Reshaping USAF Culture and Strategy: Lasting Themes and Emerging Trends

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) are facing a tumultuous period of declining budgets and refocused strategic priorities. How the USAF reacts will be deeply rooted in the culture and history of the service. Uncovering the roots of USAF organizational culture can provide crucial context in explaining how and why the USAF will invest its increasingly scarce resources. This paper will first examine the foundations of organizational culture and how they apply to the USAF. Through examination of a series of historical themes it will propose that the USAF has demonstrated a remarkable consistency in terms of its core doctrine of strategic attack. The paper will then explore USAF technological innovation as a social construct. Finally, it will describe how transformative periods and emerging technologies have drawn emphasis in the past and how that emphasis can be expected to shift in the current strategic climate.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 12, 2011
Accession Number
ADA561889

Entities

People

  • Peter J. Flores

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Aircrafts
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Doctrine
  • Emerging Technology
  • Military Aircraft
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Second World War
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • Strategic Security Studies