Description Details
This study examines the development and usefulness of US air attack theory and doctrine during the interwar period, 1919–1941. This period represents more than 20years of development in US Air Corps attack theory and doctrine. It was the first peacetime period of such development. Attack aviation during this time was a branch of aviation used to provide direct and indirect combat support to ground forces in the form of machine-gun strafing, light bombing, and chemical attacks....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . 1 Principal Research Question . . . . . 1 Background and Significance of the Problem . . . . 1 Limitations of the Study . . . . . 2 Definitions and Assumptions . . . . 2 Preview of the Argument . . . . . 3 Notes . . . . . 3 2 ATTACK THEORY AND DOCTRINE OF THE AIR SERVICE, 1919–1926 . . . . 5 Attack Aviation’s World War I Legacy . . . . 5 Air Service Attack Theory . . . . 6 Attack Doctrine Established . . . . . 8 Early Training and Maneuvers . . . . . 11 Notes . . . . . 13 3 ATTACK THEORY AND DOCTRINE IN THE AIR CORPS, 1926–1935 . . . . . 15 Attack Aviation in the New Air Corps . . . . 15 Air Corps Attack Theory . . . . . 16 Attack Doctrine Matures . . . . . 20 Annual Training and Maneuvers . . . . 22 Notes . . . . . 24 4 ATTACK THEORY AND DOCTRINE BEFORE WORLD WAR II, 1935–1941 . . . . . 27 Attack Aviation in the GHQ Air Force . . . . 27 Attack Theory Refined . . . . 28 Attack Doctrine before World War II . . . . 29 Prewar Codification of Doctrine . . . . . 32 Exercises, Maneuvers, and Lessons of War . . . . . 33 Notes . . . . . 34 5 CONCLUSION . . . . . 37 Summary of Findings . ....

Description Details
This study analyzes and assesses the changes in organization and structure of the active Air Force and ANG fighter maintenance units from the time the ANG became a separate reserve component in 1946 to the present-day organization, paralleling it with the active Air Force. It takes the reader from the ANG maintenance unit's beginning, through the changes that occurred over the years and the reason for the changes, to the present day organization. It then provides a glimpse at the future maintenance organization....

Table of Contents Details
1 AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE: PAST AND PRESENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I Centralized Control, 1930-45 . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Period of Uncertainty, 1945-55 . . . . . . . . . . 5 Return to Centralization, 1955-70 . . . . . . . . 7 Decentralized Control, 1970 to the Present . .8 Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Current Organization Structure Theory : A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Air Force and Major Command Policy Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2 THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION AND THE COMBAT ORIENTED MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATION . . . . . . . . . . 23 The Centralized Organization . . . . . . . . . . .23 Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 The Decentralized Organization . . . . . . . . .26 Strengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Air National Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

Description Details
This study analyzes Gen O. P. Weyland’s impact on close air support (CAS) during the Korean War. First, the author briefly traces the history and evolution of air-ground support from its infancy to the start of the Korean War. Second, he shifts his focus to the effectiveness of CAS throughout the conflict and addresses why this mission was controversial for the Army and Air Force. Third, he highlights General Weyland’s perspective on tactical airpower and his role in the close-air-support “controversy.”...

Table of Contents Details
1 Close Air Support in 2006 . . . . . . . . .1 2 History and Evolution of Close Air Support: World War I to the Korean War . . . . . . . 5 3 Background on Gen O. P. Weyland . . . . 17 4 Close Air Support in Korea: The Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 5 An Airman’s Perspective of Close Air Support in Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 6 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83...

Description Details
This study analyzes the evolution of targeting organizations to identify their strengths and evaluate their impact on future organizations. While both strategic and tactical targeting are discussed, the primary emphasis is on the former. This study analyzes the evolution of targeting organizations to identify their strengths and evaluate their impact on future organizations. While both strategic and tactical targeting are discussed, the primary emphasis is on the former....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . 1 2 CENTRALIZATION OR DECENTRALIZATION? . . . . 3 3 TARGETING AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE . . . . 9 4 THE EVOLUTION OF TARGETING . . . . 17 5 FINDINGS, OBSERVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . 37...

Description Details
This thesis describes crony attack, comments on requirements for successful development of crony attack methodology, and investigates a prominent case where the United States apparently used this strategy. This thesis treats crony attack primarily as a form of strategic attack, carried out during the air campaign portion of military operations. It also outlines a theoretical foundation for such a targeting strategy....

Table of Contents Details
1 Introduction . . . .1 2 Background . . . . . 5 3 Theory of Crony Attack. . . . .15 4 Strategy of Crony Attack. . . . .21 5 Operation Allied Force: A Case Study. . . . .27 6 Conclusions. . . . .41 BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . .43...

Description Details
This study analyzes how real-time battle damage assessment (BDA) might contribute to airpower strategy and execution. It provides a historical review of BDA during World War II, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf War and examines the current BDA doctrine, capabilities, and procedures to illustrate contemporary strengths and shortcomings. This study identifies potential remedies to contemporary issues based on real-time BDA solutions by addressing technological, procedural, and organizational aspects. It evaluates the strengths and limitations of these possible remedies, with respect to airpower planning and execution, to identify viable solutions. This study assesses how alternative solutions might affect airpower strategy formation and execution by examining the improvements intelligence agencies and the services are likely to pursue over the near term and concludes with recommendations for the future....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . 1 2 HISTORY OF BOMB DAMAGE ASSESSMENT . . . . 3 3 BATTLE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT TODAY . . . . . 15 4 POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS . . . . . . . . 27 5 IMPLICATIONS FOR AIRPOWER . . . . . . 47 GLOSSARY . . . . 55...

Description Details
Organizational change strategies for acquisition are essential due to the enormity of change required of the acquisition community. The Congress and the DOD have made many previous attempts at acquisition reform, but most have had little effect. To make sure our current reform efforts make positive, lasting changes, we must transform the acquisition culture. To date, little attention has been paid to cultural change aspects. To that end, this paper offers some ideas for organizations undergoing change for acquisition reform....

Description Details
In this paper, Lt Col Mary E. Griswold discusses the basics of the electromagnetic spectrum and UAS operations, pointing out how frequency management and bandwidth availability are key to UAS operations. She illustrates this through examples of difficulties encountered during military operations with spectrum and bandwidth issues. Finally, she notes that solutions to the current challenges are found in the employment of both short- and long-term actions in these areas to improve and optimize the use and availability of spectrum support for UAS operations in the future....

Description Details
In this well-researched and insightful study, Lt Col Gregory A. Roman examines the relationships between military organizational hierarchies and the impact of battlespace information. Drawing on a sophisticated range of studies and data and using numerous illustrations, the author contends that the outmoded effects of traditionally centralized (and technologically proliferating) command and control orientations preclude the US military (and particularly the Air Force) from effectively applying and acting upon the benefits of information-age technologies in an age of information warfare. The author sees future warfare characterized by faster decision making, faster operational tempos, and a torrent of tactical battlefield information. These new realities necessitate greater decentralization of control, more flexible information gathering, and creative, nontraditional military organizational arrangements....

Description Details
The role of airpower in theater campaigns is a matter of heated debate among the military services and their supporters. Lt Col. Robert P. Givens’s Turning the Vertical Flank: Airpower As a Maneuver Force in the Theater Campaign addresses a question that is fundamental to that debate: to what extent can airpower function as a maneuver force in a theater campaign....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Clarifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 FUNCTIONS OF A MANEUVER FORCE . . . . . 7 Ancient Greece––Shock Action through Direct Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Rome—A Maneuver Force Exerts a Zone of Influence over the Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Neoclassical Period—A Maneuver Force Compels or Denies Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Napoleonic Era—A Maneuver Force Gains and Exploits a Position of Advantage . . . . . 13 Maneuver Force Performance Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Gettysburg Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3 1973 YOM KIPPUR WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Maneuver Force Characteristics of Israeli Air Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Summary ....

Description Details
This study attempts to determine whether air component commands are capable of developing an effective airpower strategy. It examines US Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) because of its recent experience in developing and executing a sizable airpower contribution to a theater campaign. The author sets the background by describing CENTAF’s role in the Persian Gulf War theater campaign strategy. The conclusion is that the commander in chief (CINC) of Central Command did not think that CENTAF had an acceptable holistic airpower strategy in August 1990 and therefore requested the assistance of the Air Staff at the Pentagon. Next, the author justifies and describes credible sources for determining the attributes of an effective operational-level airpower strategy. Using this information, he recommends a notional air component commander’s campaign planning organization and describes the individual branch’s responsibilities and products....

Table of Contents Details
1 USCENTAF’S ROLE IN CENTCOM’S PERSIAN GULF CAMPAIGN STRATEGY . . . . 1 Notes . . . . . 4 2 CREDIBLE SOURCES FOR DETERMINING THE ATTRIBUTES OF AN EFFECTIVE AIRPOWER STRATEGY . . . . 5 Notes . . . . . 10 3 RECOMMENDED RESPONSIBILITIES AND PRODUCTS OF AN AIR COMPONENT COMMANDER’S CAMPAIGN PLANNING ORGANIZATION . . . . 11 Notes . . . . . 18 4 REPORT ON USCENTAF PLANNING STAFF’S STATUS—EARLY 1995 . . . . . 19 Notes . . . . . 27 5 IMPLICATIONS/SOLUTIONS TO AIR COMPONENT COMMANDS’ COMBAT PLANNING SHORTFALLS . . . . 29 Notes . . . . . 31 6 CONCLUSION . . . . . 33 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . 35 ...

Description Details
This paper explains why the Iraqi performance in Desert Storm was predictable: Nonindustrialized, third world nations are incapable of fielding a decisive, conventional air force. To illustrate the point, this essay studies Iraq’s performance in the war against Iran. During the conflict, the Iraqi air force obtained all the equipment and training money could buy, but after eight years of combat experience it still made only minor contributions in a war effort against an equal foe. The in- ability of third world nations to independently organize, train, and equip air forces to decisive levels is inevitable. Avoiding large, wasted sums of money fielding a force of questionable value should lead these countries to alternative forms of aerial warfare....

Table of Contents Details
1 ORGANIZATION 1 Origins of the Ba’athist Movement 1 Iraqi Military Political Involvement 2 Organization of the Air Force 3 Organizational Summary 5 Notes 6 2 TRAINING 7 Importance of Training 7 Public Education in Iraq 8 Iraqi Military Training 9 Foreign Training 10 The Training Factor 11 Notes 13 3 EQUIPPING 14 Expanding the Military in Iraq 14 Growth of the Iraqi Air Force 15 Iraq’s Money Supply 17 Problems of Acquisition 18 Notes 20 4 EMPLOYMENT. 21 Prewar Air Power Balance 22 Start of the War 22 Air Power in the First Two Years 25 Export War 27 Targeting Iran’s Will 33 Air Support of the Army 37 Summary of Iraqi Air Combat 41 Notes 42 5 CONCLUSION 45 Failure of the Iraqi Air Force 45 Limits of Third World Air Power 46 Alternatives to a Large Air Force 46 The Future 48 BIBLIOGRAPHY 49...

Description Details
This paper analyzes the participation of the US Twelfth Air Force in the Mediterranean theater of operation from 1943 to 1944 and also studies the coalition and joint operations required in the air campaign. Coalition and joint warfare provides numerous command, control, and coordination problems that are not easily de-conflicted. The goal of this paper is to highlight the lessons learned from the selected operations and their applicability to twenty-first-century warfare. The author will examine the development of tactics and operational procedures that were unique to this theater of war and the leadership challenges encountered in a coalition or joint command structure. This study will also examine the effectiveness of combined air operations with the RAF in support of the amphibious landings conducted by the US Fifth and British Eight Armies at Sicily, Salerno, and Anzio, Italy....

Table of Contents Details
1 Introduction . . . . 1 2 ALLIED AIR OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA . . . . .5 3 OPERATION HUSKY AND THE INVASION OF SICILY . . . .17 4 OPERATION AVALANCHE AND THE INVASION OF ITALY . .33 5 OPERATION SHINGLE AND THE ASSAULT OF ANZIO . . . .47 6 Conclusion . . . . 63 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . 69...

Description Details
This study chronologically traces the historical development of the aerospace concept, from its initial inception in 1944 as it was embodied in the far-reaching vision of Gen Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, until its public appearance in 1958. This study also uncovers reasons why airmen came to see their primary area of responsibility differently than the rest of the nation and why their aerospace concept failed to win bureaucratic support. By tracing the aerospace concept’s technological and intellectual development against a contextual backdrop of geopolitics, national security strategy, national space policy, interservice competition, and internal tensions within the Air Force, this paper offers historical lessons learned for today’s planners seeking to move the Air Force toward an aerospace force....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . 1 Notes . . . . . 5 2 AEROSPACE’S NASCENCY (1944–47) . . . . 7 Notes . . . . . 18 3 AEROSPACE VERSUS THE AIR FORCE (1947–52) . . . . . 21 Notes . . . . . 32 4 AEROSPACE VERSUS EISENHOWER (1953–58) . . . . 35 Notes . . . . . 63 5 SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS . . . . 69 Notes . . . . . 82 6 CONCLUSION . . . . . 85 Notes . . . . . 86...

Description Details
This companion to personal professional study is intended to promote the early development of such a lifetime program and to serve as a tool to facilitate its planning and execution....

Table of Contents Details
1 THE INFANCY OF AIRPOWER. . . . . . . . . .3 2 NAVAL AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3 AIRPOWER IN WORLD WAR I . . . . . . . . . 11 4 LAYING THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS, 1919–1931 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 5 AN AGE OF INNOVATION, 1931–1941 . . . . 19 6 NAVAL AVIATION BETWEEN THE WARS . . . .23 7 WORLD WAR II: THE RISE OF THE LUFTWAFFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 8 WORLD WAR II: EUROPE—THE STRATEGIC BOMBING DIMENSION . . . . . . . . . .33 9 WORLD WAR II: EUROPE—THE TACTICAL AIR CAMPAIGNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 10 WORLD WAR II: EUROPE—NAVAL AVIATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 11 WORLD WAR II: ROYAL AIR FORCE . . . .45 12 WORLD WAR II: SOVIET AIR FORCE . . . .51 13 WORLD WAR II: THE FALL OF THE LUFTWAFFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 14 WORLD WAR II: PACIFIC—JAPANESE AIRPOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 15 WORLD WAR II: PACIFIC—THE USAAF IN THE SOUTHWEST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 16 WORLD WAR II: CENTRAL PACIFIC—NAVAL AIRPOWER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 17 WORLD WAR II...

Description Details
To help educate airmen about the realities of counterinsurgency, this study addresses how insurgent warfare is fundamentally different from conventional wars, develops lessons from two case studies, highlights the challenges that US airmen face, and examines the adequacy of Air Force and Joint doctrine for counterinsurgency operations....

Table of Contents Details
INTRODUCTION......8 Insurgencies: Not Uncommon ....8 Insurgencies in the Abstract....10 Insurgencies: Fundamentally Different.....11 Counterinsurgency: The US Airman’s Challenge .....12 Methodology of this Study......14 Limitations of the Study....15 SOUTH VIETNAMESE COUNTERINSURGENCY CAMPAIGN AND OPERATION FARMGATE, 1961-1964.....16 Origins of Conflict ......16 Overview of FARMGATE .....18 Program Inception....18 Concept of Operations ......19 Analysis of Operations......20 US Air Force Involvement......20 Army of the Republic of Vietnam ......22 Vietnamese Air Force ....23 Factors Affecting the Role of Air Advisors....24 National Politics....24 US Inter-Service Competition....26 Cultural Factors.....28 Command, Control and Operations ....29 Tasking Air Assets......29 Mission Planning and Targeting Guidance.....31 Combat Intelligence ....32 Other Significant Issues ....33 Rules of Engagement .....33 Training.....34 Equipment....35 FARMGATE Counterinsurgency Operations: Lessons Learned.....37 EL SALVADOR INSURGENCY: 1981-1992.....39 Overview of Operations....41 US Involvement ....41 Salvadoran Milita...

Description Details
The intent of this study is to develop general propositions regarding the nature of force-application (FA) effects. As part of that development, effect propositions are developed regarding time relationships, major functions of warfare, organizing schemes, levels of war, and simple and complex systems....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . 1 2 CONCEPTS AND TERMS . . . . 7 3 SYSTEMS APPROACH . . . . . . 27 4 EFFECTS: APPLICABILITY, COMPLEXITY, AND PLANNING . . . . . . 39 5 APRIMER ON EFFECTS . . . . 51 6 TARGET-EFFECT PAIRINGS AND MECHANISMS . . . . . . 63 7 COERCIVE FORCE APPLICATION AND EFFECTS . . . . . 73 8 FRAMEWORK FOR A SYSTEMS-AND-EFFECTS-BASED APPROACH. . . . . 87 9 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . 97...

Description Details
The author’s examination of the counterair strategy process shows how joint force commanders should balance objectives, the balance of forces, the nature of the theater, and policy limits to build a counterair strategy that links means to ends by choosing methods, targets, and attack timing.The author’s discussion of current counterair issues shows that the services appreciate the product (freedom of action for land, sea, and air forces) that control of the air provides, but neglect the process of obtaining it. Current air power disputes emphasize the control and targeting of air resources, and slight the potential impact of these issues on America’s future ability to control the air and space....

Table of Contents Details
1 AIR SUPERIORITY AND JOINT OPERATIONS . . . . . 1 Notes . . . . . 4 2 VISIONS AND DOCTRINE . . . . 5 Doctrine . . . . 6 Counterair Doctrine Evaluation . . . . . 8 Service Doctrine . . . . . 12 Joint Doctrine . . . . . 14 Conclusion . . . . 14 Notes . . . . . 15 3 COUNTERAIR STRATEGY, TARGETS, AND TIMING . . . . . 19 The Counterair System . . . . 19 Basic Strategy Considerations . . . . 20 Strategic Choices . . . . . 22 Offense and Defense . . . . . 23 Targets . . . . 27 Strategy, Targets, and Timing . . . . 29 Measures of Success . . . . . 31 Conclusion . . . . 31 Notes . . . . . 32 4 COUNTERAIR FORCES . . . . 35 Capability and Cost . . . . 35 Air-to-Air and Surface-to-Air Weapons . . . . . 36 Manned and Unmanned Systems . . . . 37 Specialized and Multirole Forces . . . . 37 Weapons . . . . 38 Force Multipliers . . . . . 39 Conclusion . . . . 40 Notes . . . . . 40 5 COUNTERAIR ISSUES . . . . 43 Roles and Missions . . . . 43 The Bottom Up Review . . . . 44 Controlling Joint Air Forces . . . . . 48 Fire Support Coordination . . . . 50 Theater Missile Defense . . . . . 52 Conclusion . . . . 53 No...

Description Details
Drawing from the vision of airpower theorists and building on insights gained from studies on various regime changes, this thesis advances a theory of regime change and outlines a strategy for the use of airpower. To remain in power, regimes must continue to provide goods to the group of people responsible for its rise to power—the winning coalition. Different types of regimes rely on different types of goods to satisfy their winning coalition. This thesis advances the hypothesis that adversely affecting these goods will create policy failure, increase dissatisfaction among the winning coalition, and cause members to seek out a new coalition and regime to provide the lost goods. Additionally, since many regimes supply goods to third parties to retain their support, an additional hypothesis was introduced to account for the influence of international support....

Table of Contents Details
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . 1 2 THE THEORY . . . . 5 3 THE CAUSAL MECHANISM . . . . 19 4 AMERICAN REGIME CHANGE . . . . 27 5 SOUTH VIETNAMESE REGIME CHANGE . . . . . 37 6 CONCLUSION . . . . 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . 53...