The Emancipation of Airpower

Abstract

On 17 January 1991, air forces led by the United States banded together to extract the army of Iraq from the Emirate of Kuwait. This air campaign would be the decisive element of the Persian Gulf War and would be the most significant campaign in the history of airpower. The title of this paper is taken from a chapter in Major Alexander De Seversky's book on the use of airpower; Victory through Airpower, published in 1942. This paper analyzes early theories on the use of airpower; how airpower was misused; and how airpower evolved since World War II. For the first ninety years of powered flight, the promises and expectations for the employment of airpower as a military weapon exceeded its capabilities. Analysis is conducted as to what made the Persian Gulf Air Campaign different from the previous uses of airpower. Observations are made that airpower was at last employed as early air power theorists promised.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 12, 1992
Accession Number
ADA250822

Entities

People

  • Robert J. Tomczak

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Bombing
  • Combat Operations
  • Employment
  • Military Aircraft
  • Military Aviation
  • Military Organizations
  • Persian Gulf War
  • Second World War
  • Strategic Bombing
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.