The 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance: Implications for Air Force Special Operations

Abstract

The January 2012 release of Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta significantly changed America's strategic direction. This paper examines the implications of America's change in strategic direction on Air Force special operations. By reviewing the new Defense Strategic Guidance and the United States Special Operations Command's Posture Statement, the author distills five implications for Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). In addition to facing Anti-Access/Area Denial challenges over the coming years, AFSOC is likely to be more heavily engaged in building partner capacity missions; be more forward deployed to the Asia-Pacific region; face an increased operations tempo; and be forced to negotiate complicated budgetary challenges. After examining AFSOC's Way Ahead briefing, the author concludes with two recommendations: AFSOC should increase rotational force deployments to the Asia-Pacific and accelerate development of the next generation SOF mobility aircraft.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA589337

Entities

People

  • Justin R. Hoffman

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Area Denial
  • Deployment
  • Geographic Regions
  • Guidance
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Students
  • Tilt Rotor Aircraft
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.