Air Dominance and the Critical Role of Fifth Generation Fighters

April 15, 1953, is a significant date for the U.S. Air Force. It is the last time U.S. ground forces were killed as a result of enemy air attack when a North Korean P02 biplane strafed an Army tent on an island off the Korean peninsula. In the last 63 years, American air dominance has relentlessly safeguarded the lives of our Air Forces, provided freedom of maneuver and freedom from attack. The last time the U.S. Air Force lost an aircraft in aerial combat was in 1972 when "DESOTO 03," an F-4E supporting Operation Linebacker II, was shot down by a North Vietnamese MiG-21. The advanced aircraft now under development by Russia and China signal their objective to end the 44-year advantage of the U.S. New surface-to-air missile systems now incorporate technologies allowing engagement at further ranges and in greater numbers. The sensitivity and accuracy of these new systems has also increased concerns regarding the unrivaled ability of U.S. aircraft to access targets from anywhere, at any time. Challenges to America's air dominance do not all originate from foreign shores. Some challenges are internal to the Air Force and the Department of Defense. One of the biggest challenges our Nation needs to overcome is the small size of today's Air Force. In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, the Air Force had 134 fighter squadrons. Today, it is down to only 55 fighter squadrons. While the Department of Defense is no longer required to be able to defeat regional adversaries in large-scale campaigns on two fronts, it is losing the ability to do so on just one.