The Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force are all important for the defense of a nation. In the US, we do a lot of work investing in and training the defense forces of other countries. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001. The US has been training and equipping Afghan forces since that time in an effort to stand up a national army capable of securing national unity.
But so far it has been no easy task…
There are many reasons for this, but one big reason is that the country is landlocked.
No easy way in and no easy way out.
This means that everything needs to either hauled in using trucks or flown in using planes. Both options are very expensive compared to using a train or a boat. In 2016 the US government directly funded over 4 billion of a total 5 billion dollar Afghan defense budget. When taken as a percentage of the total GDP that would represent about 25% of the entire figure.
That’s a lot of money that the Afghan government will simply never be able to come up with.
Currently the government is buying things like these jets which cost over 10 million dollars a piece:
A 29 Super Tucano
Or these helicopters which cost 21.3 million dollars a piece.
UH-60 Blackhawk
Both systems, although traditional and proven are quite expensive and as we’ve already seen the Afghan military cannot sustain itself over the long term with expensive machines like this.
Perhaps some out of the box thinking is in order.
It takes years to train pilots in the conditions necessary to operate this type of machinery in all weather conditions. The Blackhawks are probably necessary because of the mountains in the country. But the close air support provided by jets like the Super Tocano could be better and more cheaply provided with some of these guys.
I give you, the Predator!
These little buggers are already flying over Afghanistan 24x7 and provide constant surveillance to the various agencies who want to track and find insurgents around the country. The plan is to buy 20 Super Tocano jets which would cost 200 million dollars. That same amount would buy 50 Predators and they would be available all the time over every part of the country. (Assuming down time for maintenance, rearming and refueling of course)
Or we could go even bigger and use the newer and larger younger brother of the Predator the Reaper
Reaper
These are more expensive, but we can still afford to have 2 more Reapers than the Super Tocano’s and the training will be much quicker like the Predator. Both drones can loiter above the area for many hours and provide pinpoint support when needed unlike the planes.
More bang for the buck
And there we have it. A new drone system would be cheaper to purchase, quicker to train new recruits on and provide better close air support in conflict zones. Although there are no drones which can fully replace helicopters yet. The cost effectiveness of the drones over traditional aircraft over the long term has to be considered at least.
After all, many countries skipped these phones…
Telephone
For these…
And no one thought anything of it. Perhaps we should rethink the application of this new technology given how dependent a country like Afghanistan will be on having an affordable air force.
What do you say, my fellow defense thinkers? Should Afghanistan skip the old systems and go straight to the new ones or go with the tried and true systems. Let’s hash it out in the comment section.
(CH)