Defending Air Bases in an Age of Insurgency, Vol. 2

“Year of the Defender” US 2019Air Force Defending Air Bases in an Age of Insurgency VOLUME II Edited by C S W. C, USAF, R Foreword by Maj Gen Thomas H. Deale Afterword by Maj Gen Bradley D. Spacy Defending Air Bases in an Age of Insurgency Volume II Shannon W. Caudill, Editor Colonel, USAF, Retired Air University Press Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama Chief of Staff , US Air Force Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gen David L. Goldfein Caudill, Shannon W. Commander, Air Education and Training Defending air bases in an age of insurgency / Command Shannon W. Caudill, Colonel, USAF. Lt Gen Steven L. Kwast pages cm Commander and President, Air University Includes bibliographical references and index. Lt Gen Anthony J. Cotton ISBN 978-1-58566-241-8 1. Air bases—Security measures—United States. Commander, Curtis E. LeMay Center for 2. United States. Air Force—Security measures. Doctrine Development and Education 3. Irregular warfare—United States. I. Title. Maj Gen Michael D. Rothstein UG634.49.C48 2014 358.4’14—dc23 Director, Air University Press 2014012026 Lt Col Darin M. Gregg Published by Air University Press in March 2019 Project Editor Jeanne K. Shamburger Copy Editors Tammi Dacus and Sandi Davis Disclaimer Cover Art, Book Design, and Illustrations Daniel Armstrong Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the authors and do Composition and Prepress Production not necessarily represent the official policy or position Vivian D. O’Neal, Nedra O. Looney, and of the organizations with which they are associated or Jeanne K. Shamburger the views of the Air University Press, LeMay Center, Print Preparation and Distribution Air University, United States Air Force, Department Diane Clark and MSgt Ericka Gilliam of Defense, or any other US government agency. This publication is cleared for public release and unlimited distribution. Air University Press This book and other Air University Press publications 600 Chennault Circle, Bldg 1405 Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6010 are available electronically at the AU Press website: https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AirUnivPress and Twitter: https://twitter.com/aupress Air University Press Dedicated to Thomas and Nicholas . and the “Year of the Defender” Contents List of Illustrations ix Foreword xiii Thomas H. Deale About the Authors xvii Acknowledgments xxix Introduction xxxv Shannon W. Caudill PART 1 GETTING IN . AND GETTING OUT: SECURING AIR BASES AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF CONFLICTS 1 First In!: Expeditionary Air Base Seizure and Operations; Power Projection through Mobility Warriors 3 J. William DeMarco 2 Getting Out: Securing Air Bases during a Withdrawal 87 Michael M. Wellock PART 2 IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN CASE STUDIES: THE BASE DEFENSE TASK FORCE AND AIR FORCE HISTORICAL RESEARCH AGENCY RESEARCH RESULTS 3 An Airman Reports: Task Force 455 and the Defense of Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan 113 Erik K. Rundquist and Raymond J. Fortner 4 Outside the Wire: Recollections of Operation Desert Safeside and TF 1041 139 Walter E. Buchanan III, Bradley D. Spacy, Chris Bargery, Glen E. Christensen, and Armand “Beaux” Lyons v CONTENTS 5 Three Enemies: Lessons from Enemy Air Base Attacks in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan 211 Shannon W. Caudill PART 3 AIR BASE DEFENSE ENABLERS: AIR-MINDEDNESS AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE 6 Enabling a Three-Dimensional Integrated Defense 235 Colby B. Edwards 7 Dissipating the Fog of War: Improving Intelligence Support to Air Base Defense 253 Jason F. Baggett PART 4 THE PIVOT TO THE PACIFIC: AIR BASE DEFENSE AND AIRSEA BATTLE 8 Airpower Projection in the Antiaccess/Area-Denial Environment: Dispersed Operations and Base Defense 269 Russell S. Badowski 9 AirSea Battle and the Air Base Defense Shortfall 285 Shannon W. Caudill, Troy A. Roberts, and Thomas G. Miner PART 5 ORGANIZING FOR THE FUTURE 10 Target—Air Base: The Strategic Effects of Ground Attacks on Airpower 303 Scott P. Black 11 You Own It: The Commander’s Responsibility for Air Base Defense 317 Loren M. Coulter vi CONTENTS 12 US Air Force Expeditionary Security Operations 2040: A Technology Vision for Deployed Air Base Defense Capabilities 335 Christopher W. Allen Afterword 355 Bradley D. Spacy Abbreviations 361 Bibliography 371 Index 409 vii Illustrations Figures 1.1 Antiaccess dilemma 4 1.2 Joint Vision 2020 7 1.3 Air base opening force model construct 17 1.4 German invasion of Norway, 1940 19 1.5 Soviet thrust into Afghanistan 29 1.6 Iraqi airfields 39 1.7 Air base opening timeline 50 1.8 Melding of career fields 58 1.9 EMTF/CRW organizational structure 65 1.10 CRGs and the arc of instability 69 1.11 CRG badges and tabs 74 2.1 Joint Base Balad: The Road Ahead 95 2.2 Indirect fire attacks 98 3.1 Base boundary considerations 116 3.2 Bagram’s defensive scheme 122 4.1 Balad AB notional points of origin/impact map prior to TF 1041 148 4.2 Balad AB notional points of origins/impact map with proposed TAOR 152 4.3 Ambush on AIFs at Tigris River logistics node 195 ix ILLUSTRATIONS 4.4 Operation Baywatch enemy scheme of maneuver 196 4.5 Balad AB notional POO-POI map 207 5.1 Vietcong sapper attack configurations 217 5.2 Route and targets of Taliban insurgent teams 220 5.3 Attacks and attack intervals on Joint Base Balad 223 6.1 Balancing levels of command and control 244 10.1 Air base attacks and damaged/destroyed aircraft in Vietnam and Iraq 308 11.1 Integrated defense concept 320 11.2 Risk management process 321 Tables 2.1 Military decision-making process 96 2.2 Contractor personnel and troop level in Iraq 102 5.1 Statistical comparison of fixed-wing aircraft 212 5.2 Vietcong training schedule for May 1967 215 9.1 SPPs in USPACOM area of responsibility 294 10.1 Aircraft total active inventory 310 x As a land-based force, we fight the base first to project power and destroy the enemy. Doesn’t do any good to have the best crews and equipment on the planet if we let someone breach our defenses and wreak havoc. We must be the best in the world at integrated base defense. —Gen David L. Goldfein Air Force Chief of Staff 18 January 2019 Responding to an advance copy of this book Foreword Defending air bases from attack remains a major operational challenge in every theater and every conflict. Airfields are strategic targets; they allow for the generation and projection of crucial military power and are usually a key joint and/or coalition command and control node. The growing problem of adversary antiaccess and area- denial strategies only adds to the necessity of studying integrated base defense, with special emphasis on ground-based threats. Since the Vietnam War, ground-based threats have been our biggest challenge as adversaries have sought to counter US airpower from the ground rather than in the air. Future conflicts will continue to see enemy strategies designed to inhibit air operations from a distance through not only growing missile technologies but also traditional methods like indirect fire, special operations, and sapper attacks. I am thankful that Air University (AU) Press has invested in a second volume of this anthology to further explore the contemporary challenges to airpower from ground-based threats and am especially pleased that most of the authors conducted their research and writ- ing as students at Air University. As Airmen and joint leaders, we must reflect on and debate the important issues addressed in this volume. We owe it to the young men and women we lead to build on the lessons learned from recent conflicts so that we may lay a solid foundation for the security of future air operations and Airmen. Since AU Press released Defending Air Bases in an Age of Insur- gency in May 2014, there has been a groundswell of support for a second project designed to add more depth and fill gaps in the literature. The first volume essentially bridged the gap in the literature that existed since the last publication on this subject in 1995. This second project examines more current topics like base defense in AirSea Battle (renamed the Joint Concept for Access and Maneuver in the Global Commons), modern air support for base defense, counterintelligence enablers, and commander responsibilities for air base defense. Further, it offers a more focused assessment of base defense in the Afghanistan theater of operation, projected technological ad- vances in base defense, and unique air base defense challenges found in the beginning (getting in) and ending of conflicts (getting out). This volume also presents new research based on Colonel Caudill’s Air Command and Staff College base defense research elective, fea- xiii FOREWORD turing a research partnership with the Air Force Historical Research Agency. I had the unique privilege of leading base defense at two locations in Afghanistan and would like to offer some insights into the air base defense challenge. At the senior-leader level, base defense is all about developing effective and cooperative relationships with fellow com- manders across the battlespace. To be effective at base defense, you have to have an accurate, detailed perspective of the threat and mis- sion environment as well as the organizational dynamics of friendly forces and the resources that will interact to effectively provide for the defense. As the commander charged with base defense, you must integrate and synchronize your efforts with the surrounding battlespace commander. You’re not just on your own—you will need support and resources from across the joint force or coalition.

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