Page 54 - Lessons-Learned-at-Pax-River_Neat

And going back to my comment about the convergence of planning and execution, and a
warfighter’s ability to see and sense in the battlespace … that’s only relevant if you take advan-
tage of it, and the F-35 certainly allows warfighters to take advantage of it.

You don’t want to have a fifth-generation Air Force, shackled by a third-generation system of
command and control.

The result would be that the United states and its allies will repeat the failures of the
French facing the Germans in World War II where they had superior tanks with out-
moded tactics and command structures, and with the predictable results.

The new aircraft simply do not function in the way the old do. Indeed, one lesson of
Dunkirk needs to be remembered when shaping an innovative military strategy for the
Pacific in the 21st century: new capabilities without new concepts of operations will
lead to strategic failure.

A military force is truly blessed if the combat leaders at all levels in the chain of com-
mand have the proper weapons and also the wisdom to employ them against a reactive
enemy. History of combat often shows that their not understanding or exploiting that
advantage can offset one army’s engagement-winning weapons.

It is true that weaker forces through brilliant leadership can vanquish the more technol-
ogy-capable and stronger army. Of course, as Napoleon said, he also wanted a general
who was lucky, and all combat leaders know how the great unknown of luck can also
determine the outcome.

And to add to the mix is another great thinker, Damon Runyon, who once quipped,
“The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to
bet.”

By all static order-of-battle accounting, the Miracle at Dunkirk should have never been
necessary, because the British and French had a number of key elements that could have
allowed them to win, including superior tanks to the attacking Germans and rough par-
ity in the air.

Second Line of Defense Lessons Learned at Pax River
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