The Role Of United States Air Power In Peacekeeping

Air power for warfighting is a story that's been told many times. Air power for peacekeeping and UN enforcement is a story that desperately needs to be told. For the first-time, this volume covers the fascinating range of aerial peace functions. In rich detail it describes: aircraft transporting vital supplies to UN peacekeepers and massive amounts of humanitarian aid to war-affected populations; aircraft serving as the 'eyes in sky' to keep watch for the world organization; and combat aircraft enforcing the peace. Rich poignant case studies illuminate the past and present use of UN air power, pointing the way for the future. This book impressively fills the large gap in the current literature on peace operations, on the United Nations and on air power generally.

This study examines the role of the Air Force in future peace operations. The authors draw upon the experience of the US and other nations to improve understanding of how peacekeeping forces operate and shed light on how best to employ American forces. This paper reviews existing US military doctrine and examines the impact on combat readiness. The authors then suggest areas for consideration regarding the preparation for conduct of peace operations. Air Force doctrine is not required so long as appropriate doctrine for various functional areas is incorporated into strategies and operation plans. Coercive airpower can play a role in peace operations, but the most powerful contribution of airpower is likely to come through air mobility As long as the American government and public feel that peace operations will help promote national security interests, the US military will be called upon to participate in those missions alongside many other agencies. This paper neither advocates the use of military forces for peace operations nor recommends they not be employed. It address the current reality, and it should help military members understand the very unusual tasks they will no doubt be called upon to perform in the next peace operations.

The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of three-dimensionality in war: surface forces flow became prey for attackers operating above and below the earth and its oceans. The aerial weapon, prophesied for centuries, became a reality, as did air power projection forces. This insightful book by Warren A. Trest traces the doctrinal underpinnings of the modern United States Air Force, the world's only global air force. We the men and women who serve in the Air Force, but also our fellow airmen in America's other military services are the heirs and beneficiaries of a long heritage of doctrinal development and military thought. Our predecessors pursued a vision of airborne global reach and power that often put them at odds with those who could not break free of the confines of conventional thought and lock-step traditionalism. Fortunately, they had the courage of their convictions and the faith in their vision to continue to pursue the goal of global air power despite such resistance. Today, America is a genuine aerospace power, and that pioneering vision dating to the days of the Wright brothers, has expanded to encompass operations in space and between the mediums of air and space. As we approach the new millennium, it is well to ponder the lessons and the history of how a small group of truly gifted airmen transformed their nation's military establishment, and, in so doing, the world around them.

This study examines the role of the Air Force in future peace operations. The authors draw upon the experience of the US and other nations to improve understanding of how peacekeeping forces operate and shed light on how best to employ American forces. This paper reviews existing US military doctrine and examines the impact on combat readiness. The authors then suggest areas for consideration regarding the preparation for conduct of peace operations. Air Force doctrine is not required so long as appropriate doctrine for various functional areas is incorporated into strategies and operation plans. Coercive airpower can play a role in peace operations, but the most powerful contribution of airpower is likely to come through air mobility As long as the American government and public feel that peace operations will help promote national security interests, the US military will be called upon to participate in those missions alongside many other agencies. This paper neither advocates the use of military forces for peace operations nor recommends they not be employed. It address the current reality, and it should help military members understand the very unusual tasks they will no doubt be called upon to perform in the next peace operations.

This collection of essays reflects the proceedings of a 1991 conference on "The United States Air Force: Aerospace Challenges and Missions in the 1990s," sponsored by the USAF and Tufts University. The 20 contributors comment on the pivotal role of airpower in the war with Iraq and address issues and choices facing the USAF, such as the factors that are reshaping strategies and missions, the future role and structure of airpower as an element of US power projection, and the aerospace industry's views on what the Air Force of the future will set as its acquisition priorities and strategies. The authors agree that aerospace forces will be an essential and formidable tool in US security policies into the next century. The contributors include academics, high-level military leaders, government officials, journalists, and top executives from aerospace and defense contractors.

One of the most vexing issues that has faced the international community since the end of the Cold War has been the use of force by the United Nations peacekeeping forces. UN intervention in civil wars, as in Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Rwanda, has thrown into stark relief the difficulty of peacekeepers operating in situations where consent to their presence and activities is fragile or incomplete and where there is little peace to keep. Complex questions arise in these circumstances. When and how should peacekeepers use force to protect themselves, to protect their mission, or, most troublingly, to ensure compliance by recalcitrant parties with peace accords? Is a peace enforcement role for peacekeepers possible or is this simply war by another name? Is there a grey zone between peacekeeping and peace enforcement? Trevor Findlay reveals the history of the use of force by UN peacekeepers from Sinai in the 1950s to Haiti in the 1990s. He untangles the arguments about the use of force in peace operations and sets these within the broader context of military doctrine and practice. Drawing on these insights the author examines proposals for future conduct of UN operations, including the formulation of UN peacekeeping doctrine and the establishment of a UN rapid reaction force.

The United States Army Air Forces became an independent service, the United States Air Force, in 1947-the second year, supposedly, of "peace." In reality there had just begun a long conflict between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and the satellite states subject to it. In 1949 the United States and most of the non-Communist countries of Europe signed the North Atlantic Treaty. The United States Air Force, which had been only a token presence on the continent since the end of World War II, once more crossed the Atlantic in strength. The commitment of that service to peace and security in Europe, which continues still, has been the longest of its history. This pamphlet attempts to give the general reader some sense of the role the USAF has played in Europe since the end of World War II. It contains three sections. The first reviews the reasons for the origins of the Cold War and describes the strategic concerns that drove the United States to commit itself to the military defense of distant lands. The second section reviews the higher strategy of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with special reference to the central role of air power. The final section reviews the history of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) in order to show the many ways in which the United States Air Force has served American national security policy on the continent. This section is closely based on a brief history of USAFE prepared by Dr. Daniel Harrington of USAFE' s history office. I am grateful to Dr. Harrington for having made his study available to me.