U.S. Needs More Air Power to Avoid ‘Bloodbath’ With China, General Says

U.S. Air Force officials lack the air power needed to prevent a potential war with China from settling into “the kind of bloodbath” on display in Ukraine.

“We’ve got to get to the ability, maybe not all times in all places … to attain and maintain air superiority,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard G. Moore, the deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said Thursday. “We don’t want the kind of bloodbath that’s going on in Ukraine right now. And so therefore, we have to get to the advanced capabilities that it takes to change the battlefield.”

Air Force planners have budgeted to purchase 72 new fighter jets in the upcoming fiscal year, comprised of a mix of vaunted fifth-generation F-35 stealth fighters and the F-15EX. Yet the Air Force’s ability to continue acquiring six dozen warplanes per year could be tested by defense manufacturing constraints.

“The defense industrial base can only support so much procurement and the ability right now to go beyond 72 — there are some challenges,” Moor said. “You know that it’s great to think that COVID is over, but supply chain and workforce issues are not over at all.” (Read more from “U.S. Needs More Air Power to Avoid ‘Bloodbath’ With China, General Says” HERE)

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