Air Force's Fundamental Problem →

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As Gen (ret.) Larry Spencer writes in a recent Op-Ed, the Air Force faces the fundamental problem of economics: scarcity (PDF link). He asks:

How does the nation exploit the Air Force’s wide array of options, and satisfy the unlimited demands for Air Force capabilities with increasingly scarce resources that are allocated to the Air Force?

He contends the solution is to convince elected leaders to provide more resources. As it turns out, all of government faces the fundamental problem and, next year, a continuing resolution is likely. So, a more tenable approach is for the Air Force to optimize under its current budget constraint. This involves making informed decisions. The service should invest in clearly understanding marginal costs and benefits across its portfolio.

Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

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The Command of the Air
By Giulio Douhet

Giulio Douhet is an advocate of both airpower and the scientific approach to warfare. In The Command of Air he claims that "to assure an adequate national defense, it is necessary -- and sufficient -- to be in a position in case of war to conquer the command of the air."

I find this terminology interesting. Economists are well-versed in necessary and sufficient conditions in the development of theoretical mathematical models.

While I agree with Douhet that it is necessary for nations to have air superiority to provide national defense, I'm not convinced that air superiority is sufficient.

Is command of the air, or air superiority, both necessary and sufficient for national defense? If not, what is required for sufficiency?

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