Air supremacy is no longer America's God-given right. Our Cold War--let alone our World War II--anti-aircraft capabilities have eroded just in time for missiles and cheap drones to take aim at our air bases. A sense of urgency is in order given our reliance on air power.
Most of the American aircraft lost from Iranian action were drones and weren’t knocked down while on the ground and so completely irrelevant to the author’s point, but yes:
The days of exposed aircraft sitting safely on runways to prosecute operations unimpeded are over. But not nearly enough U.S. military bases at home or abroad are hardened or sheltered to protect our most capable equipment.
I am fully onboard the need for ground-based air defense and more basic air base protection measures.
And grant me that I recognized the base defense problem that small drones would pose. And that was before they were armed with explosives and got longer range.
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NOTE: Photo from the last war when we failed to have a sense of urgency about air base defense.
