The ability to recognize and identify aircraft on sight remains a skill that soldiers need to acquire even in a highly automated military, according to the U.S. Army.
“Soldiers must be knowledgeable in the identification of all types of aerial platforms ranging from fixed, tilt, and rotary wing aircraft and unmanned aircraft, in order to protect friendly forces and to prevent fratricide,” a newly updated Army manual said.
“There have been many arguments through the years that the military does not need VACR [visual aircraft recognition], because of the advancement of technology that identifies friendly or enemy aerial platforms. [But] VACR is a basic skill that every Soldier should know. Soldiers cannot blindly depend on automation to do their jobs for them.”
The manual provides reference information on “current operational aircraft that are observed worldwide or in the combat area” but “it is not all-inclusive because of some classification guidelines.”
Along with several new aircraft profiles, the updated manual now includes photographs of the referenced aircraft. See Visual Aircraft Recognition, US Army Training Circular 3-01.80, May 2017.
Satellite imagery of RAF Lakenheath reveals new construction of a security perimeter around ten protective aircraft shelters in the designated nuclear area, the latest measure in a series of upgrades as the base prepares for the ability to store U.S. nuclear weapons.
It will take consistent leadership and action to navigate the complex dangers in the region and to avoid what many analysts considered to be an increasingly possible outcome, a nuclear conflict in East Asia.
Getting into a shutdown is the easy part, getting out is much harder. Both sides will be looking to pin responsibility on each other, and the court of public opinion will have a major role to play as to who has the most leverage for getting us out.
How the United States responds to China’s nuclear buildup will shape the global nuclear balance for the rest of the century.