Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker made clear Thursday that he believes airpower is a big key to future Army effectiveness. The Army Chief of Staff told reporters that the ground force wants to reduce as much as possible its reliance on “organic” firepower because of the difficulty of hauling big guns and heavy artillery shells around the modern battlefield. “Why in the world would we want to continue to build in that direction,” said the Army Chief, “when we have the ability to call on somebody [read, airpower] and put a single round on a target,” especially since “we don’t have to truck it, and it can be accurate?”
With a new policy in hand, the Air Force’s Foreign Military Sales enterprise is looking to go beyond selling USAF systems to allies and partner nations—and instead help them develop their own capabilities. Such an approach, deemed “non-program of record acquisitions,” is part of a larger shift in FMS toward…