Joint air operations

by James A. Winnefeld

With the current downsizing of the U.S. military putting a premium on joint response to threats, this landmark study of joint U.S. air operations over the past fifty years provides timely information on a topic of vital concern. The most comprehensive single-volume discussion available, it examines six major air campaigns - Midway, the Solomon Islands, Korea, Vietnam, El Dorado Canyon (Libya), and Desert Storm - in a search for lessons learned that might be applied in the planning and organizing of future joint operations. The focus of the book is on the differences - at times bitter acrimony - among the services on the control and employment of theater air forces. With each service having an "air force" of its own, each with a distinctive doctrine, the study confirms that their views are often diametrically opposite and that joint doctrine has been slow to evolve. The authors, RAND Corporation analysts, are refreshingly objective and clear in addressing the problems and issues that co