Monthly Archives: October 2010

The Army Air Forces in Northwest Africa Reply

World War II

Reviewing history through the lens of the Allied victory in World War II, it is easy for us to forget that the only armed forces (arguably) prepared for war at its onset were those of Japan and Germany. Both had experienced cadre and formations, Japan’s honed in China and Manchuria, Germany’s in the Spanish Civil War. The Allies, lulled into complacency by a combination of popular wishful thinking and artful propaganda, were, even in 1942, still catching up with the Axis forces. Nowhere was this more the case than with the American forces thrown into combat in North Africa.

For the U.S. Army Air Forces, still far behind the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe in experience and equipment, North Africa was the beginning of a brutal learning curve in arts of tactical air support and what was then known as pursuit aviation. This book, while a service history, gives a good overview of operations without getting so granular as to make it pedantic. A worthy addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the period, or in the history of aviation.

Integrating U.S. Climate, Energy, and Transportation Policies Reply

Environment, Policy

These proceedings of a RAND conference diving into policy options on climate change suggest taking a systemic rather than a single-industry approach to sustainability policy. Setting aside the controversy over climate, there are convincing reasons to operate the nation and its economy in a manner far less wasteful than at present. The framers of these papers seem to think it is time do de-politicize the debate and move toward a non-partisan, integrated, and multifaceted approach the the problem of sustainability.

Air Leadership Reply

Aerospace, Leadership
An A-10A during a NATO Operation Allied Force ...

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It was never a given that air forces would be a part of the U.S. armed forces, and while the uses and efficacy of air power have been the subject of much hyperbole from advocates in the past, the U.S. and its allies were fortunate that a few outspoken leaders made the case for military aviation in the wake of opposition from ground and sea forces.

How those advocates evolved as the Air Force and Naval Aviation migrated from being outsiders to establishment is a fascinating study, because it explains why the public is frequently oversold – or mis-sold – on the capabilities of those who fly through the air.

This is particularly germane because in the wake of the “Long War” and more intensive budget pressures on the U.S. armed forces, there is once again a growing voice for the disestablishment of the U.S. Air Force as a separate service, and the considerable downsizing of naval aviation. With its focus on some of the more colorful personalities in the history of American military aviation, this book is a fascinating as well as topical read.

Aerial Interdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American Wars Reply

Aerospace, National Security, Strategy

When even the Air Force admits that they have not paid enough attention to a field of aerial warfare, you can be assured that they have nearly ignored it.

At the risk of sounding pedantic, a study of military history yields the unfortunate conclusion that air strategists have paid far too much attention in their planning to strategic bombing (reducing the enemy’s political, economic, and communications infrastructure) and air-to-air combat (shooting down the enemy’s fighters and bombers) and not enough to other fields where, perhaps, credit for success could not be attributed to the air arm. Politics does more than empirical evidence or threat analysis to determine doctrine, strategy, tactics, and weapons, and this is a dangerous vulnerability.

Mind you, the Air Force is not alone in this failing – each of the five services (Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy, Marines) suffers from this malady in some degree, though the Marines and Coasties, used to making a little go a long way, suffer somewhat less so. To the zoomies’ credit, the historians they fund at the Center for Air Force History are going back and analyzing the lessons of the past to try to keep America’s birdmen from having to relearn some valuable lessons.

What Dr. Eduard Mark has uncovered – much, I am sure, to the chagrin of his blue suited sponsors – is that the Air Force has learned the wrong lessons from its experience in aerial interdiction (defined as the effort to sever enemy forces from their lines of supply, reinforcement, movement, and communication). Worse still, Dr. Mark delivers the scathing conclusion that the Air Force is making the wrong assumptions about hardware, tactics, and acquisition, and that these have dangerously undermined the force’s ability to conduct interdiction.

A fascinating, well-documented read.

American Military on the Frontier Reply

Military History

A pdf book on the U.S. military and the Wild West. It is terribly convenient in these times to forget the positive work that was done by the Army and Navy during America’s westward expansion. We tend to focus on the negative, and in so doing forget that the surveyors, explorers, scouts, and lawkeepers that enabled the frontier wore Army blue and Navy white.

This book, the proceedings of a symposium at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, seeks to re-examine the military’s role in the opening of the West.

Do Choice and Speed of Reforms Matter for Human Rights During Transition? Reply

Policy

An interesting working paper from the Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan that probes whether speed of economic reforms is linked to the speed of improvements in human rights. A casual, mainstream-media read on China would suggest no correlation, but Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati of the University of Santiago de Compostela suggests a more nuanced read on the situation in China and other countries in this pdf book.

A Call to Revitalize the Engines of Government Reply

Governance, Policy

A RAND opinion paper calling on Obama to cut the role of contractors in government. Contractors per se are not a bad thing, suggests this report, but when you start replacing core government functions with outsiders you not only lose something, you frequently wind up paying private sector rates for people who before had been happy taking government compensation.

I’m no fan of oversized bureaucracies, but I think our debate about government has become far too focused on size, and not focused enough on efficacy. While RAND to a certain extent has skin in this game, their point of view is less politicized than what is popularly discussed.

This is a question that over the longer term will occupy the governments of China and India as well. Both have long-standing traditions of bloated, multilevel bureaucracies that develop lives and power bases of their own, and will at some point need models to help them “right-size” and make more effective their legions of apparatchiks.

Airlift and Airborne Operations in World War II Reply

Aerospace, World War II

Before the Second World War, the idea of moving large groups of soldiers to an objective by air was so much science fiction. After the war, it was doctrine.

Getting there was a brutal learning curve, in particular the airborne phases of the invasion of Sicily and Normandy and the effort to supply the Chinese army by air over the Himalayas. But learn the Air Force did, and the result was the most air transportable armed force on the planet.

This book covers that transition, forged in battle, that made air mobility a core tenet of U.S. strategic doctrine.

Air-Ground Teamwork on the Western Front 2

Aerospace, World War II
Elwood Richard Quesada

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The U.S. Army Air Corps, and later the Air Force, have always viewed what is known as “attack aviation” as a tertiary function following air superiority and strategic bombardment, and probably behind tactical air transport. One only need look at the history of the Army’s eventual development of its own aviation branch to find the evidence.

I suspect, therefore, that the Air Force is attempting to combat this perception with the publication of accounts of its history as a ground-support force. In their defense, when some of their number have dropped out of the clouds to focus on providing direct support to ground troops, (most notable among such aviators is General Elwood Richard “Pete” Quesada, pictured) they have done well. That’s why this book is such a worthy read.

Aces and Aerial Victories: The USAF in Southeat Asia, 1965-1973 Reply

Aerospace, Military History

A pdf book describing the role played by the “fast movers” and big bombers in the Vietnam War.

One would be tempted to take a skeptical approach to reports like this, seeing them (particularly today) as a means of justifying the role of expensive aviation hardware in combating an insurgency. But there is more happening here.

This is really an account of the challenges of operating in an environment with restrictive rules of engagement, and the work hints that not only tactics but strategy, platforms, and force structure must change when fighting a “limited” or hybrid war.

China Internet Insights: China E-Commerce, Logistically Speaking Reply

Media

A Deutsche Bank report that formed the underpinning of Alan Hellawell’s comments at the China 2.0: The Rise of a Digital Superpower conference last week.

I don’t agree with all of Hellawell’s conclusions, but I particularly concur with  his suggestion that business-to-consumer e-commerce in China is going to be most successful when brands rely on platform providers rather than trying to build their own sites. Adidas’ recent announcement that it will be partnering with Taobao is an excellent example.

Related Articles

Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing: The Evidence Reply

Law
U.S. Park Police officers stand guard on Presi...

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A pdf book that dives into the issues U.S. law enforcement agencies face. Naturally there is a great emphasis on organizational behavior, efficiency, constitutional practices, and racial matters. What caught my eye was the discussion about corruption: not that it was there, but that it seemed to merit only a passing mention.

Reading through the report, one gets the impression that U.S. law enforcement is rather troubled. What would do a real service would be to benchmark U.S. police practices both between US cities and between US cities and the police forces overseas (and not just Japan, Australia and Europe.)

Rise of the Pasdaran Reply

Iran

A pdf book from RAND examining the role played by the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iranian politics. This pdf book continue’s RAND’s ongoing effort to end the ignorance about Iran’s internal drivers among both policymakers and the public in the U.S.

Understanding Iran Reply

Iran

A RAND monograph that describes Iran and its political system in compelling detail. In the case of no other country is our collective ignorance such an impediment to effective international relations, and the RAND team takes a first, big step toward rectifying that. A pdf book.