Balance of Power

Prior to WW2 power was naval. Great Britain was the leading naval power with the U. S. Great White Fleet coming up fast, carrying our flag to all corners of the globe. Pearl Harbor suddenly abolished that role. Aviation, carrier based and in the form of land based heavy bombers, became the arms by which power was exercised. After the destruction of most of the British navy in WW2 the U.S. reigned supreme. Spurred by Cold War competition with the Soviet Union we began developing ever more sophisticated (and complicated) aircraft, while the Soviets were able to compete in more limited fashion and eventually become non-competitive. We have reached the point where technology has run away with practicality. Our new planes are so technically sophisticated that they no longer have any viable opponents and are no longer suitable for the missions which we face. In fact they have only been flown for experimental and training purposes, at a cost in the multi $billions for just a few. Most of the missions our military must deal with today involve asymmetric warfare. We face hostile militias, rag-tag bands of brigands, highly disciplined terror cells, and thug armies of dictators. What is required for those missions are highly mobile ground strike forces, supported by close-in air and sea forces, and skilled follow up personnel to secure a cleansed area and assure the support and cooperation of the native population. A billion dollar stealth fighter plane is useless for any of that. Overriding all of the above is the stark fact that our nation no longer can muster the resources for such asymmetric warfare in many theatres at once, and pay for show piece military hardware that will likely never see combat.