Air Force Issues Book

Abstract

As the 1990 Air Force Issues Book goes to press, profound changes continue to take place throughout the world. Less than a year ago, Americans watched the televised dismantling of the Berlin wall and the subsequent emasculation of the Warsaw Pact. Just recently, NATO leaders promised fundamental changes in the alliance's military and political policies. Yet these changes still do not promise tranquility for the coming decade. Indeed, increased political instability, economic dislocation, and shifting military power are all potential threats to American interests worldwide. Just as we cannot ignore the worldwide political and economic changes of the past year, we must not abandon our fundamental national security objective--to preserve the United States as a free and independent nation, with its people, values, and institutions secure. During the coming months and years we must find ways to balance the optimism inspired by global events with the realism thrust upon us by international instability. In June 1990, Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice issued a white paper titled "The Air Force and U.S. National Security: Global Reach--Global Power." This study shows how the strengths of the Air Force rest upon its inherent characteristics of speed, range, flexibility, precision, and lethality--characteristics which are directly relevant to the national interest in the future.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA533545

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Department of the Air Force

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Airframes
  • Attrition
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Base Closures
  • Electronic Countermeasures
  • Employment
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Law
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Warfare
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Strategic Security Studies