Air Power S Lost Cause

The first comprehensive treatment of the air wars in Vietnam. Filling a substantial void in our understanding of the history of airpower in Vietnam, this book provides the first comprehensive treatment of the air wars in Vietnam. Brian Laslie traces the complete history of these air wars from the beginning of American involvement until final withdrawal. Detailing the competing roles and actions of the air elements of the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force, the author considers the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. He also looks at the air war from the perspective of the North Vietnamese Air Force. Most important for understanding the US defeat, Laslie illustrates the perils of a nation building a one-dimensional fighting force capable of supporting only one type of war.

In the past century, multinational military operations have become the norm; but while contributions from different nations provide many benefits—from expanded capability to political credibility—they also present a number of challenges. Issues such as command and control, communications, equipment standardization, intelligence, logistics, planning, tactics, and training all require consideration. Cultural factors present challenges as well, particularly when language barriers are involved. In Allies in Air Power, experts from around the world survey these operations from the birth of aviation to the present day. Chapters cover conflicts including World War I, multiple theaters of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Kosovo, the Iraq War, and various United Nations peacekeeping missions. Contributors also analyze the role of organizations such as the UN, NATO, and so-called "coalitions of the willing" in laying the groundwork for multinational air operations. While multinational military action has become commonplace, there have been few detailed studies of air power cooperation over a prolonged period or across multiple conflicts. The case studies in this volume not only assess the effectiveness of multinational operations over time, but also provide vital insights into how they may be improved in the future.

Fought in the skies over North Vietnam, the air war between Vietnamese People’s Air Force (VNPAF) and U.S. airpower lasted nearly eight years with hundreds of thousands of combat missions carried out and nearly four hundred dogfights. Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North Vietnam, 1965-1973 is the English edition of the definitive North Vietnamese work on Vietnam War airpower. In this book, Đồng Sỹ Hưng depicts the relevant events in chronological order from the first air battles such as the one at Dragon’s Jaw Bridge (April 1965), to the Linebacker II Campaign—or as it was known by the North Vietnamese—the ”Điện Biên Phủ in the Air Campaign” (December 1972). Dong then writes about the signing of the Paris Peace Accords (January 1973), and the VNPAF’s attacks on Tân Sơn Nhất Airfield (April 1975). The air war in Vietnam was the first modern conflict in which the two opposing sides used jet combat aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles. In addition to his analysis of the strategic calculations, especially by the North Vietnamese, and the operations carried out, the author also details the technical characteristics of the weaponry used, as well as the changes in tactics applied in each phase of the war. In doing so, Dong provides the most unique perspective of this aspect of the conflict available in the English language.

The Routledge Handbook of Air Power offers a comprehensive overview of the political purposes and military importance of air power. Despite its increasing significance in international relations, statecraft and war, the phenomenon of air power remains controversial and little understood beyond its tactical and technological prominence. This volume provides a comprehensive survey designed to contribute to a deep and sophisticated understanding of air power. Containing contributions from academics and service personnel, the book comprises five sections: - Part I Foundation: the essence of air power - Part II Roles and functions: delivering air power - Part III Cross-domain integration: applying air power - Part IV Political–social–economic environment: air power in its strategic context - Part V Case studies: air power in its national context Examining a series of themes and factors that contribute to an understanding of the utility and applicability of air power, this Handbook focuses on the essence of air power, identifies its roles and functions, and places air power in its wider strategic and national contexts. The Routledge Handbook of Air Power will be of great interest to students of air power, strategic studies, defence studies, security studies and IR, as well as to military professionals and policy-makers.

IN THIS VOLUME: •Pakistan at War with Itself • The IAF at 79 — The Challenges Ahead • Developing Leadership in Arms • China's Palace in the Skies • Are the Days of the Manned Combat Aircraft Numbered? • Defending Indian Skies against the PLAAF • Aerospace and Defense News • Battling the Dragon • Indo-Afghan Strategic Partnership • Preserving the Military Institution from Within • 1971: The Finest Hour for Indian Intelligence Agencies • Taking Nuclear War-Fighting Seriously •Coastal Security Paradox • Insurgency, Counterinsurgency and Peace • Critical Technologies and Self Reliance — The Road Ahead for India • Unfolding US foreign policy attempts to contain China

In 146 BC, the armies of the Roman Republic destroyed Carthage and Corinth, two of the most spectacular cities of the ancient Mediterranean world. It was a display of ruthlessness so terrible that it shocked contemporaries, leaving behind deep scars and palpable historical traumas. Yet these twin destructions were not so extraordinary in the long annals of Roman warfare. In Spare No One, Gabriel Baker convincingly shows that mass violence was vital to Roman military operations. Indeed, in virtually every war they fought during the third and second centuries BC, the Roman legions killed and enslaved populations, executed prisoners, and put cities to the torch. This powerful book reveals that these violent acts were not normally the handiwork of frenzied soldiers run amok, nor were they spontaneous outbursts of uncontrolled savagery. On the contrary—and more troublingly—Roman commanders deliberately used these brutal strategies to achieve their most critical military objectives and political goals. Bringing long-overdue attention to this little-known aspect of Roman history, Baker paints a fuller, albeit darker, picture of Roman warfare. He ultimately demonstrates that the atrocities of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have deep historical precedents. Casting a fresh light on the strategic use of total war in the ancient world, he reminds us that terror and mass violence could be the rational policies of men and states long before the modern age.