This study examines factors influencing the development of theory and doctrine based on emerging and future technology. It uses the air power theory of Giulio Douhet and the unescorted daylight strategic bombing doctrine of the US Army Air Force to...
This monograph suggests an airpower theory that helps explain why airpower does not result in quick, clean, economical, "ideal" war. The genesis of this study comes from the observation that airpower advocates, from early personalities such as...
The Army as well as the other armed services began a transformation in the late 1990s in order to meet the challenges of warfare in the future. This effort is characterized by utilizing technology as the catalyst for change. The process has...
Is American air power sliding toward irrelevancy in the security environment that the United States confronts as it moves into the twenty-first century? Attitudes of certain senior airmen about the application of air power in the new security...
This monograph examines under what circumstances, if at all, an air campaign can achieve decisive results independent of other forces. The recent war in the Persian Gulf has given the research question its immediate significance. Given the...
This monograph discusses whether classical military theory as developed by Clausewitz in On War remains relevant in light of military technological advances. The monograph specifically challenges whether the claim that the defense is the...
This study refutes the claims by many air power advocates that Operation Desert Storm stands as a revolution in warfare. According to their logic, the success of the Gulf War air campaign proves air power has become the dominant force in modern...
The Australian Army has commenced a process of transformation to meet the demands of the increasingly complex operational environment in which it is currently operating, and will continue to operate in the foreseeable future. The Australian...
This monograph addresses the concept that air power can win a war alone. It reviews key air power theorists who have had a significant impact on U.S. air power thought in order to understand the theoretical basis for the idea that air power can win...
Napoleon once said, “The moral is to the material as three is to one.” What did he have in mind when he stated this famous aphorism? Material factors are easy to calculate. This is the science of warfare. Organization, equipment, doctrine,...
America's current financial strains necessitate an investigation into the effectiveness and efficiency of our fighting forces. This monograph explores the history of technology, theory, and doctrine development in heavy ground combat power and...
The following monograph is a circumscribed look at the effects of air power on achieving political objectives. It is no way intended to be a commentary on the relative bravery of airmen compared to soldiers and sailors or an attempt to justify...
This monograph examines a concept considered an abomination to some airmen - operational air reserves. The study is exploratory in nature: searching applicable theory, historical examples, and contemporary developments for insights on air reserves....
Current U.S. Air Force doctrine promotes offensive air operations as the primary means of gaining air superiority and then exploiting that success by attacking enemy forces/LOCs/logistics, etc. on the ground. Such reliance on the offense begs the...
Germany reestablished its air force during the last half of the interwar period of 1919 to 1939, a period in which airpower theorists attempted to merge the new technology of aviation with traditional roles of the military. The Royal Air Force...
This monograph examines whether the air defense artillery battalion organic to armored or mechanized divisions is necessary for operations on future battlefields. To explore relevant issues in this area, historical examples from World War I, the...
Current U.S. military doctrine identifies the “center of gravity” (COG) as one of the key elements in theater and operational design planning. Since Karl von Clausewitz formalized the COG concept in On War, military planners have used it as a...
This thesis examines the possible strategies available for the prosecution of a time-critical decisive halt. The concept of a decisive halt through the rapid application of military power from the air is new to United States Air Force doctrine and...
The concept of "operational fires" has been proposed within the Army as one of several operating systems at the operational level of war in the same sense that Battlefield Operating Systems have proven their utility at the tactical level. However,...