Airpower In Small Wars

Author : James S. Corum,Wray R. Johnson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 536 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015056942314

Get Book

Airpower in Small Wars by James S. Corum,Wray R. Johnson Pdf

The use of airpower in wartime calls to mind the massive bombings of World War II, but airplanes have long been instrumental in small wars as well. Ever since its use by the French to put down rebellious Moroccan tribes in 1913, airpower has been employed to fight in limited but often lengthy small conflicts around the globe. This is the first comprehensive history of airpower in small wars-conflicts pitting states against non-state groups such as insurgents, bandits, factions, and terrorists-tracing it from the early years of the twentieth century to the present day. It examines dozens of conflicts with strikingly different scenarios: the Greek Civil War, the Philippine Anti-Huk campaign, French and British colonial wars, the war in South Vietnam before the American escalation, counterinsurgency in southern Africa, Latin American counterguerrilla operations, and counterinsurgency and counterterrorist campaigns in the Middle East over the last four decades. For each war, the authors describe the strategies employed on both sides of the conflict, the air forces engaged, and the specific airpower tactics employed. They discuss the ground campaigns and provide the political background necessary to understand the air campaigns, and in each case they judge the utility of airpower in its broadest sense. In their historic sweep, they show how forms of airpower evolved from planes to police helicopters, aircraft of the civilian air reserve, and today's unmanned aircraft. They also disclose how small wars after World War II required new strategies, operational solutions, and tactics. By taking this broad view of small-war airpower, the authors are able to make assessments about the most effective and least effective means of employing airpower. They offer specific conclusions ranging from the importance of comprehensive strategy to the need for the United States and its allies to expand small-wars training programs. Airpower in Small Wars will be invaluable for educating military professionals and policy makers in the subject as well as for providing a useful framework for developing more effective doctrine for employing airpower in the conflicts we are most likely to see in the twenty-first century.

Author : Mark R. Heusinkveld,School of Advanced Military Studies
Publisher : Createspace Independent Pub
Page : 62 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2012-08-25
Category : History
ISBN : 147919560X

Get Book

Air Command and Control in Small Wars by Mark R. Heusinkveld,School of Advanced Military Studies Pdf

There has been much discussion about the best use of airpower in small wars, specifically with regard to current operations in Afghanistan. Coalition air forces involved in Operation Enduring Freedom use the same command and control (C2) structures doctrinally established for all types of operations. The Air Force doctrine of centralized control and decentralized execution drives the makeup of C2 within the operation. Is there a better way to structure airpower in small wars? Although neither France nor the United States met their strategic objective, air operations by the French in Algeria and the United States in Vietnam provide contrasting models of C2 structures for a comparative case study. The French saw the importance of a decentralized model to maximize the support of ground troops. To use modern terminology, the French set up a joint task force in each geographic section of Algeria. Each geographic area had its own air command post collocated with the French Army command post within the region. The United States, on the other hand, centralized control of aircraft. United States Air Force (USAF) doctrine, in Vietnam, required that air assets be under the centralized control of a single air commander. Interservice rivalry heated this debate; the USAF was unwilling to allow anyone other than an air commander to control aircraft. The USAF argued that decentralization of airpower could easily have wasted the scarce air resources found in theater. However, it was centralized in name only. Aircraft were commanded and controlled under a variety of organizations to include, 7th Air Force, 13th Air Force, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the US Embassy. Both operations provide insight into the effectiveness and efficiency of the air C2 structures. This monograph asks if the structures used by the air forces in these conflicts can provide lessons for the United States in small wars today. If current structures are not as effective or efficient, commanders can modify the structures, using the insights gained by this monograph, to provide better support to ground operations in today's small wars.

Author : Wray R. Johnson
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
Page : 440 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2019-04-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9780813177069

Get Book

Biplanes at War by Wray R. Johnson Pdf

Unlike the relative uniformity of conventional warfare, the peculiarities of small wars prevent a clear definition of rules and roles for military forces to follow. During the small wars era, aviation was still in its infancy, and the US military had only recently begun battling in the skies. The US Marine Corps recognized that flexibility and ingenuity would be critical to the successful conduct of small wars and thus employed the new technology of aviation. In Biplanes at War: US Marine Corps Aviation in the Small Wars Era, 1915–1934, author Wray R. Johnson provides a riveting history of the marines' use of aviation between the world wars, a time in which young soldiers were volunteering to fly in combat when flying itself was a dangerous feat. Starting with Haiti in 1915, Biplanes at War follows the marines' aviation experiences in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, China, and Nicaragua, chronicling how marines used aircraft to provide supporting fires (e.g., dive-bombing) to ground troops in close contact with irregular opponents, evacuate the sick and wounded, transport people and cargo (e.g., to assist humanitarian operations), and even support elections in furtherance of democracy. After years of expanding the capabilities of airplanes far beyond what was deemed possible, the small wars era ended, and the US Marines Corps transitioned into an amphibious assault force. The legacy of the marines' ability to adapt and innovate during the small wars era endures and provides a useful case study. Biplanes at War sheds light on how the marines pioneered roles and missions that have become commonplace for air forces today, an accomplishment that has largely gone unrecognized in mainstream histories of aviation and air power.

Author : Robert O Cioppa
Publisher : War College Series
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2015-02-23
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1296473341

Get Book

Airpower in Small Wars Back to the Future - War College Series by Robert O Cioppa Pdf

This is a curated and comprehensive collection of the most important works covering matters related to national security, diplomacy, defense, war, strategy, and tactics. The collection spans centuries of thought and experience, and includes the latest analysis of international threats, both conventional and asymmetric. It also includes riveting first person accounts of historic battles and wars.Some of the books in this Series are reproductions of historical works preserved by some of the leading libraries in the world. As with any reproduction of a historical artifact, some of these books contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. We believe these books are essential to this collection and the study of war, and have therefore brought them back into print, despite these imperfections.We hope you enjoy the unmatched breadth and depth of this collection, from the historical to the just-published works.

Author : School of Advanced Airpower Studies
Publisher : Createspace Independent Pub
Page : 206 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2014-07-13
Category : History
ISBN : 1500500291

Get Book

Small Wars, Big Stakes by School of Advanced Airpower Studies Pdf

The United States has vital interests to defend in many foreign countries. The strategist must understand the relationship between counterrevolutionary strategy, the military instrument, and airpower if called upon to help a friendly government defeat a revolutionary threat. Four questions can help the strategist explore the nature of this relationship. What is the role of the military instrument in counterrevolutionary warfare? What is the role of airpower in counterrevolutionary warfare? Can airpower achieve strategic effects in counterrevolutionary warfare? Can airpower make major contributions toward the success of counterrevolutionary forces? The strategy development process is a tool that can guide the strategist through a review of revolutionary theory and an analysis of counterrevolutionary strategy. The revolutionary environment must be examined to determine the actors, motivations, aims, and strategies of the revolutionary battlefield. Next, a national counterrevolutionary strategy is formulated that identifies the roles that each instrument of power must play to achieve the desired end-state. Military leaders formulate a subordinate strategy based on the assigned role(s), which includes determining how airpower can best support the national strategy. Strategy execution implies monitoring the instruments of power, reassessing the environment, and modifying ends, ways, and means as appropriate. Theory suggests the government must correctly identify the nature of the revolutionary threat before developing its counterrevolutionary strategy. After determining whether it is facing a partisan or insurgent threat (or something in between), the government tries to identify the correct mixture of persuasive and coercive operations that is needed to win over the people and neutralize the revolutionary threat. Persuasive strategies seek to gain, bolster, or otherwise amass the popular support required for legitimacy. Coercive strategies attempt to neutralize the adversary by making him irrelevant to the political process prior to total military defeat. The military instrument and its airpower tool conduct operations in pursuit of both persuasive and coercive tasks. Three historical cases are analyzed to gain experienced based insights to answer the thesis questions. The cases were the Greek Civil War, 1946-1949; the Malayan Emergency, 1948-1960; and the Insurrection in El Salvador, 1981-1992. In each of these cases the governments struggled to develop a counterrevolutionary strategy. In Greece and Malaya the government successfully neutralized the revolutionary threat. Although the Salvadoran government technically defeated the rebels, they remained an important part of El Salvador's political process. This work offers four conclusions. First, the roles of the military instrument in counterrevolutionary warfare are persuasion and coercion. Next, airpower normally assumes the role assigned to the military instrument, although airpower's unique versatility often permits the simultaneous accomplishment of both persuasive and coercive operations. Third, airpower can create both positive and negative strategic effects. Finally, airpower makes its most important contribution toward the success of counterrevolutionary forces when it is employed in support of ground operations

Author : Dr Donald J. Mrozek
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-11-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781786250131

Get Book

Air Power And The Ground War In Vietnam, Ideas And Actions by Dr Donald J. Mrozek Pdf

Ultimately, this study is about a smaller Vietnam War than that which is commonly recalled. It focuses on expectations concerning the impact of air power on the ground war and on some of its actual effects, but it avoids major treatment of some of the most dramatic air actions of the war, such as the bombing of Hanoi. To many who fought the war and believe it ought to have been conducted on a still larger scale or with fewer restraints, this study may seem almost perverse, emphasizing as it does the utility of air power in conducting the conflict as a ground war and without total exploitation of our most awe-inspiring technology. Although the chapters in this study are intended to form a coherent and unified argument, each also offers discrete messages. The chapters are not meant to be definitive. They do not exhaust available documentary material, and they often rely heavily on published accounts. Nor do they provide a complete chronological picture of the uses of air power, even with respect to the ground war. Nor is coverage of areas in which air power was employed—South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam—evenly distributed nor necessarily proportionate to the effort expended in each place during the war. Lastly, some may find one or another form of air power either slightly or insufficiently treated. Such criticisms are beside the point, for the objectives of this study are to explore a comparatively neglected theme—the impact of air power on the ground—and to encourage further utilization of lessons drawn from the Vietnam experience.

Author : David Dean
Publisher : University Press of the Pacific
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2002-04-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0898758920

Get Book

The Air Force Role in Low-Intensity Conflict by David Dean Pdf

This book grew from an opportunity to study a third world air force fighting an externally supported insurgency. The players were the Royal Moroccan Air Force and the Polisario, the latter trying to wrest control of the Western Sahara from the Kingdom of Morocco. The United States has also been a player in the Morocco-Polisario war as the source of much of Moroccos war material, especially the weapons used by the Royal Moroccan Air Force. Help from the United States was especially important when the Polisario deployed Soviet-built SA-6 surface-to-air missiles to counter the growing effectiveness of the Royal Moroccan Air Force. For many reasons, the United States and the US Air Force were not able to assist the Moroccans effectively. The Moroccan-Polisario-US scenario that provides the basis for this study was a tiny aspect of US foreign and military policy in the early 1980s. But it shows a political-military problem that deserves a good deal of thought now. That problem simply stated is: How is the United States going to exert political-military influence in the third world during the next twenty years? Clearly, overall US influence in the third world will be a combination of political, military, economic, and social activity. But the military, in many cases, will be the most visible form of assistance, and one upon which the recipient nation will depend for immediate results. Are the military components as instruments of national policy able to act effectively in the third world? If not, what needs to be done? Colonel Deans study makes a significant contribution to the growing body of literature on low-intensity conflict.

Author : Robert L. Pfaltzgraff,Richard H. Shultz
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 387 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1992
Category : Air power
ISBN : 9781428992818

Get Book

The Future of Air Power in the Aftermath of the Gulf War by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff,Richard H. Shultz Pdf

This collection of essays reflects the proceedings of a 1991 conference on "The United States Air Force: Aerospace Challenges and Missions in the 1990s," sponsored by the USAF and Tufts University. The 20 contributors comment on the pivotal role of airpower in the war with Iraq and address issues and choices facing the USAF, such as the factors that are reshaping strategies and missions, the future role and structure of airpower as an element of US power projection, and the aerospace industry's views on what the Air Force of the future will set as its acquisition priorities and strategies. The authors agree that aerospace forces will be an essential and formidable tool in US security policies into the next century. The contributors include academics, high-level military leaders, government officials, journalists, and top executives from aerospace and defense contractors.

Author : Donald J. Mrozek
Publisher : Potomac Books
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 1988
Category : History
ISBN : STANFORD:36105038555152

Get Book

Air Power and the Ground War in Vietnam by Donald J. Mrozek Pdf

A history and an examination of close air support in Vietnam. Detailed and well written. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Author : Robin Higham,Mark Parillo
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
Page : 328 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780813140728

Get Book

The Influence of Airpower upon History by Robin Higham,Mark Parillo Pdf

From early zeppelins, to the Luftwaffe and the Enola Gay, to the unmanned aerial vehicles of today, air power has long been regarded as an invaluable instrument of war. However, nations have employed aircraft for many other purposes as well; they provide security and surveillance, and they are vital to myriad diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. Air power has become a means for statesmen to advance a variety of goals, opening up new possibilities and problems in times of peace as well as war. The Influence of Air Power upon History examines the many ways in which aviation technology has impacted policymaking since 1903. It analyzes air strategy in nations around the world and explores how a country's presumed technological capability, or lack thereof, has become a crucial aspect of diplomacy. Together, the essays in this insightful volume offer a greater understanding of the history of military force and diplomatic relations in the global community.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 131 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2024-06-07
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781428994164

Get Book

Air & Space Power Journal fall 04 by Anonim Pdf

Author : Mark Clodfelter
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0803264542

Get Book

The Limits of Air Power by Mark Clodfelter Pdf

Tracing the use of air power in World War II and the Korean War, Mark Clodfelter explains how U. S. Air Force doctrine evolved through the American experience in these conventional wars only to be thwarted in the context of a limited guerrilla struggle in Vietnam. Although a faith in bombing's sheer destructive power led air commanders to believe that extensive air assaults could win the war at any time, the Vietnam experience instead showed how even intense aerial attacks may not achieve military or political objectives in a limited war. Based on findings from previously classified documents in presidential libraries and air force archives as well as on interviews with civilian and military decision makers, The Limits of Air Power argues that reliance on air campaigns as a primary instrument of warfare could not have produced lasting victory in Vietnam. This Bison Books edition includes a new chapter that provides a framework for evaluating air power effectiveness in future conflicts.

Author : Karl P. Mueller
Publisher : Rand Corporation
Page : 447 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2015-07-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780833087935

Get Book

Precision and Purpose by Karl P. Mueller Pdf

Between March and October 2011, a coalition of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states and several partner nations waged a war against Muammar Qaddafi's Libyan regime that stemmed and then reversed the tide of Libya's civil war, preventing Qaddafi from crushing the nascent rebel movement seeking to overthrow his dictatorship and going on to enable opposition forces to prevail. The central element of this intervention was a relatively small multinational force's air campaign operating from NATO bases in several countries, as well as from a handful of aircraft carriers and amphibious ships in the Mediterranean Sea. The study details each country's contribution to that air campaign, examining such issues as the limits of airpower and coordination among nations. It also explores whether the Libyan experience offers a potential model for the future.

Author : Benjamin R. Beede
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 546 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2012-08-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781136989902

Get Book

The Small Wars of the United States, 1899-2009 by Benjamin R. Beede Pdf

The Small Wars of the United States, 1899–2009 is the complete bibliography of works on US military intervention and irregular warfare around the world, as well as efforts to quell insurgencies on behalf of American allies. The text covers conflicts from 1898 to present, with detailed annotations of selected sources. In this second edition, Benjamin R. Beede revises his seminal work, bringing it completely up to date, including entries on the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. An invaluable research tool, The Small Wars of the United States, 1899–2009 is a critical resource for students and scholars studying US military history.

Author : General Giulio Douhet
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2014-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781782898528

Get Book

Command Of The Air by General Giulio Douhet Pdf

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.