Lt. Gen. Gary North, head of US Central Command Air Forces, uses comparisons that make the enormousness of the airpower role in operations in Southwest Asia easier to grasp. For instance, he compares the effort by theater airlift forces so far this year to moving “the equivalent of the city of Baltimore.” Or, he told Pentagon reporters Friday that if they placed the amount of cargo airlifted in theater in 18-wheel trucks, the trucks would stretch—end to end—from Washington to New York City.
With upgrades, F-16s can serve as a numbers-builder in the combat air forces until the 2040s, and it’s not necessary to launch its successor yet, program officials said at an industry conference. “We anticipate hundreds of F-16s in active service for decades to come,” meaning into the 2040s, Col. Tim…