Winning the Battle of the Airfields: Seventy Years of RAND Analysis on Air Base Defense and Attack
Abstract
Airfields have long been recognized as military centers of gravity. From the earliest days of military air power, airmen have sought to attack enemy airfields while protecting their own. The first documented successful attack on an airfield occurred during the first months of World War I, when a Royal Navy Air Service aircraft destroyed a German Zeppelin at its base in Dusseldorf. Air bases have played a central role in warfare since World War II. The major combatants in World War II recognized the strategic importance of what historian Norm Franks termed the Battle of the Airfields.1 As a result, attacks on air bases figured prominently in major offensive operations during that war, most notably in the German 1940 offensive, the Japanese December1941 air attacks on U.S. forces in Hawaii and the Philippines, and the German Operation Bodden platte, a desperate 1945 attempt to regain initiative in the air war. Attacks on airfields have occurred in at least 25 other conflicts (involving both conventional and unconventional forces) since World War II and are likely to remain a priority target for years to come.2 They have been attacked by aircraft, missiles, naval gunfire, artillery, mortars, rockets, commandos and, most recently, drones.3
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1123964
Entities
People
- Alan J. Vick
- Mark Ashby
Organizations
- RAND Corporation