Airpower, Afghanistan, and the Future of Warfare : An Alternative View

By Lt Col Craig D. Wills, USAF

Book Id: WPLBN0002170158
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.9 MB
Reproduction Date: 10/11/2012

Title:	Airpower, Afghanistan, and the Future of Warfare : An Alternative View
Author:	Lt Col Craig D. Wills, USAF
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Military Science, Military
Collections:	Authors Community, Politics
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Air University Press

Member Page:	Air University Press
Citation APA MLA Chicago Col Craig D. Wills, Usa, B. L. (n.d.). Airpower, Afghanistan, and the Future of Warfare : An Alternative View. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Wills argues that the twentieth-century argument between air and ground proponents has changed significantly since the Gulf War, and it comes down to the relative importance of the ground or air in the mix. It is more than just using air as a supporting component to the ground forces—if this is true, current force organization and employment is adequate. However, if the air predominates in combat operations, then, as Wills puts it in his first chapter, joint operations doctrine needs to be rethought. A changed balance “will affect the military at every level . . . force structure, organization, weapons acquisition, doctrine, and training” (p. 3). Notwithstanding the blunt commentary from ground proponents, Wills offers that airpower has come to dominate air/ground relations.

Table of Contents
1 FRAMING THE DEBATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2 AIRPOWER, WAR, AND DIPLOMACY . . . . . 9 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 3 ASSESSING THE AIR/GROUND RELATIONSHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 4 THE AFGHAN MODEL AND BEYOND . . . . . .35 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 5 IMPLICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69