Drones, the Air Littoral, and the Looming Irrelevance of the USAF

[Kirkhill]

This may be a second/third order effect of Posse Commitatus, where the active duty US military cannot be used in domestic situations except for certain things like NORAD.

Isn't the National Guard the usual workaround for that problem?

Air Defense Artillery Brigades​

11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas
31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Cavazos, Texas

35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Osan Air Base, South Korea
38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Sagami General Depot, Japan

108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Liberty, North Carolina

100th Missile Defense Brigade (ARNG) at Colorado Springs, Colorado
164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Orlando, Florida
174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Columbus, Ohio
678th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Eastover, South Carolina

The unit (164th) has supported the homeland defense mission through seven deployments commanding a multi-component task force responsible for securing the airspace in and around the National Capital Region.

The 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade is an Air Defense Artillery brigade of the United States Army. It is one of six brigade-sized major subordinate commands of the Ohio Army National Guard, activated on 1 September 2008, in Columbus, Ohio. Before, during, and following its activation, the brigade and its subordinate battalions have been very active, deploying individuals and units to support the Iraq War's Operation Iraqi Freedom, airspace defense of the National Capital Region,

100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground-based Midcourse Defense), known as 100th MDB (GMD), is a multi-component (meaning both Title 10 and Title 32) United States Army National Guard brigade headquartered at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. It has component formations located in Fort Greely, Alaska, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and Fort Drum, New York manned by national guardsmen of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion,100th MDB, Detachment 1,and 100th MDB, Detachment 2 in Alaska, California, and New York, respectively, on a round-the-clock 24/7/365 basis.100th MDB (GMD) is part of the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

As National Guardsmen, the tempo of personnel replacements are not subject to the three-year cycle of ARFORGEN, allowing the development of long-term expertise over the past decade of training

I believe that the NCR Air Defence System is based on permanently emplaced NASAMs (Norwegian/National) launchers.



Or is it that the cost to military would be too high to engage that threat? It would eat up a massive budget?

 

[dimsum]

Isn't the National Guard the usual workaround for that problem?

It is.

Air Defense Artillery Brigades​

11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas
31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma
69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Cavazos, Texas

35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Osan Air Base, South Korea
38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Sagami General Depot, Japan

108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Fort Liberty, North Carolina

100th Missile Defense Brigade (ARNG) at Colorado Springs, Colorado
164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Orlando, Florida
174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Columbus, Ohio
678th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (ARNG) at Eastover, South Carolina







I believe that the NCR Air Defence System is based on permanently emplaced NASAMs (Norwegian/National) launchers.

View attachment 88803

Or is it that the cost to military would be too high to engage that threat? It would eat up a massive budget?

 

[Kirkhill]

I am going back to beating a well-worn drum - the notion of the reserves taking up local air defence as a task.

It occurs to me that if the air threat is evolving to the extent that every fielded entity operating independently, whether a division or a patrol, is going to require its own air defence umbrella, and if they sub-unit is going to be the basic element chopped for independent tasking then every company, every squadron, every battery is going to need its own C-RAM/C-UAS capability. That may be a dedicated platoon or troop or perhaps it could be an embedded capability in a heavy weapons platoon or troop (eg with dual function weapons like 30mm LF guns and 70mm missiles).

If every Reserve unit were required to man a sub-unit, with priority going to the manning of the C-RAM/C-UAS capability, then that would result in 150 or so troops of kinetic effectors that could be locally deployed. Or could go on expedition to Canada's north or overseas.

...

PS and the neighbours could see the Reserves preparing to manage a threat they can envisage.