Missile Trucks are not a new idea....

The idea of ​​turning bombers and even AEW&C into fighters was amazing, but none of them succeeded. pic.twitter.com/fyGP7bduI2

— Caesar (@Ninja998998) June 10, 2019

Missile trucks are not a new idea and Caesar point out previous attempts quite well.

What has me spinning is how the Fighter Mafia has so successfully been able to squash this idea and keep single seat fighters the pre-eminent type of airplane in the Air Force's inventory.

The B-1R concept was nothing but genius.  The only fail was the failure of imagination on the part of leadership.

Even today the idea of a loitering, high speed missile truck totting 20 or more air to air missiles has got to be attractive.

The only real limiting feature is the fact that missile tech has been allowed to lay by the wayside.

There is no reason why we don't have a couple hundred mile air to air missile with great terminal velocity.

Quite honestly its a need that should be obvious to everyone.  But instead of pursing payloads over platforms we've forced ourselves to chase holy grails like laser tech which will only be effective in the near term for defense, not offensive roles.

It all comes back to the crazy focus on penetrating platforms.  

Somehow someway we've evolved into an almost totally offensive force.  We say that we "defend freedom" but somehow we're always on the offense to accomplish that task.

It's just plain weird.

Notice that we're seeing exercises that are skewed toward seizing airports, seizing ports, rapid deployment here or there...never do we exercise acting in the defense.

I think that explains why we're pursuing the concepts that we are and leaving so many great ideas on the drawing boards.