Category Archives: AirWarfare

Air Warfare – The Last Ace

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The Atlantic – The Last Ace

Mark Bowden writes that American air superiority has been so complete for so long that we take it for granted. For more than half a century, we’ve made only rare use of the aerial-combat skills of a man like Cesar Rodriguez, who retired two years ago with more air-to-air kills than any other active-duty fighter pilot. But our technological edge is eroding—Russia, China, India, North Korea, and Pakistan all now fly fighter jets with capabilities equal or superior to those of the F-15, the backbone of American air power since the Carter era. Now we have a choice. We can stock the Air Force with the expensive, cutting-edge F‑22—maintaining our technological superiority at great expense to our Treasury. Or we can go back to a time when the cost of air supremacy was paid in the blood of men like Rodriguez.

Air Power – The Pilotless Plane That Only Looks Like Child's Play

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New York Times – If youíre the type of shopper who spends billions of dollars on lethal military gadgets, and youíre ever invited to visit General Atomics Aeronautical Systems – the small, privately held San Diego company that has quickly become one of the military industryís most celebrated businesses – take a bit of advice: accept a ride on the corporate jet.
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Geopolitics / Strategy – Grand Strategies for Dealing With Other Stats in the New, New World Order

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Naval War College Review – Three broad strategies for maximizing the benefits the United States receives from state-to-state assistance programs are current todayóthe pivotal, buffer (or ìseamî), and failed-state strategies. Examination of the assumptions and conceptual approaches imbedded in them shows that none represents an adequate strategy for dealing with the security threats of the present day and age.

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History – Midway: Sheer Luck or Better Doctrine?

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Naval War College Review – The American and Japanese navies in the interwar years both acknowledged the transformative nature of the aircraft carrier, but they made strikingly different choices in implementing that naval revolution. The contrasting carrier doctrines and force structures these choices produced were tested decisively at Midway, in ways that speak to the nature of military technological innovation.

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