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on september 15, the website of the u.s. bimonthly magazine national interest published an article titled "u.s. air force equipment is 'old and outdated'" by harrison cass. the article is excerpted as follows:

the u.s. air force aims to retire older aircraft, including the a-10 attack aircraft and older f-22 fighter jets, to make way for more advanced systems.

in the eyes of the current us air force, f-22 fighter jets are already "obsolete equipment" that need to be replaced.

the u.s. air force has a dazzling lineup of aircraft, including u-2 reconnaissance aircraft, a-10 "warthog" attack aircraft, c-130 "hercules" transport aircraft, kc-135 tanker aircraft, f-15 fighter jets, f-16 fighter jets, f-22 "raptor" stealth fighter jets and f-35 fighter jets.

by almost any measure of quantity, quality, variety, specialization, and so on, the u.s. air force has amassed the most formidable and capable fleet of aircraft in human history.

yet despite the air force’s impressive size, concerns are growing that the fleet is obsolete — too old to effectively engage in modern conflicts.

does the air force need an upgrade, or are modernization just hawkish talk?

the idea that the u.s. air force needs to significantly upgrade its fleet is concerning to anyone paying attention to u.s. military spending, given the size of the existing fleet and the cost of modernization.

the simple fact is that the united states spends more on defense than any other country in the world. in fact, no other country comes close to matching the united states’ defense spending. the u.s. defense budget has ballooned to about $900 billion a year and is on track to cross the $1 trillion threshold.

the bottom line is that america’s massive defense spending may be frustratingly insufficient to keep pace with the modern threat environment.

"air force secretary frank kendall insists the service needs to modernize quickly," air force magazine reporter chris gordon reports. "but modernization doesn't just mean fielding new aircraft. kendall and other military leaders believe the service also needs to retire older aircraft."

“the reality is the air force needs electronic warfare, battle management, intelligence, cyber capabilities, all those things. it needs more than just aircraft,” kendall said last year. kendall explained that systems like electronic warfare, battle management and others will become increasingly important “as the nature of warfare changes” and may compete with “legacy platforms.”

“we’ve had to let go of some (legacy platforms) to free up resources for growth,” kendall said. “there’s been resistance to that in the past.”

kendall was referring to the fact that, in large part, today’s air defenses are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it difficult for traditional fighters — like the f-15s and f-16s that make up the bulk of the u.s. air force’s fighter fleet — to counter them.

however, most aircraft in the usaf fleet require air superiority to operate effectively. in other words, modern radars, modern surface-to-air missiles, and modern air superiority fighters will defeat america's fourth-generation fighters.

what the united states needs are aircraft that can counter sophisticated air defenses. that means stealth aircraft that can evade detection, and aircraft with radar and missile systems advanced enough to rival fifth-generation fighters.

the united states does have aircraft that fit that description. the f-22 raptor stealth fighter remains the world’s preeminent air superiority fighter. the f-35 is the world’s best fighter in terms of radar, data fusion, situational awareness, and connectivity. but aging equipment still makes up the majority of the u.s. air force fleet. u.s. military planners are beginning to address this force composition problem.

"kendall said the air force wants to replace retired aircraft with advanced systems if it can, such as replacing an aging fleet of fighter jets with new ones," gordon wrote. "if that's not possible, the air force wants to convince lawmakers to make the fleet more 'durable,'"

“these are operational issues that we must address in order to be able to effectively respond to emerging and rapidly evolving threats,” kendall said.