Message posted by Magoo on June 10, 2003 at 23:16:40 PST:
I think the wishes of the current administration, or more precisely Mr Rumsfeld may have a long way to go before becoming reality. I think there will be a lot of battles fought with the Pentagon in the coming months before anything is closed permanently. Mr Rumsfeld is pushing some of the principles of what has become known as the 'Revolution in Military Affairs', a long overdue transformation of the US forces and the way they wage war. Some of the ideas are to do away with the Napoleonic era ideas of traditional Army divisions, battalions, platoons etc, and look at ways that technology can be adapted to give soldiors, sailors and airmen an information and technological advantage that cannot be defeated! This will mean smaller, lighter and more technologically advances rapid reaction forces that can be deployed into action faster. What's this got to do with Area 51? Well, to support this concept, there will need to be more capable reconnaisance assets, and faster, stealthier and more deadly aircraft and weapons. You can bet any move by Mr Rumsfeld to put these changes in place will mean more trade for our friends across the border (and I don't mean Canada!). Kadena AFB on Okinawa certainly has many strategic benefits for US forces, and is where the CIA A-12s and USAF SR-71s were based. (In fact, the SR-71s were nicknamed 'Habu' after a black snake which inhabits the island of Okinawa). Not only are there front line fighter squadrons based there, but also elements of the 9th SRW (i.e U-2s), various EP-3 and RC-135s, and ofcourse a Marine MEU. Until N.Korea settles down a bit, I don't think they're going anywhere! Germany is another matter. The eastern bloc threat is long gone, and therefore so is the reason for stationing US forces in Germany. One of the proposals is to withdraw many of the aviation elements (mainly transport, AAR and recon assets) to the UK and Italy, and have the ground forces brought back to ConUS. There will then be a greater emphasis placed on the pre-positioning of heavy equipment and MEU deployments in case the S%#t hits the fan in the future. The Navy may also be a beneficiary of all of this. With fewer Army and Air Force forces permanently deployed overseas, there may be justification for a couple of extra carrier battle groups in the future! Interesting times... Magoo
In Reply to: Military Base Closings and SR-71 Memories posted by Tom on June 10, 2003 at 21:51:07 PST:
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