Going with the flow

It appears that air warfare is once again changing. It always does, technology sees to that. One thing technology can’t do for us humans is apply the lessons of the past. That is for us to do. If we keep trimming our numbers down, and removing this, and putting off that. What ever we’ve done,(or undone) will eventually be integrated. Then it will be because we lacked, and found it was needed to begin with. The USAF did that in Vietnam, with it’s F-4J’s, and F-4D’s. None of them had guns, but engagement, and our losing them showed us the need. Now, even the the vaunted F-22 has the same gun the F-104 did. Albeit much lighter, and refined, but the best ideas are also the most difficult to replace. War is not a science, things rarely go as planned. Therefore it is not wise to say what one needs before they get there. Don’t assume what the enemy will do, or what they are capable of. Doing that gives them the advantage of governing your planning. To say a dogfight at subsonic speeds might not occur again because of high technology is the first nail in your coffin.