The recent presidential decision to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq in August 2010 moves Operation Iraqi Freedom from stability operations to enabling Iraqi civil authority. However, even though the Iraqi Army will assume responsibility for defense, the Iraqi Air Force is not ready to assume control of air operations. Consequently, the U.S. will be required to provide the Iraqi Army and U.S. advisors with air support. Yet, why must U.S. airpower remain behind. The answer lies in U.S. Air Forces Central's (AFCENT) operational design. By tracing the history from the Second World War to Operation Iraqi Freedom, one will see that airpower has played a significant role in both conventional and unconventional operations. However, AFCENT's current construct is based on the lessons learned during conventional, not unconventional operations. Therefore, AFCENT should adopt an unconventional operational design to provide ground forces with persistent airpower during stability operations while preparing a host nation's air force to assume control of air defense.
Persistent Airpower for Unconventional Warfare: Revamping AFCENT's Operational Design
2009
26 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Vortices - Unconventional Airpower
Online Contents | 2005
|NTIS | 2009
|Airpower and Russian partisan warfare
GWLB - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Bibliothek | 1962
|Theater Warfare, Movement, and Airpower
Online Contents | 1998
|