Quick primer on how many aircraft (and crew) it takes to maintain a 24 hour combat air patrol...

Here’s a quick teach-in on how to schedule a combat air patrol, and assess the number of aircraft needed to fill it over a 24 hour period. In theory it works for any aircraft, but let’s use the example of a Poseidon P8 Maritime Patrol aircraft. A maths🧵1/6 pic.twitter.com/3jQQ2b2uiX

— Greg Bagwell (@gregbagwell) August 26, 2025

Ok. I need to back off the wing a bit. This is simplified (yeah I know but he did a good job breaking it down for those of us in the back of the class) but its still amazing to me. The number of aircraft it takes, cause I always assume one will break, is impressive. As many planes as the US has, I just don't know if we have enough when you start looking at numbers like this. I have always been a little cold towards UAVs but they definitely have a place. We will burn thru aircrew fast just to maintain a CAP when we have forces engaged on the ground in a major war. UAVs will and probably already are essential for the kind of support I think we will need and that's just for air support. Add in air superiority, sub hunting, logistics, ISR, etc...and things start looking really skimpy really fast.