The dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union has removed the traditional Cold War logic and security rationale for the forward deployment of theater nuclear weapons (TNWs) in Europe. Moreover, with a reduction of almost 90 percent of U.S....
This paper challenges the idea that the thinkers who developed the American Theory of Limited War prior to Vietnam were grossly in error. A framework for the elements of the theory is constructed through a discussion of the historical American way...
The United States has now invaded Iraq on two separate occasions. These invasions offer some interesting similarities such as occurring on nearly the same terrain with similar equipment and against Iraqi forces under the leadership of Saddam...
The focus of this study is on how the armies of different nations countered the threat of massive concentrated artillery and/or other types of preparatory fires. Not all were successful, and the reasons for the success or failure of each army...
How should militaries think about social media as a factor in military operations? In this study I examine recent Arab Spring scholarship, with a particular focus on the significant impact of social media on events in Egypt in early 2011. Existing...
This report addresses the viability of the concept of creating massive terrain obstacles, and whether our doctrine adequately supports the concept. It is written from the perspective of a maneuver planner focusing on mid and high-intensity...
The refining industry in Iran is facing a crisis caused by a growing shortfall in production capacity for gasoline and other light fuels to meet rapidly growing domestic demand. The industry is locked into a repetitive cycle of decline due to under...
The United States has maintained a Triad of strategic nuclear delivery systems since the early 1960's. This Triad includes strategic bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). The...
Despite the drastic evolution of warfare since the close of World War II, fighting in urban environments has remained a constant. Despite the advances in modern warfare the tactics, techniques and procedures developed for urban combat operations...
The United States' military power and capabilities are singularly enabled by unequaled sustainment capability and reach of our transportation and logistics systems. The current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are highlighting an emerging trend in...
This study considers whether there are specific operational level considerations for conducting offensive urban operations. A survey of the last several conflicts indicate the importance of cities. A worldwide trend toward urbanization and a...
The Second Chechen War, which began on 23 September 1999 with massive Russian air strikes, bore little resemblance to the inconclusive campaign that had ended just three years earlier. In the earlier conflict, Russian Air Force operations...
This monograph investigates Pentomic doctrine of the 1950's. The political and military factors that drove the Army to adopt a new vision of war, restructure and reorganize its major combat formations and to eventually abandon that change are very...
This monograph examines the current U.S. doctrine regarding the role of firepower at the operational level. It reviews the most recent doctrinal guidance on this element of combat power and the historical underpinnings of this doctrine in the works...
The ownership of vast quantities of military power and the ability to project that power globally does not ensure the achievement of the 'ends' desired from a war. Since 1945, the United States and her Western allies increasingly fail to realize a...
In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched a massive, three-pronged attack into South Vietnam that was eventually repulsed by South Vietnamese forces, United States (US) advisors and massive amounts of American airpower. The problem is...
Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) development by the United States from 1952 through 1965 is marked by extreme urgency. The initial impetus for the development did not proceed within military channels; this paper explores possible reasons...
This study is a historical analysis of battlefield air interdiction during the 1973 Middle East War. Its purpose is to draw conclusions, based on the historical -findings, about the best way to employ BAI in the airland battle. Although the...
The current U.S. Army operating concept prominently includes stability operations built on the core competency of wide area security. Stability operations secure national goals for military action by establishing the conditions for lasting peace...
In November, 1950, the United States Army suffered one of its most devastating defeats ever, in the frozen mountains of North Korea at the hands of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This defeat fundamentally changed the nature of the Korean...