How to Modernize an Air Force?

According to a recent cnn.com article, the US Air Force "needs" $100 Billion over the next 5 years to buy a fleet of F-22's and F-35's...and some other panes too. It's no surprise that the AF wants these jets (who wouldn't right?) Now granted, with F-15's literally falling apart, it makes sense that the Air Force needs something new. If the US got into a fight against a country with a reasonably modern air force it'd want every edge it can get, but it also needs to be able to keep up its current fight.

We recently covered a story about the US military considering a purchase of more F-18E/F fighters instead of F-35's. Would it be better to buy something like this: a capable, factory new aircraft that will last 20 more years intead of spending extra billions on jets that won't be any further from becoming obselete by the time they finally get operational?

My favorite part of the CNN article was that after 3/4 of the story talked about the need for the F-22 and F-35 we got this line: "Aircraft on the front lines in the terror war are also facing challenges." Why is that significant? In the War on Terror, the F-15 has no purpose on the front lines. It doesn't even deploy right now because there would be nobody for it to fight. (The same goes for its $160 millon-a-pop replacement.) Granted, F-15's currently patrol domestic US airspace for rogue airliners, but they share that task with F-16's. You don't need to be invisible to radar or able to pull 9 g's to accomplish that mission. New F-16's, F-18 E/F's, or any other fighter on the market could fill that role. (Actually, part of the marketing for the ATG Javelin is that it could be used as a "homeland defense interceptor." It would be fully capable of doing the job and would only cost a few million each. You could literall buy a whole squadron of Javelins for the price of a single F-22.)

The last part of the CNN article did mention a few of the aircraft that not only have some role in the War on Terror, they are so integral to it that they fly all the time. A great example is the AC-130 gunship that put on a great show in last year's Transformers movie. It's one of the most effective and lethal Close Air Support weapons ever concieved by the mind of man. If they are running the crews ragged, literally flying the wings off the planes (fatigue issues) and flying these planes all the time, why is the AF begging for billions of dollars for F-22's and F-35's? Similar situations exist with the other aircraft mentioned by the CNN article.

It's a tough job to figure out how to balance future capabilities, cost restraints, current demands and the desire to buy cool versus useful aircraft. The generals are the ones who will decide the issues, but if you were in their shoes what would you do?