not to win wars. And we don't need enough aircraft for a
situation where every country in the world hates us. Unless we're
going to elect Sarah Palin as President.