<p>It is perhaps the first role of any air force to protect its home nation from attack, and the US Air Force still maintains a strong defense at home, although it is a shadow of its former self during the time when a separate Command was required to control the assigned assets. Today the job is entrusted to First Air Force of Air Combat Command which is now bereft of aircraft. Instead, it is an administrative command controlling the various assets which can still defend the United States.
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<p>Air Combat Command has many fighter units, but these are all primarily concerned with battlefield duties rather than interception. Instead, the US interceptor force is now concentrated in the Air National Guard organization. Two aircraft types are flown, the F-15 and the F-16 ADF. F-15s serve with a West Coast and an East Coast Guard unit, bolstered by several units across the nation flying the ADF version of the F-16, tailored to the interceptor role with Sparrow missile capability, searchlight and long-range communications. Another Guard unit also flies the F-15 in defense of the Hawaiian islands. The number of F-16 ADF units is reducing dramatically in view of the current negligible threat to the continental United States.
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<p>By far the greatest number of USAF fighters are flown by the 'tactical' units which have battlefield tasks. These include active-duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units based within the United States, and active-duty units based overseas. The standard equipment is the F-15 Eagle, which can perform the whole spectrum of fighter activities, including intercepts, sweeps, escorts and combat air patrols. Although primarily an attack aircraft, the F-16 is a potent backup to the Eagle force, notably for air combat immediately over the battlefield where engagements would largely be undertaken at close-in ranges and in multi-bogey 'furballs', where the F-16's excellent agility would be of the greatest advantage.
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<p>McDonnell's mighty Eagle is still arguably the world's best fighter, but the performance and radar capability of aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-27 have considerably eroded and may even have surpassed the Eagle's supremacy. Consequently, the US Air Force is well advanced along the path to providing a successor in the form of the Lockheed/Boeing F-22A. Again, the F-22 is a big, yet highly maneuverable, aircraft with outstanding BVR (beyond visual range) kill capability and all-round prowess far in advance of anything else flying today. Again, however, it is a costly program, and politicians argue that the turmoil in the former Soviet Union may mean that the F-22 never has to face aircraft that require the level of technology woven into the design.
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<p>The F-22 is another program facing complete cancellation, but it should be stressed that achieving air superiority/supremacy in any battle is the most important prerequisite for a victory on the ground, a fact graphically illustrated in the war against Iraq. If the F-22 is cancelled, then upgrades to the F-15 are the most likely option, rather than a completely new design.
