Planning Airpower Strategies

This study attempts to determine whether Air Component Commands are capable of developing an effective airpower strategy. The study examines U.S. Central Command Air Forces (CENTAF) because of its recent experience in developing and executing a sizable airpower contribution to a theater campaign. The author sets the background by describing CENTAF's role in the Persian Gulf War theater campaign strategy. The conclusion is that the Commander in Chief (CINC) of Central Command did not think that CENTAF had an acceptable holistic airpower strategy in August of 1990 and therefore requested the assistance of the Air Staff at the Pentagon. Next, the author justifies and describes credible sources for determining the attributes of an effective operational level airpower strategy. Using this information, he recommends a notional air component commander's campaign planning organization and describes the individual branch's responsibilities and products. The largest implication of this notional organization is the requirement to possess a strategy cell, with immediate, direct and continual access to the JFACC, to develop an overall framework for the rest of the combat planning organization.