The Future of Air Power in the Aftermath of the Gulf War Edited by Richard H. Shultz, Jr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. International Security Studies Program The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy Tufts University Air University Press Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama 36112-5532 July 1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Future of air power in the aftermath of the Gulf War/edited by Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Richard H. Shultz, Jr. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Air power-United States-Congresses . 2. United States. Air Force-Congresses . 3. Persian Gulf War. 1991-Aerial operations, American-Congresses . I. Pfaltzgraff, Robert L. II. Shultz, Richard H., 1947-. UG633. F86 1992 92-8181 358.4'03'0973-dc20 CIP ISBN 1-58566-046-9 First Printing July 1992 Second Printing June 1995 Third Printing August 1997 Fourth Printing August 1998 Fifth Printing March 2001 Sixth Printing July 2002 Disclaimer Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the views of Air University, the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, or any other US government agency. Cleared for public release: distribution unlimited. Contents Page DISCLAIMER . ii FOREWORD . vii PREFACE . ix PART I Strategic Factors Reshaping Strategies and Missions Introduction . 3 Air Power in the New Security Environment . 9 Secretary of the Air Force Donald B . Rice Air Power in US Military Strategy . 17 Dr Edward N. Luttwak The United States as an Aerospace Power in the Emerging Security Environment . 39 Dr Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr. Employing Air Power in the Twenty-first Century . 57 Col John A . Warden III, USAF The Role of the US Air Force in the Employment of Air Power . 83 Maj Gen Charles D. Link, USAF PART II Air Power as an Element of US Power Projection Page Introduction . 91 Air Power since World War II: Consistent with Doctrine? . 95 Dr Williamson Murray Aerospace Forces and Power Projection . 115 Lt Gen Michael A . Nelson, USAF The Relevance of High-Intensity Operations . 127 Lt Gen Glenn A . Kent, USAF, Retired Air Power in Low- and Midintensity Conflict . 139 Gen Larry D . Welch, USAF, Retired PART III Air Power: Deterrence and Compellence Introduction . 167 Compellence and the Role of Air Power as a Political Instrument . 171 Dr Richard H. Shultz, Jr. Reinforcing Allied Military Capabilities in a Global-Alliance Strategy . 193 Dr Jacquelyn K. Davis PART IV Designing Aerospace Force Structures Page Introduction . 213 Force Structure for the Future . 217 Maj Gen Robert M. Alexander, USAF The Air National Guard Today: Looking to the Future . 225 Lt Gen John B. Conaway, National Guard Bureau Space : A New Strategic Frontier . 235 Lt Gen Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., USAF PART V Factors Affecting Force Structure and Missions Introduction . 253 Congress and National Security . 257 Hon Bud Shuster Balancing Budgetary and Force Constraints . 263 Brig Gen Lawrence P. Farrell, Jr., USAF The Impact of Arms Control on the US Air Force . 277 Dr Edward L. Warner III The Sky's the Limit: The Pentagon's Victory over the Press, the Public, and the Peaceniks . 295 Ross Gelbspan PART VI Acquisition Priorities and Strategies : A View from Industry Page Introduction . 311 Research and Development Strategies . 315 Harold K. McCard Advanced Technology Challenges in the Defense Industry . 329 Dr John Blair CONTRIBUTORS . 347 INDEX . .357 Foreword Air University is proud to have joined the Air Staff and the International Security Studies Program of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in sponsoring the April 1991 conference on aerospace challenges and missions that produced this collection of essays . Written by a distinguished group of specialists from academia, the military, government, business, and the media, these essays examine American national security policy and Air Force issues from a variety of perspectives . Aside from their remarkable perceptiveness, the contributions of the authors are especially timely because they address the pivotal role of air power in the war with Iraq . The essays leave no doubt that the employment of both established and innovative methods of air combat in that crisis has important implications for the global-security environment of the future. In that sense, this book provides a foundation for evaluating the complex policy challenges that we face in the 1990s and into the next century. CHARLES G. BOYD Lieutenant General, USAF Commander Air University Preface The United States has recently emerged victorious from a war fought in the Persian Gulf against an opponent seasoned by eight long years of war with Iran and armed with heavy armored and mechanized divisions, as well as high-performance aircraft and ballistic missiles. The results of the engagement of US air and ground forces were unmatched in American military annals-the complete defeat of the enemy's forces, first through a devastating air campaign and then through a brilliant "Cannae-style" envelopment . In the aftermath of this victory, it is incumbent upon the US military services to undertake a sober reading of the diverse issues and implications that arose from the Gulf war and to bring these to bear in planning for the international security environment of the 1990s and beyond. This volume is an effort to do so with respect to the US Air Force. It is the product of a major conference on the role of air power and the Air Force in future American defense policy. The conference was the first major reassessment, in an open forum, of the role of air power following the Persian Gulf war. When the International Security Studies Program (ISSP) of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, decided to hold a conference on "The United States Air Force: Aerospace Challenges and Missions in the 1990s," we of course had no idea that the dates of the conference would fall at the end of the largest engagement of American military power since the Vietnam War. The symposium was to be part of a series that the ISSP has designed to assess the future of American national security through the prism of each military service. The first conference had as its topic "US Defense Policy in an Era of Constrained Resources," and the 1990; program focused on challenges and missions for the US Army . The next two programs will assess future doctrines, missions, and force structures of the US Marine Corps and the US Navy in American defense policy. This volume has as its goal a broad examination of the spectrum of issues and choices facing the Air Force in the 1990s and beyond. Several of the contributors present diverse and thoughtful insights into the major lessons from the air campaign in Operation Desert Storm. The book is divided into six parts. Part I focuses on the emerging international security environment and the new strategic factors that are acting to reshape Air Force strategies and missions. Part II assesses the future role of air power as an element of US power projection. Part III examines two strategic principles-deterrence and compellence-and applies them to current and future air power roles and missions. Part IV highlights the need for and the ways to design a new aerospace force structure in this changing strategic environment . Part V identifies those domestic and arms control factors that will influence the force structure and missions of the Air Force in the years ahead. Part VI presents the defense industry's view of acquisition priorities and strategies for the future Air Force. Each section is preceded by a policy-focused introduction which highlights and integrates the key points and major recommendations of each of the contributors to the volume . The book is intended for a broad spectrum of foreign- and defense-policy professionals, including civilian government officials; military officers in command and staff positions; members of Congress and their staff assistants; public-policy analysts and researchers at major think tanks; academics engaged in the study and teaching of international security; the media; and lay readers with a particular interest in national security issues. Given the major role of the US Air Force in Operation Desert Storm and the decisive impact of air power on the outcome of the Gulf war, what formerly may have been a debatable question is now generally accepted-air power will be a formidable and essential tool in the future international security policy of the United States. The importance of this volume lies in its ability to cogently outline those new doctrinal, strategic, organizational, and structural challenges and missions facing the Air Force in this decade and beyond, and to provide thoughtful recommendations for addressing these and related policy issues . The experience in the Gulf conflict comes at a time when the United States is faced with a rapidly evolving international environment . The policies and strategies tailored for the Soviet Union during the cold war era, in several respects, have become less compelling as the Soviet military threat to Western Europe has subsided, and as Soviet policy in the third world has abandoned its expansionist logic . As the Gulf conflict made apparent, the restraints placed upon third-world powers by the superpower rivalry have been erased, leaving few deterrent structures in the way of aggressors like Iraq's Saddam Hussein. The strategic environment, as Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice has stated, "is not going to be free of conflict, and . there will be future challenges to American vital interests through military means." The contributors to this book have concluded that the US Air Force, indeed all the US military services, must prepare for an international security arena of vastly different dimensions from that which they faced during the cold war.