[Indian Butt Magic]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
People always want to fight the last war. Our last war was signifigantly different than the war before that, or the war before that.


What's the deal then? In every war since WW2 carriers have played a signifigant role. As long as air support will play a big role, and it will for a long, long time, secure mobile airbases that mitigate the problems of needing another country to stage planes out of will continue to be extremely useful.

I'm not saying we need new SSNs(while there are potential enemies with subs, they aren't exactly the varsity), or we need super whiz-bang tanks(the M1 is gonna be around for a long time). The kind of stuff we will need are carriers, amphibs, sealift ships, and more long-haul cargo planes. I would also throw in some kind of replacement for the B-52. (in that it can fly from the states to it's target without refueling)

Basically, stuff that directly impacts the troops on the ground, and lessens the dependency on foreign countries who either won't allow us access(Re: Iraq war) or they don't have the facilities(Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan) that meet our requirements.