ABSTRACT
In the 1950's the number is over a hundred, and in the 1960's it will be in the thousands. Only a doctrine which defines the purpose of these weapons and the kind of war in which they are to be employed permits a rational choice. Strategic doctrine transcends the problem of selecting weapons systems. It is the mode of survival of a society. The Air Force, which has primary responsibility for all weapons which depend on the air as a means of locomotion, is impelled by its primary mission to consider airlift a marginal requirement. A weapons system, no matter how obsolescent, represents a budgetary category. There is no guarantee that a replacement will find acceptance among the budgetary authorities, and in any case justifying a new item involves a long process fraught with serious danger of budgetary reduction.
