Re-running Operation Desert Storm with today's Air Force would
gut homeland air defense and an entire theatre's worth of combat air assets,
yet still come up short, said USAF Vice Chief of Staff
Lt.
Gen. Stephen Hoog. "At the beginning of Desert Storm we had 134 combat
squadrons," said Hoog during an AFA-sponsored Air Force breakfast on Nov.
6. At the outset of combat operations in Afghanistan USAF numbered 88 combat
squadrons and "today we're at 55 and we're about ready to ramp on down as
we trade capacity off to try to recapitalize," said Hoog. "If we
actually tried to replay Desert Storm all over again … you [would have to] take
out our homeland defense squadrons … and the next thing you know you have to
decimate—completely strip out Asia or strip out Europe, and you're still
short," he said. The combat air force is small enough now that planners
assume reserve component flying units will deploy on combat or global presence
rotations at a ratio of five-to-one, said Hoog. "Now, we're much more effective
with GPS weapons and things like that, but at the end of the day, numbers
matter," he stressed. "We're engaged in so many places now … that the
ability for us to swing is getting harder and harder."
