Air Force blasted for being soft on 'air power'.

• Author: Erwin, Sandrs I.
• Position: DEFENSEINSIDER

Advocates of "air power" who long for a return to the days when the U.S. Air Force dominated the nation's war planning and operations must be sorely disappointed these days.

The rhetoric from blue-suit leaders as of late paints a picture of an Air Force that is becoming more accepting of being a "support" player in current wars and is in no hurry to start building the next whiz bang generation of aerial superiority weapons.

The mood was captured in a speech that Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz delivered to the Air Force Association's annual convention earlier this month. In an effort to cheer up the troops, Schwartz suggested that the Air Force should by no means feel "threatened" because ground warfare has garnered the spotlight and greater political clout within the Pentagon. The Air Force, he said, "Remains an essential element [of U.S. national security] and will find itself in an increasingly significant role in the 21st Century, although we perhaps are...