Bringing Back the Past: The Impact of Procuring Low-Tech Strike Assets on Air Force Culture
Abstract
Service culture affects how military branches organize, train, equip, and survive as separate institutions of the U.S. military. The culture of a service includes the persistent, patterned way of thinking about operations and relationships. Air Force culture is centered upon the idea that advanced technology enables it to be a decisive contributor to warfare from the air domain. To stay relevant to current military requirements, services are faced with the challenge of either re-organizing or directing a major change in practice, or both. Once the service initiates the change, the service culture's response is a direct contributor to whether or not the change will be successful. The U.S. Air Force is considering procuring propeller-driven aircraft to conduct strike operations. This is a major change in practice that goes against the current service culture of fostering a technology-biased ethos. There are historic examples that illustrate how service cultures rejected the institution's proposal to re-organize or initiate a major change in practice. During Vietnam Army culture resisted the transformation it needed to deal with counterinsurgency due to organizational and material costs. There also are historic examples that demonstrate how cultural buy-in from the institution allowed a major change to occur. This monograph analyzes two case studies. The first case study is the Army Transformation that was initiated by General Shinseki in 1999 and is ongoing. The second case study analyzes the Marine Corps' decision to resurrect the amphibious assault mission during the interwar period. Both case studies are examples of how Army and Marine leaders influenced their service culture to adopt a major re-organization and a significant change to operational mission and capability. The monograph also asks how the Air Force can successfully enable the cultural change that will have to accompany a successful transition to low-tech propeller driven strike aircraft.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 19, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA546242
Entities
People
- David A. Ferguson
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College