What's the point of an Air Force?

Question

I'm not trying to insult the Air Force; I respect all military branches.

The Navy, Marines and Army have their own Air Force. Many of the jobs in the Air Force can be done with the Navy.

What's the real point of an Air Force besides carrying the president around?

Answer 1

I think this link here can tell you best why we have a Air Force and what their point is. I have a brother-in-law that just retired from the Air Force.Good luck, best wishes

http://www.airforce.com/

The mission of the United States Air Force is to deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests to fly and fight in air, space and cyberspace.

To achieve that mission, the Air Force has a vision of Global Vigilance, Reach and Power. That vision orbits around three core competencies: Developing Airmen, Technology-to-Warfighting and Integrating Operations. These core competencies make our six distinctive capabilities possible.

Air and Space Superiority
With it, joint forces can dominate enemy operations in all dimensions land, sea, air and space.

Global Attack
Because of technological advances, the Air Force can attack anywhere, anytime and do so quickly and with greater precision than ever before.

Rapid Global Mobility
Being able to respond quickly and decisively anywhere we're needed is key to maintaining rapid global mobility.

Precision Engagement
The essence lies in the ability to apply selective force against specific targets because the nature and variety of future contingencies demand both precise and reliable use of military power with minimal risk and collateral damage.

Information Superiority
The ability of joint force commanders to keep pace with information and incorporate it into a campaign plan is crucial.

Agile Combat Support
Deployment and sustainment are keys to successful operations and cannot be separated. Agile combat support applies to all forces, from those permanently based to contingency buildups to expeditionary forces.

Core Values
The Air Force bases these core competencies and distinctive capabilities on a shared commitment to three values: Integrity first, Service before self, and Excellence in all we do.

Answer 2

In September of 1947, the United States Army Air Force became the United States Air Force. The army doesn't fly any air missions, because it doesn't have any bombers, nor does it have any fighters, nor does it have any transports. They only have a few Cessnas, and some choppers, and two Curtiss-Wright Air Cars.

It might be more legitimately asked, "what's the point of the Marines?" The army fights on land, the air force fights over land, and the navy fights under and over the seas. The Marines have a proud tradition as maritime shock troops, but so do the Green Berets, as land-based shock troops. Shouldn't the Marines be part of the Navy, just as the Green Berets are part of the Army?

Another interesting question is, "Why should the president's airplane be operated by the air force, yet the president's chopper be operated by the marines?"

Answer 3

You have that wrong, m'dear.

The current Air Force was previously part of the Army. If you refer to the old "Air Force" theme song, the line goes, "Nothing can beat the ARMY Air Corps." It was somewhere during or right after WWII that it was decided to break off the ARMY Air Corps into a separate service, the Air Force.

Oh... and also, technically, since the MARINES are actually a "branch" of the NAVY, the all the pilots/planes/etc. are actually NAVY. There is a Marine air corps, but if you look at the Blue Angels, you will see that both Navy AND Marine pilots make up the Blue Angels.

The Air Force supports the Army. The Navy/Marine air corps support the Naval and Marine operations.

Oh.. and the PURPOSE of the military, all the services, is to "Kill people and break things."

Answer 4

The Army, Navy and Marines operate their own aircraft for the sake of providing better integration and organization within their own forces. Don't expect the Navy to fly heavy bombers (they're incompatible with carriers), the Marines to fly skytrains of beans and bullets or the Army to establish air superiority.

Before the Air Force became its own branch, it was the US Army Air Force. It grew so far apart from the rest of the Army it separated. It was more practical to have its own structure and common training.

Besides, the Marines, Navy and Air Force can do the job of providing their own infantrymen (albeit Navy and AF infantry are more specialised). Would that mean the Army has little point?

Answer 5

While each branch owns assets that fly in the air, they often do not have the Command and Control (C2) required to track thousands of thousands of aircraft in a war such as Iraq. While they maybe able to control their own assets, there would be no HQ to provide control over the entire battle space. While this may not seem like a problem on the surface, but when you begin to look at logstics it does become a problem. There is no need for each branch to maintaine its own fleet of cargo planes when it can be maintained by one. Very simular to attack aircraft that attack ground targets or air targets.

Now the reason why the Marines and Navy have their own aircraft is to project airpower from an aircraft carrier and carrier defense. Each branch do have some jobs over the lap and this one of them. Typically once a carrier reports to a theater where a war is taking place, its air assets while Navy or Marine, will report to Air Force C2 agencies.

Answer 6

The Air Force possesses our only means of long-range airlift and long-range bombing capabilities, as well as airborne nuclear capabilities. You can't launch a C-17, C-5, B-52, B-2, or B-1 off an aircraft carrier can you? The Navy is for immediate deployment to countries that have access to sea because its easier and faster to use a carrier to get to a point of conflict than 90+ Air Force fighters which need an airfield on the ground to begin with. The Naval air force is constrained in the fact that they only carry a small amount of small planes, and are ineffective in large-scale warfare in places like say, Europe, because they'll just get overwhelmed by land air forces. That's why we used the Air Force to attack Germany and not carriers in World War II.

Answer 7

This is a serious question?

The marines have transport and a few attack helicopters to support their ground troops. The navy backs them up more attack planes, and also has flighters to protect the fleet from enemy attack.

The Army has transport and attack helicopters, lots of both, to support their ground troops. They do NOT have fighters to protect them from getting shot down by bad guy fighters, or to protect their bases from bombers & such. The Air Force does that. It also establishes and maintains air superiority over the entire battle space, uses bombers to attack strategic targets way behind the lines, and of course protects those bombers and the transports moving all over the are, and of course they fly a massive fleet of transport planes that move people and equipment in & out of the war zone - that includes the ones Army paratroopers jump out of.

The only reason you can ask "what's the point of an Air Force" is because they are so good at their job. And by the way, the marines fly the presidental helicopters.

Answer 8

Read the mission statement of each branch. Each branch has it's own mission but all contribute to winning a conflict. The Army and Marine missions are more tactical whereas the Air Force is more strategic. The Navy takes care of sea based duties.

Answer 9

So, they can have a home base, in case of a nuclear threat, or invasion or something.


The Navy, Marines, and Army do have their own airforce, but it doesn't come with experienced, trained aviator pilots like the Air Force. It also doesn't have 'established and newly modelled' aircraft utilities like the Air Force.

Answer 10

Navy, Marines, and Army have aviation support staff, but the Air Force is truly what it says, pure air to air and air to ground and cargo missions. It would be far too large of a task for any of the other agencies to do it on their own, that is when the Army-AirForce split into two.

The AirForce also controls NASA