The Iraqi war will likely change investment decision among several
militaries, but one lesson coming out of the war is clear: "Total
air dominance--or air power projection--remains as the most critical
force element for enabling military success," says Lockheed
Martin Aeronautics Co president Dain Hancock.
The absence of an air threat in the last two major U.S. wars has
caused critics to question the need for modernizing the fighter
force. But Hancock strongly rejects that notion. "The experience
in Iraq--as well as in Afghanistan and other conflicts of the
last decade--serves as an inarguable endorsement of the need for
the air dominance that will continue to be provided by next-generation
systems like the F/A-22 and F-35," he says. Control of the
skies "is the enabling factor that allows all the other elements
of the battlespace to be effective, from ground forces to unmanned
aerial assets."
"The F-15 has provided air dominance for the past generation.
Tomorrow's threat will not be the same as those in the Gulf War
or Iraqi Freedom, however. The F/A-22 and F-35 will ensure that
we maintain the edge over any threats our armed forces will face
in the next conflict, so we can continue to own the airspace as
a prerequisite for military success."
