Coalition Warfare: Considerations for the Air Component Commander
Abstract
Political circumstances often dictate that we employ military force as part of a coalition. The youngest military instrument, airpower, has been integrated into coalition forces during several major conflicts of the twentieth century. No historical evidence or current strategies indicate that the likelihood of working within a coalition will diminish. A fundamental question, then, is how air component commanders should be trained to understand and appreciate the nuances of coalition warfare. This thesis focuses on operational-level coalition air force interactions in three conflicts: the Korean War (1950-1953), the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) and the Balkan Air Campaign (1992-1995). Each conflict saw significant United Nations involvement, and the US provided the majority of airpower assets. Nevertheless, air forces of other states provided both political and military benefits for coalition unity. Overall, coordination among air components seemed exceptionally smooth. Several disagreements arose, which, though never fracturing the coalition outright, pointed to potential areas of conflict for future operations. The capability that coalition air forces offer usually benefits the overall effort, while each member's diverging desires (or, will) can degrade overall unity of effort. Analysis of the three conflicts presented here suggests several coalition considerations for air component commanders. Some considerations (responsiveness, training, doctrine and equipment, and language) affect coalition capability, while others (trust, perception of leaders) generally affect member's will. Still other considerations (liaisons, C3 and intelligence sharing) can affect both capability and will. Because each case in this thesis had unique elements that may have affected the coalition, a comparison of these elements may also reveal considerations which are important to the air component commander. Finally, the current US programs to train JFACCs and op
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA361514
Entities
People
- Peter C. Hunt
Organizations
- Air University