The Impact of Doctrine on Air Force Roles and Missions

Abstract

Our nation's armed forces are undergoing a transformation initiated by the end of the cold war. This transformation has both political, and military dimensions. This paper takes a historical look at the role of doctrine in the past in Chapter 1 and concludes that doctrine will continue to play an important role. Chapter 2 studies the history of significant roles and missions reviews with an eye towards the durability of decisions made in these reviews and an understanding of institutional barriers to change. Chapter 3 covers our national policy in the post cold war period and provides a stepping stone to Chapter 4. It is in Chapter 4 that the technological advances brought about by the cold war, doctrine, and national policy are combined with a strategy and then applied to the new world situation. This section concludes that there are tremendous advantages available to the United States government in attacking the leadership of states inimical to US policy. The research conducted represents a review of both historical and contemporary works, with a focus on the idea that the Air Force should change and now is a good time for change.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1997
Accession Number
ADA399020

Entities

People

  • Milton H. Johnson

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Bombing
  • Cold War
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Second World War
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Strategic Security Studies