ADC

“COLORADO SPRINGS — The commander of military forces protecting North America has ordered a review of the costly air defenses intended to prevent another Sept. 11-style terrorism attack, an assessment aimed at determining whether the commitment of jet fighters, other aircraft and crews remains justified. Senior officers involved in the effort say the assessment is to gauge the likelihood that terrorists may succeed in hijacking an airliner or flying their own smaller craft into the United States or Canada. The study is focused on circumstances in which the attack would be aimed not at a public building or landmark but instead at a power plant or a critical link in the nation’s financial network, like a major electrical grid or a computer network hub.”

Of the 8 years I spent in the Air Force, ‘bout three quarters of them were in ADC (Air Defense Command), primarily assigned to fighter interceptor squadrons. Admittedly I was never a “senior officer” (actually I was little more than a mid-grade NCO), nor an expert on the subject, but I do tend to think that I have a fair working knowledge of intercepting intruding aircraft. A good many people will remember the Cold War days of the 1950’s and 60’s when the US air defenses consisted of radar sites scattered all over the country (there was one such site on Cottonwood Butte), and couple of thousand jet fighters in nearly a hundred fighter squadrons all across the nation. The Navy added to the effort with radar picket ships and planes on the high seas, while the Army had numerous anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles sited around every vital target they could think of. Established in March of 1946, ADC became Aerospace Defense Command in 1968 (reflecting the new emphasis on guided missiles), and was finally deactivated in 1979 as a cost cutting measure due to the steadily decreasing likelihood of a mass Soviet air attack. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) is a joint venture of the United States and Canada that still exists, but today is primarily concerned with space operations. The fighters are gone, the anti-aircraft guns and missiles are gone, the radars have been taken over by the FAA (and are mostly gone). ADC cost us billions of dollars through its lifetime, but I’d say it was money well spent… or at least I never heard of a Soviet bomb falling on Kalamazoo, and I have no doubt the Soviet’s would have tried if they had ever thought they could get away with it. In comparison, only 14 aircraft at seven bases nationwide were on alert status before 9-11.

Today our air defenses are nearly nonexistent, consisting of little more than FAA radars that don’t cover the entire country, can’t see anything flying at less than 15,000 feet or so, and can’t even see an airliner if he’s got his transponder turned off! I understand that our fighter defense presently consists of a dozen or so National Guard F-16’s assigned a defense role in addition to everything else expected of them. Yet 9-11 aptly demonstrated that this country CAN be attacked from the air, and statistics provided by NORAD show that there were more than 1,000 “suspicious” air incidents in 2008, of which more than 200 actually required the scrambling of jet fighters. Yet in order to “save money” we’re considering eliminating even that miniscule effort!?

Granted that high-jacking an airliner today might be a bit more difficult than it was in 2001, and that terrorists are really quite ingenious at finding other ways to kill people, an assault by air is still one of the best means to do something in a spectacular manner. Remember that just about every Muslim country in the world has its own national airline, and most of them fly to the US on a regular basis. A 747, loaded to the ‘gunnels with explosives, and flown by a suicidal crew would make a jim-dandy kamikaze if it hit New York, Washington, Boston, Miami, or Los Angles. What might happen if one were targeted at one of the Columbia River Dams… or perhaps Hanford? Even worse would be one loaded with chemical or biological agents flying over one of our major cities. Smaller corporate jet aircraft are easy to come by, quick and agile, can fly to nearly anywhere, and generally carry a pretty fair payload. A nuclear artillery shell (if terrorists could steal one) can even be carried by the proverbial Piper Cub, and detonated by a suicidal pilot! Of course the next question is, how to get something like that into the country? Well… we don’t seem to be having much luck in stopping the flow of illegal drugs… or illegal immigrants…

If we must have a “stimulus program” handing out a trillion dollars or so (and probably Stimulus II as well), I’ll suggest that part of the money would be much better spent rebuilding a national air defense capability rather than just handing the money out at random. At least we’d have something to show for it. Nor do we need the $150 million each F-22 Raptor multi-role stealth fighter in an “at home” air defense role. In a purely air defense situation the 1980’s designed (at $15 million a copy) Northrop F-20 Tigershark air superiority fighter would be much better suited to the role. Perhaps we don’t need a system quite as extensive as that of the Cold War, but events have proven that we definitely do need the ability to defend ourselves from air attack, irregardless of whether or not the Generals want to spend the money. Of those two hundred aerial incidents that demanded a response? It only takes one… Are you listening Congress?