Today's military operations depend on a very large number of systems to acquire and process critical information needed by combatant commanders to accomplish their mission. Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems often provide a much-needed picture that is vital to decision makers. Requests from commanders for information provided by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are growing so fast that they are outpacing system availability. The future of these aircraft is of such importance to military operations that in September 2007, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England directed...

Optimism for a more peaceful post-Cold War era has been tempered by greater international instability and the weakening of some nation-states. Former client states, no longer moderated by the influences of their pervious superpower patrons resort to violent suppressions of political opponents and ethnic minorities. Former nations divide along ethnic lines, often spawning new political divisions that are neither stable nor sustainable. Perhaps nowhere are these dynamics more evident than in the "arc of crises," a region extending from the Balkans through Asia Minor to the Caucasus and Central...

Aerial refueling is key to the nation's global reach in response to operations in all parts of the world. As such, aerial refueling provides the bridge for air, joint, and coalition forces to deploy anywhere, any time around the world. It is important in this era of transformation that the tanker force and doctrine of aerial refueling also meet the challenges of the Air Force's task force concept of operations(CONOPS). The highly demanded tanker has the ability to affect global strike; homeland security; global mobility; space; and command, control, communications, computers, intelligence,...

For nearly three decades, the Air National Guard has served as a strategic reserve available to the Total Force only during a time of crisis. Today, the days of the "baseball cap flying club" are long gone, and Total Force Integration is firmly ensconced as the only way to fight the nation's wars. With the added complications of reduced budgetary outlays and high operational tempo, Total Force considerations and organizational constructs become even more important to the mission's bottom line for the United States Air Force. Given the myriad of Total Force organizational constructs, is there...

In this paper, Lt. Col. Rex R. Kiziah, USAF

Lt Col R. A. Estilow explores the possibility that much of operations other than war (00TW) may be incompatible with the use of US military force. He believes political leaders may properly focus the diplomatic, political, economic, and informational elements of power on OOTW; but, often place too little regard on the specific object of the military element of power. Colonel Estilow reviews the military missions compiled today under OOTW, and then assesses the acceptability, feasibility, and suitability of using military combat force to pursue those missions. He observes that the decision to...

Expending every effort to recover distressed personnel from harm's way is an American tradition and one of the nation's highest priorities during conflict. The Air Force maintains a fleet of HH-60G helicopters and HC-130P aircraft along with a contingent of pararescue specialists dedicated to the recovery of personnel isolated on the battlefield. The traditional training, organizing, and equipping focus of this force is the recovery of downed aircrews. This focus stems from doctrine that draws from lessons learned in past contingencies, particularly the Vietnam War, where the Air Force...

This paper focuses on the unique and vital capabilities of the US Air Force's KC-135 tanker fleet. Specifically, historic and current tanker usage, tanker operational employment, and the capability of today's tanker fleet are analyzed, with emphasis on force structure and force management. Given that the KC-135 is the USAF's primary air refueling asset and that no planned replacements are due on the flightline for some time, how can the current KC-135 method of employment and force structure support future DOD and coalition operations? Since its inception in the mid-1950s, the KC-135 has...

Dr. William P. Head's "War from Above the Clouds: B-52 Operations during the Second Indochina War and the Effects of the Air War on Theory and Doctrine" is an examination of B-52 operations in Vietnam and how the air war affected airpower doctrine and theory. His study examines the evolution of this awesome manned strategic weapon in Vietnam to see how the design of the B-52s original intended mission altered - if at all - the theories of airpower first put forward by Giulio Douhet and William "Billy" Mitchell. Dr. Head also analyzes how this same operational alteration affected official...

In "Weather Operations in the Transformation Era," Col. John M. Lanicci USAF, takes a compelling look at future weather operations. His hypothesis is that a consolidated battlespace picture integrates both natural and man-made elements, which is totally consistent with USAF transformation efforts. He points out that the way ahead is easier said than done and offers several cogent reasons why the weather operations portion of information-in-warfare has not caught up with current USAF doctrine. One such example is our historical tendency to look at weather as a somewhat isolated, tactical...