Airpower Journal: Summer 1987, Volume I, No. 1
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The Airpower Journal, published quarterly, is the professional journal of the United States Air Force. It is designed to serve as an open forum for presenting and stimulating innovative thinkingon military doctrine, strategy, tactics, force structure, readiness, and other national defense matters. The views and opinions expressed or implied in the Journal are those of the authors and should not be construed as carrying the official sanction of the Department of Defense, the Air Force, Air University, or other agencies or departments of the US government. Ar- ticles in this edition may be reproduced in w hole or in part without permission. , y iio n n u c D >w \rvrru\ JOURNAL AIR POWER JOURNAL, SUMMER 1987 AFRP 50 2 A Message from the Chief of Staff Gen Larry D. Welch, USAF 2 A Theater-Level View of Air Power Gen Charles L. Donnelly, Jr., USAF (Ret) 3 American Air Power and Grand Tactics Lt Gen Bradley C. Hosmer, USAF 9 A Challenge to Our Air Force Brig Gen John C. Fryer, Jr., USAF 15 Use and Misuse of Conventional Tactical Air Power Lt Col William P. Stroud III, USAF 16 Fighting the Air War: A Wing CommandeFs Perspective Col Clifford R. Krieger, USAF 21 Fighting From the Air Base Lt Col Price T. Bingham, USAF 32 Scores of Pilots, Clouds of Planes Warren A. Trest 42 An Airman’s Quintet Col Alan L. Gropman, USAF (Ret) 55 The Need for Battle Managers in the Tactical Air Control System Maj Thomas H. Buchanan, USAF 60 Ricochets 7 2 Commentary on Previous Issues Net Assessment 7 4 Reviews of Current Literalure Notams 85 Notices of Interest Contributors 87 Airpower Journal A Message from the Chief of Staff G en Larry D. W el ch AM PLEASED to introduce the initial is- sion, or pride—extremely important. As sue of Airpower Journal. This year marks George Patton observed, “Wars are fought Ithe fortieth anniversary of the LIS Air with weapons, but they are won by men.” Force and of the publication of our profes- But the other element of the warrior per sional journal. The Air University Quar- spective—the “brain work” that General terly Review vvas fírst published in the LeMav referred to—is also vital. Particu- spring of 1947 to stimulate reading, writ- larly in this age of deterrence, warfare ex- ing, and reflection on the part of Air Force ists as an intellectual as well as a physical members. In 1963 Air Force Chief of Staff and moral contest. The Great Captains of Curtis E. LeMay reemphasized the need the past were those who could outthink, for “brain work" in the professional officer not outnumber their opponents. And with corps and directed increased availability our adversaries holding a quantitative of the magazine, resulting in the bi- edge on most potential battlefields, the monthly Air University Review. American warrior must continually polish The Revieiv’s successor will continue in his arms by cultivating his mind. this tradition, bringing a changed format Airpower Journal will aid this process and a revised focus to meet the challenges bv speaking less of management and more facing the Air Force in the 1980s and be- of leadership. Concentration will be on the yond. The Airpower Journal is a natural warfighting nature of our profession rather extension of initiatives the Air Force has than on system acquisition and resource alreadv taken to stress professionalism. In allocation. Professional development the late 1970s, we became concerned that thrives best through the exchange of infor- Air Force people vvere beginning to view mation. ideas, and perspectives as op- our profession as just another job. Our posed to passive reading or solitary commitment to excellence and the unique thought. The process of thinking, discuss- sense of dedication reflected by military ing, and writing about our profession of Service in defense of the nation requires arms enhances our perspective and in- continued total dedication to professional creases the range of Solutions to the chal vaiues. Along with continued emphasis lenges we face. One of the kev objectives of on our professional values, there is a need the Airpower Journal will be to fill the for increased appreciation vvithin the Air need vvithin the Air Force to hear from and Force of our basic organizational objec- encourage the warrior-scholar. The place tives and concepts of aerial vvarfare. for his thoughts are within the pages of Five years ago, we initiated Project War- this journal. rior to emphasize the Air Force vvarfight- Like Project Warrior, Airpower Journal ing perspective and to increase our challenges us to expand our professional understanding of the application of air perspective and warfighting knowledge. It power in combat. Properly, most of those reminds us that, when called on, our task efforts vvere decentralized to the base or is to fight and win. Write to vour fellow unit levei and stressed the “heart” of the airmen in this journal and tell us how to warrior—the warfighting spirit. Ciearly do it better. I look forward to reading the demands and stresses of modem war- your contributions to our professional fare make motivation—call it spirit, cohe- development. Headquarters United States Air Force 2 A THEATER-LEVEL VIEWOF AIR POWER Gen Charles L. Donnelly, J r .. USAF, Ret ir ed WOULD like to present some of mv There has been a push in the last few thoughts on the use of air power in a years to study the operational art of war theater-level war.* I have three items (i.e., the study of warfare at the levei be- to discuss: the operational view of war- tween strategy and tactics—or how to con- fareI emphasizing air superiority: follow- duct overall theater campaigns). The on forces attack (FOFA); and last, a chal- majority of our sênior military leaders lenge for all of us. have never had wartime experience com- manding forces from a theater levei. Be- cause this is true, the operational art of *This art ide has been extradeci from lhe texl of a speech •hal General Donnelly presented on 19 May 1986 to lhe Na modem war deserves our attention. This tional YVarCollege. theater-level perspective of warfighting 3 4 AIRPOWER JOURNAL SUMMER 1987 must pervade all our thinking, military Many elements influence the theater planning, training, and equipping. I want perspective. A major element is alliances. to talk about employing air power at that This is especially true in Europe. Allied levei. Command Europe comprises the North I vvill start by saying air power is a thea- ern, Southern, and Central regions. ter-level concept. Air forces conduct cam- Focusing on Central Europe, the size of paigns of their own as well as support and opposing forces and importance of this re- jointly prosecute surface campaigns. Air, gion make it a “theater" for this discus- land, and naval component commanders sion. As you know, we have an eight-corps translate theater objectives into joint cam front in the Central Region. with the dif- paigns aimed at theater goals. ferent countries’ land forces having some- Air campaigns are theater-level cam what different capabilities and equipment. paigns. all parts of air power’s operational These corps are arranged into two army art. US and NATO doctrine holds that air groups—Northern Army Group (NOR- power works best under the concept of THAG) and Central Armv Group centralized control and decentralized ex- (CENTAG). ecution. These words, I am sure, are famil As the commander, Allied Air Forces iar to all of vou. They have been standard Central Europe (COMAAFCE), I command vernacular since the end of World War II, an air force composed of aircraft from six and even earlier at the Kasserine Pass in allied nations. I present air power employ- 1943. As you remember, in North África in ment options to the commander of the World War II, air was parceled out under Central Region (CINCENT), a German the control of several subtheater com army four-star general. My recommen- manders. Our parcels of Allied air were of dations are based on his overall theater little use against German air. which was guidance and on the needs of my two sub- employed as an entity, attacking en masse ordinate Allied Tactical Air Force (ATAF) virtually unopposed. commanders (British and German). In Air power is now Consolidated under a turn, the ATAFs base their campaign plans central commander. We recognized the on coordination with their respective need for unity of effort when using limited army group commanders. Missions in- assets; and as a result, our limited air as- clude defensive and offensive counterair, sets now have tremendous combat power. interdiction, close air support, and recon- We can exploit the advantages of airplanes naissance. Aircraft include many different (i.e., speed. range, and flexibility) in a kinds and nationalities (e.g., Dutch F-16s; comprehensively coordinated fashion in German F-4s; British Tornados; US F-15s, direct support of theater objectives. F-llls, F-16s, F-4s, and A-lOs; Canadian Specificglly, the operational challenge F-18s; and NATO E-3s). for employing air is at the levei of appor- tionment and allotment. Here we deter So, you see that my “operational art" re- mine how many and what kind of aircraft quires fulfilling many different require- should be used for what air missions to ments using diverse multinational aircraft best meet the theater commanders’ overall serving numerous mission areas, all in objectives. Since there are just not enough support of Central Region objectives. That aircraft to go around, as we saw in North is a mouthful, but it is important to under- África, we strive to concentrate firepower stand this to understand the operational at the right times and places to meet over art of war for air power in Europe.