It's unlikely that the U.S. Air Force will be abolished in anyone's lifetime, whatever Robert Farley may think (AW&ST July 28, p. 50). Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz and attorney Charles Blanchard (AW&ST Aug. 25, p. 50) competently defend the Air Force's operational record and doctrine in their response. But Farley's book, Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), makes a bigger argument: The case for an independent air force is based on the false assertion that airpower can win wars on its own. The book exemplifies a toxic and irrational skepticism toward airpower, and only airpower, that pervades some military thinking.
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