Overseas United States Air Force Basing: Static Assets Topple the Stool
Abstract
Traditional overseas basing immediately exposes United States Air Force (USAF) aircraft, personnel, and infrastructure to the contested environment marked by peer adversaries long-range precision fires, endangering this three-legged "stool" of successful air operations. This vulnerable force posture threatens the survivability, resiliency, and effectiveness of the USAF in the reemerging era of great power competition. The status quo of stationing aircraft at overseas main operating bases jeopardizes the innate ability of the service to generate combat power at the time of its choosing by threatening the bedrock of the service's force projection - the air base. To improve survivability the USAF should realign overseas forces to the continental US and utilize a rotational, forward presence to maintain deterrence, assurance, and joint enabling missions. To bolster resiliency, the USAF should continue to develop adaptive basing concepts. Finally, to maintain effectiveness as both an inside and outside force, the USAF must operate dynamically to challenge an adversary's capacity to predict, locate, and target forces. The USAF must accelerate changes and return to its expeditionary narrative of global reach to ensure the static nature of basing and aircraft does not "topple the stool" before it gets a chance to fight.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 26, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1178134
Entities
People
- John S. Nep
Organizations
- Marine Corps University