USAF Relevance in the 21st Century

The rise of terrorism by non-state actors as a primary threat to U.S. national security challenges the relevance of air and space power. This study first looks at the current and foreseeable security environment and identifies weak/failing states as the largest strategic threat to the United States since the Cold War. Next, the paper describes the culture of the U.S. military as a whole and assesses the relevance of the current American way of war to meeting the challenges of the weak/failing state security threat. If the military studied military operations other than war (MOOTW) lessons as much as the combat lessons, they would see that the U.S. has always struggled with winning the peace in operations short of major combat. Third, the author examines how the United States Air Force's preferred way of war coupled with a service bias toward combat flying has manifested itself in a body of doctrine that limits the ability of the service to provide a stronger contribution to the nation. Just as the Air Force balanced the nuclear and conventional force structure in favor of conventional forces, the USAF must now think about tailoring its conventional forces for major combat operations to ones more suitable for MOOTW. Finally, the author provides recommendations for the Department of Defense in general and the USAF in particular, to transform educational and doctrinal thinking to embrace capabilities ready to respond throughout the spectrum of conflict.