This past month, Heritage fired a loud warning shot at lawmakers responsible for the F-22’s sustainment, cautioning against legislation that would exacerbate the problem of our swiftly shrinking fighter fleet. Though the entire paper — The Growing Air Power Fighter Gap — is worth reading, their emphasis on the burgeoning Russian defense sector is particularly relevant.
Russia is expanding its fighter forces more than at any other time since the end of the Cold War. Russia is fielding the Su-34 Fullback strike aircraft, which is based on the Su-27 Flanker and can carry supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and short-range air-to-air missiles for self-defense. The Russian Air Force plans to field 58 by 2015 and 300 by 2022. The Russian Air Force also has a requirement of about 300 Sukhoi PAK FA fifth-generation fighters. However, Russia appears to be planning for a production run of 500 to 600, which most likely includes planned exports.
In addition, several countries have multirole Russian-made fighters capable of firing supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and high performance air-to-air missiles. The main Russian export is several versions of the Su-30MK, a fourth-generation fighter that is the Russian equivalent of the F-14 and F-15.
Goldfarb and I have preached this ad naseum. Back during the Cold War, we had to worry about fighting Russia and her satellites. That was it. Today we’re faced with a myriad of enemies, all of whom love to buy Ivan’s kit. That means we have to stay two steps ahead of both their avionics industry (which is advanced), and their ever evolving surface-to-air missile inventory (which is equally advanced). Russia’s willingness to export their best gear means that if we’re to maintain hegemony in regional hotspots (South China Sea, Straits of Hormuz, etc), we need front line shooters that provide for unquestioned battlespace dominance — any place, at any time.
Downplaying and underfunding our traditional means of power projection, as the Obama administration is busily doing, degrades the level of violence which we can bring to bear against would be adversaries. That weakens us, emboldens our enemies, and ultimately increases the possibility of a quick and dirty regional war. “Peace through superior firepower” may be a sophomoric cliche, but that doesn’t make it wrong.
