Download or read book The Foundations of U S Air Doctrine the Problem of Friction in War written by Barry Watts and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FROM THE AUTHOR: This study revolves around friction, meaning the ubiquitous uncertainties and inescapable difficulties that form the atmosphere of real war. More specifically, it attempts to utilize the Clausewitzian concept of general friction as a basis for assessing-and, if necessary, reshaping-the foundations of US air doctrine. This critical application of friction gives rise to four primary conclusions: (1) The key assumptions underlying mainstream US doctrine for conventional air warfare have not evolved appreciably since Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) theorists elaborated their theory of precision, industrial bombardment during the 1930s. (2) Judged by their essential premises and logic, post-Hiroshima theories of deterrence are little more than an updating for the nuclear age of ACTS bombardment doctrine. (3) Both ACTS bombardment doctrine and deterrence theory appear fundamentally flawed insofar as they omit the frictional considerations that distinguish real war from war on paper. (4) Reflection upon the extent to which friction pervades the elemental processes of actual combat suggests that the range of situations in which greater numbers or superior weapons guarantee victory is relatively limited; even in the age of thermonuclear weapons, the outcomes of battles still turn, more often than not, on the character and intelligence of a few brave individuals. The first step in giving substance to these claims is to explain what the central beliefs of US airmen traditionally have been. The reader should be warned, however, that I have approached the writings on war of airmen like Major General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., and nuclear strategists like Bernard Brodie-as well as those of Carl von Clausewitz himself-from the perspective of two interrelated questions. What overriding assumptions about war did these individuals embrace? And what image of war as a total phenomenon is bound up in their assumptions? In large part, answering these questions is a matter of historical inquiry and, to be candid, I have been far less concerned with writing history for its own sake than with using the past to illuminate the problems of the present. I, therefore, leave it to the reader to judge whether I have managed to do so without injuring the historical record. Air University Press.
Download or read book The Foundations of US Air Doctrine written by Barry D. Watts and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study analyzes airpower doctrine from the viewpoint of Clausewitzian friction. The study concludes that American airpower doctrine has changed very little since the 1930s and that it is fundamentally flawed.
Download or read book The foundations of US air doctrine written by Barry D. Watts and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Foundations of U S Air Doctrine written by Air University Press and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-10 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study revolves around friction, meaning the ubiquitous uncertainties and inescapable difficulties that form the atmosphere of real war. More specifically, it attempts to utilize the Clausewitzian concept of general friction as a basis for assessing--and, if necessary, reshaping--the foundations of US air doctrine. This critical application of friction gives rise to four primary conclusions: (1) The key assumptions underlying mainstream US doctrine for conventional air warfare have not evolved appreciably since Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) theorists elaborated their theory of precision, industrial bombardment during the 1930s. (2) Judged by their essential premises and logic, post-Hiroshima theories of deterrence are little more than an updating for the nuclear age of ACTS bombardment doctrine. (3) Both ACTS bombardment doctrine and deterrence theory appear fundamentally flawed insofar as they omit the frictional considerations that distinguish real war from war on paper. (4) Reflection upon the extent to which friction pervades the elemental processes of actual combat suggests that the range of situations in which greater numbers or superior weapons guarantee victory is relatively limited; even in the age of thermonuclear weapons, the outcomes of battles still turn, more often than not, on the character and intelligence of a few brave individuals. The first step in giving substance to these claims is to explain what the central beliefs of US airmen traditionally have been. The reader should be warned, however, that I have approached the writings on war of airmen like Major General Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., and nuclear strategists like Bernard Brodie--as well as those of Carl von Clausewitz himself--from the perspective of two interrelated questions. What overriding assumptions about war did these individuals embrace? And what image of war as a total phenomenon is bound up in their assumptions? In large part, answering these questions is a matter of historical inquiry and, to be candid, I have been far less concerned with writing history for its own sake than with using the past to illuminate the problems of the present. I, therefore, leave it to the reader to judge whether I have managed to do so without injuring the historical record.Contents: 1 INTRODUCTION * Notes * 2 DOUHET AND MITCHELL * Douhet's Image of War: Unrestrained Offense * Mitchell's "Aerial Knights" * Notes * 3 THE FIRST US STRATEGIC AIR WAR PLAN * Daylight, High Altitude, Precision Bombardment * Doctrine * AWPD-1 * The Image of War in AWPD-1 * Notes * 4 THE POLICY AND STRATEGY OF DETERRENCE * Brodie's Assumptions * Brodie's Image of All-Out War in the Missile Age * A Paradox of Deterrence Theory * Notes * 5 A CLAUSEWITZIAN CRITIQUE * The Core Beliefs of Mainstream US Air Doctrine * Some Ramifications * Friction * Collective Risk * Notes * 6 FRICTION IN 20TH CENTURY WARFARE * Part 1: Friction in the Combined Bomber Offensive, World War II * Weather * October 1943: Information, Doctrinal Rigidity, Enemy Countermeasures * Big Week and the Problem of Industrial Impact Assessments * March and April 1944: Friction as a Weapon * Epilogue in Korea: Railway Interdiction, August 1951-May 1952 * Part 2: Friction in the Missile Age * The Not-So-Delicate Balance of Terror * The Emergence of Friction in Brodie's Thought * The Cuban Missile Crisis * Notes * 7 TOWARD A LESS MECHANISTIC IMAGE OF WAR * US Air Doctrine and Laplacian Determinism * Cartesian Hypotheses, Uncertainty, Undecidability * The Human Cost of War * Combat Psychology as Context * Some Consequences of Embracing a More Organic Image of War * Learning from History * Nurturing Military Genius * Exemplars for Future Wars: Friction as a Weapon and Entropy * Summing Up * Notes * APPENDIX * General Eaker's Presentation of the Combined Bomber Offensive Plan to the Joint Chiefs of Staff * SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Download or read book The Development of Air Doctrine in the Army Air Arm 1917 1941 written by Thomas H. Greer and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: En redegørelse for doktriner for luftvåbnet i USA i perioden 1917-1941. Den medtager taktiske og strategiske erfaringer opnået under deltagelsen i Den 1. Verdenskrig 1914-1918. Emnerne er doktrinudvikling, anvendelse af luftvåbnet, langdistancebombning og doktrin for 2. Verdenskrig 1939-1941.
Download or read book Command Of The Air written by General Giulio Douhet and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Development of Air Doctrine in the Army Air Arm 1917 1941 written by Air University (U.S.). Extension Course Institute and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1957 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Evolution of US Army Tactical Doctrine 1946 76 written by Robert A. Doughty and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.
Download or read book Ideas Concepts Doctrine written by Robert Frank Futrell and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first of a two-volume study, Dr. Futrell presents a chronological survey of the development of Air Force doctrine and thinking from the beginnings of powered flight to the onset of the space age. He outlines the struggle of early aviation enthusiasts to gain acceptance of the airplane as a weapon and win combat-arm status for the Army Air Service (later the Army Air Corps and Army Air Force). He surveys the development of airpower doctrine during the 1930s and World War II and outlines the emergence of the autonomous US Air Force in the postwar period. Futrell brings this first volume to a close with discussions of the changes in Air Force thinking and doctrine necessitated by the emergence of the intercontinental missile, the beginnings of space exploration and weapon systems, and the growing threat of limited conflicts resulting from the Communist challenge of wars of liberation. In volume two, the author traces the new directions that Air Force strategy, policies, and thinking took during the Kennedy administration, the Vietnam War, and the post-Vietnam period. Futrell outlines how the Air Force struggled with President Kennedy's redefinition of national security policy and Robert S. McNamara's managerial style as secretary of defense. He describes how the Air Force argued that airpower should be used during the war in Southeast Asia. He chronicles the evolution of doctrine and organization regarding strategic, tactical, and airlift capabilities and the impact that the aerospace environment and technology had on Air Force thinking and doctrine.
Download or read book Air Doctrine United States Air Force Basic Doctrine written by and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Airpower and Ground Armies written by Air University Press and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-19 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These four independent essays provide a perspective on airpower doctrine development that varies somewhat from the usual view. Essay 1 describes the organization, doctrine, operational practices, and personality of the air forces in the western desert from 1940 to 1943. Essay 2 describes and analyzes the events in northwest Africa during Operation Torch while the third analyzes the machination in policy development in Washington. Essay 4 analyzes the great tactical aviation exercise in northwest Europe, emphasizing the famous cooperation between George S. Patton and Otto P. Weyland. Contents: GETTING TOGETHER: Tedder, Coningham, and Americans in the Desert and Tunisia, 1940-43. Vincent Orange * A GLIDER IN THE PROPWASH OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE? Gen Carl A. Spaatz, the RAF, and the Foundations of American Tactical Air Doctrine - David R. Mets * THE LEGEND OF LAURENCE KUTER - Agent for Airpower Doctrine, Daniel R. Mortensen * PATTON AND WEYLAND: A Model for Air-Ground Cooperation, David Spires. Involvement in a joint world demands that Air Force people understand Air Force history. This basic requirement gives special purpose to the following commemorative account derived from four papers presented at the annual Military History Society conference that convened in April 1993 in Kingston, Canada. The first paper, Essay 1 in this book, describes the organization, doctrine, operational practices, and personality of the British-led air forces in the desert west of Cairo from 1940 to 1943. The second paper, Essay 2, describes and analyzes the events in northwest Africa during Operation Torch and the Battle for Tunisia in the winter and spring of 1942-43. The third essay analyzes policy development in Washington, showing, among other things, how policy is a product of headquarters thinking as much as a result of practical experience. Essay 4 analyzes the great tactical aviation exercise in northwest Europe, emphasizing the famous cooperation between George S. Patton and Otto P. Weyland. Some issues stand out.. Some of FM 100-20's concepts had a long history; some were new. The idea of coequality, for example, had been promoted successfully with the formation of US Air Force General Headquarters (GHQ Air Force) in 1935, the appointment of an assistant secretary of war for air in April 1941, the independent war planning of AWPD-l in mid-1941, and the autonomous and coordinate responsibilities associated with organizing the Army Air Forces in March 1942. 3 Indeed, formal doctrine, notably that in FM 31-35 (published in April 1942) and in Eisenhower's Operational Memo 17 (published in England in late 1942 for Operation Torch), acknowledged the independent basis of air-ground relations. In spite of much written to the contrary, Eisenhower promoted independent air command in Africa from the very beginning. The failures in Tunisia and, especially, at Kasserine Pass in March 1943 occurred not because of improper doctrine, particularly not because of decentralized air command, but because of logistical bottlenecks-getting troops with adequate guns, trucks, planes, fuel, and service people, to the right place, in the right portions at appropriate times. In truth, inadequately trained and equipped American forces faced a superior enemy. Even the senior American airman, Carl A. Spaatz, said existing doctrine was satisfactory; only practice was needed to produce successful operations.
Download or read book The Paths of Heaven The Evolution of Airpower Theory written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airpower is not widely understood. Even though it has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure to many people, even to professional military officers. This fact is largely due to fundamental differences of opinion as to whether or not the aircraft has altered the strategies of war or merely its tactics. If the former, then one can see airpower as a revolutionary leap along the continuum of war; but if the latter, then airpower is simply another weapon that joins the arsenal along with the rifle, machine gun, tank, submarine, and radio. This book implicitly assumes that airpower has brought about a revolution in war. It has altered virtually all aspects of war: how it is fought, by whom, against whom, and with what weapons. Flowing from those factors have been changes in training, organization, administration, command and control, and doctrine. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.
Download or read book United States Air Force Basic Doctrine written by United States. Department of the Air Force and published by . This book was released on 1955 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Foundations of American Air Power Doctrine Aviation and National Defense 1919 1933 written by Lester H. Brune and published by . This book was released on 1959 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Development of Air Doctrine in the Army Air Arm 1917 1941 Hap Arnold Chennault Douhet Mitchell Foulois Drum Board Alexander de Seversky General Eaker World War I and II written by Department of Defense and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph recounts the development of air doctrine in the Army air arm from 1917 to 1941. It includes concepts, both strategic and tactical, that emerged during World War I and the period following, up to the entry of the United States into World War II. The study is based primarily on official Air Force records and upon interviews with officers of the air arm who have been especially associated with air doctrine. When the debacle at Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into a war for survival, the nation marshalled its forces on land and sea and in the air. And although land, sea, and air forces all played vital roles in securing the triumph, the part of the air arm was unique. For the first time in the history of war, airpower was employed as a major striking force, drastically altering the course and nature of the struggle and decisively influencing the outcome. CHAPTER 1 - THE AIR SERVICE IN WORLD WAR I, 1917-1918 * Prewar Organization and Concepts * American Participation in World War I * General concepts of warfare and air employment * Over-all air operations, organization, and control * Pursuit aviation Bombardment aviation * Attack aviation * Air plans during the armistice * CHAPTER 2 - THE HEROIC AGE OF DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT, 1919-1926 * Diverging Views of the Nature of War * The War Department view * Views of Air Service leaders * The Struggle for the Control of Airpower * Demands for complete separation * Arguments of the air crusaders * Rebuttal by the high command * Creation of the Army Air Corps (1926) * Evolving Doctrines of Air Employment * The general functions of military aviation * Argument with the Navy regarding coast defense * Pursuit aviation * Bombardment aviation * Attack aviation * Comparative summary of doctrines in 1926 * CHAPTER 3 - DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIR FORCE IDEA, 1926-1935 * Development of the High-speed Bomber * Efforts to stimulate improved aircraft design * Successful development of two-engine bombers: the B-9 and B-10 * The B-17 "Flying Fortress" * Trend of Doctrine at the Air Corps Tactical School * Concepts of the nature of war: influence of Mitchell and Douhet * The employment of airpower * Bombardment aviation; the precision doctrine and the escort problem * Pursuit aviation * Attack aviation * The Impasse with the Navy Regarding Land-based Bombardment * Establishment of the GHQ Air Force (1935) * CHAPTER 4 - REFINEMENT AND SUBSTANTIATION OF THE LONG-RANGE BOMBARDMENT CONCEPT, 1935-1939 * Hemisphere Defense Policy as a Factor in Strategic Concepts and Air Doctrine * Elaboration of Air Theory at the Air Corps Tactical School * The nature of war and the employment of airpower * Bombardment aviation * Pursuit aviation * Attack aviation * The Crucial Fight for Production and Development of the Long-range Bomber * Bomber program related to coast defense * Andrews presses for exclusive procurement of four-engine bombers * Air Corps demands for unlimited development of the bomber * The General Staff blocks the way * President Roosevelt removes the block * The Influence of Foreign Wars upon American Air Doctrine * China * Ethiopia * Spain * Munich * Adjustments in Air Organization * CHAPTER 5 - PREPARATION OF AIR DOCTRINE FOR WORLD WAR II, 1939-1941 * General Influence of the European War upon the Theory and Position of Airpower * Tactical Lessons from the Air War Abroad * Final Shaping of Air Doctrines on the Eve of American Involvement * Purpose and nature of warfare * The role and employment of airpower in war * Bombardment aviation * Pursuit aviation * Attack and light bombardment aviation * Blueprint for action: AWPD/1 * Establishment of Army Air Forces (1941) * CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSIONS
Download or read book The Future of Air Power in the Aftermath of the Gulf War written by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1992 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Development of Air Doctrine in the Army Air Arm 1917 1941 written by Office of Air Force History and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph recounts the development of air doctrine in the Army air arm from 1917 to 1941. It includes concepts, both strategic and tactical, that emerged during World War I and the period following, up to the entry of the United States into World War II. The study is based primarily on official Air Force records and upon interviews with officers of the air arm who have been especially associated with air doctrine. It was prepared for the USAF Historical Division by Dr. Thomas H. Greer, formerly a member of the Division and presently associate professor of humanities, Michigan State College. A number of changes in, and additions to, the original draft have been made by members of the Historical Division, notably Mr. Robert T. Finney and Dr. Albert F. Simpson. All such changes and additions have been based upon Historical Division studies and data not available to Dr. Greer when he prepared the basic draft. Both the original draft and the final version were edited by personnel of the Division. Like other Historical Division studies, this history is subject to revision, and additional information or suggested corrections will be welcomed.