No more relying on the U.S. Army to protect the Air Force’s air bases — it’s time for the Air Force to take responsibility to defend its own airfields, argues an Air Force officer.

“The Air Force is doctrinally responsible for its own force protection,” wrote Lt. Col. Phil Ferris, an airpower strategist on the Air Staff, in a recent essay for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. Currently, “the Air Force’s only current active defense option” comes from its own fighter aircraft.

But that’s not feasible in many cases, Ferris argues.

“Many air bases do not have fighters on station, including many overseas and expeditionary environments,” Ferris told Defense News. The Air Force’s Security Forces “employ non-kinetic C-UAS [counter-unmanned aerial system] options and some small arm

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