Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower

Editors Ryan Burke, Michael Fowler and Kevin McCaskey

“Provocative, even controversial, Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower is a competing departure from seminal concepts in military strategy and doctrinal norms that seeks to establish new paradigms in the way we conceive of the military instrument of power. There is particularly excellent work in the sections on operational design, the roles of intelligence and ISR, and global mobility and agility. This work will stimulate critical thinking for anyone interested in modern war and the Joint Force as well as strategic studies.”

—GEN. CHARLES H. JACOBY JR., USA (RET.)

Military/Security Studies Military Strategy, Joint Operations, and Airpower will introduce readers to contemporary strategy and the operational level of war, particularly as it relates to airpower.

This intermediate textbook was developed as required reading for all US Air Force Academy cadets and is designed to close the gap between military theory and military practice. It asks readers to reconceive of the military as a “profession of effects” rather than as a profession of arms because much of the military’s work and impact no longer involves kinetic warfare.

The book covers strategic foundations; operational design and joint-service operations; the air, space, and cyber capabilities that make up modern airpower; and contemporary challenges in the application of strategy. The contributing authors include both military practitioners and scholars of security studies, political science, and history.

In addition to being required reading for Air Force Academy cadets, the book will provide an essential overview of strategy and practice for anyone interested in modern airpower and the joint operating environment.

Editors Ryan Burke, Michael Fowler and Kevin McCaskey

Ryan Burke is an associate professor in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy (USAFA) and was formerly a captain in the US Marine Corps.

Lt. Col. Michael Fowler is an associate professor in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at USAFA.

Lt. Col. Kevin McCaskey is an assistant professor in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at USAFA.

Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword by Lt. Gen. Christopher D. Miller (USAF, Ret.) ix
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part I. An Introduction to Contemporary Strategy
Introduction
Kevin McCaskey

1. Defi ning Contemporary Military Strategy
Thomas Drohan

2. Strategic Foundations
John T. Farquhar

3. Operational Design: One Method of Reconciling Ends, Ways, and Means
Ryan Burke

4. The Ways of War: Constructing a Compellence Strategy
Michael Fowler

5 Capabilities That Generate Effects
Kevin McCaskey

Part II. Airpower Strategy and Levels of Effects
Introduction
Thomas Swaim

6. Airpower for Strategic Effect: Classic to Contemporary Airpower Theory
John T. Farquhar

7. Multidomain Airpower Strategy: Integrating Air, Space, and Cyber Assets 89
Jahara W. Matisek

8. Intelligence, ISR, and Strategy 104
Michael Fowler

Part III. Air, Space, and Cyber Effects
Introduction
Michael Martindale

9. Global Precision Engagement
Dan Hoadley

10. Rapid Global Mobility and Agile Combat Support
Kevin McCaskey

11. Airpower and Irregular Warfare: A Battle of Ideas
John T. Farquhar

12. Space Power
Michael Martindale

13. Offense and Defense in Cyberspace
Evan Perkoski and Michael Poznansky

Part IV. Defense Organization and the Joint Operating Environment
Introduction
Ryan Burke

14. Goldwater-Nichols and the Evolution of the Joint Force
Brent J. Talbot

15. Roles and Missions of the Armed Services
Brian Drohan

16. Special Operations
Michael Golembesky

Part V. Contemporary Challenges in the Application of Strategy
Introduction
Michael Fowler

17. Flawed Reasoning and Bias in Decision-Making
Laura Resnick-Samotin

18. Unmanned Aerial Systems
Kevin McCaskey

19. Expanding DoD Missions and Mission Creep
Ryan Burke

20. Constructing Effects: A Strategic Theory of Security Cooperation
Michael Fowler

21. Hybrid Warfare: The End of Conventional Wars in the Twenty-First Century?
William Reno

22. Innovation and Organizational Politics
Justin Key Canfi l

23. Analyzing ISIS in the Contemporary Environment
Iris Malone

Conclusion
Ryan Burke

List of Contributors