Pdf john warden and the renaissance of american air. Air supremacy is a degree of air superiority where a side holds complete control of air warfare and air power over opposing forces. In the short history of air warfare, no nation with superior air forces has ever lost a war to the force of enemy arms. Planning for combat has been translated into more than a half dozen languages and is in use at military colleges. Explores the connection between air superiority and victory, focusi. Mets in light of the ageold belief of confucius that no idea is new, dr. A better peace continues the great strategists series with a look at the systemsbased theory of john warden iii, colonel, u. How airpower enthusiasts forgot about interdiction kuwait had been overrun, and back home littleknown u. Colonel john warden, architect of the gulf war air campaign, developed a five rings model, consisting of leadership, system essentials, country infrastructure. Warden iii is an executive, strategist, planner, author, fighter pilot, and motivational speaker with a worldwide reputation for innovation. While i respect these concerns, i did read the interviews, and i did crosscheck the work. With air powers inception, it became possible to make strategic strikes against the enemys centre of gravity without the necessity of making contact in a traditional land or sea war. Mets revised edition air university press maxwell air force base, alabama april 1999.
The concepts are air power centric and he disdains close air support for ground forces. He presents his case by drawing on fascinating historical examples, stressing that the mastery of operationallevel strategy. October 1991, was not identified as an nbc air campaign target during the war and, thus, is not among the 21 nbc sites evaluated in our report. Heart of the storm is not the air force historical accounting of the air campaign in desert shielddesert storm. Pdf the air campaign download full pdf book download. A dissection of the air campaign strategy model follows. John warden and the classical airpower theorists david r. Credited as the originator of the fourphase campaign which guided allied air efforts during desert storm, wardens vision of twentyfirst century warfare.
Warden iii usaf interview 1of2 while leading the air forces checkmate program at the pentagon, col. The most compelling task for the theater commander, he argues, is translating national war objectives into tactical plans at operational levels. Through his writings, which included a book called the air campaign, papers describing a five rings model, and his instant thunder air campaign plan that became the foundation of operation desert storm against iraq in 1991, warden promoted the concept that precision air strikes on key strategic command and control targets could paralyze an. Targeting and proportionality during the nato bombing campaign against yugoslavia 491 6 crawford, the law of noncombatant immunity and the targeting of national electrical power systems, 21 fletcher forum of world affairs1997 101, at 101102. The air force role in lowintensity conflict maxwell afb, al. Warden viewed the enemy as a system that was visualised as five concentric rings. John warden and the classical airpower theorists revised edition. John warden wrote the air campaign in 1986 while attending the national war college. In light of the ageold belief of confucius that no idea is new, dr. John warden and the classical airpower theorists mets, david r.
It was an important input to the articulation of an expanded role for airpower in global reach global power, published by af leadership in. Developing an air campaign strategy air university. The air campaign john warden and the classical airpower theorists david r. Warden iii, a former united states air force officer and theorist of air power. Linebacker ii was a maximum effort air campaign, focusing heavily on strategic military targets in hanoi and haiphong. Chapter six the role of air power going into the 21st. Project muse john warden and the renaissance of american. The nature of the enemy and the war, the objectives to be achieved, and the price willing to. Much has been made about the planning for and execution of the aerial dimension of the 1991 gulf war against iraq. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of command of the sea air power has increasingly become a powerful element of military campaigns. John warden and reforms in professional military education. Air force b52s performed the brunt of the bombing missions during the operation, but navy aircraft played a vital role in air defense suppression missions and also reseeded north vietnams major ports with mines. A book based on his national war college thesis, warden lays out a case study of how best to think about air power in war.
A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. The air campaign was written by john warden as part of his studies at the national war college in 1986. Warden published the enemy as a system, a refinement of a strategic vision that underpinned the air campaign in desert storm and had already become a. Usaf aircraft are the most visible and accessible manifestation of airpower the modern usaf is an air, space, and cyber force, but news accounts of usaf activities typically focus on the deployment or movement of aircraft. The development of air power in the realm of the military emerged almost at the same time as aviation itself due to the accelerating features of the first world war. He was then a member of the air staff in the pentagon and theoretically without an assigned function in theaterlevel campaign planning. It is one of the latest pieces on airpower theory and was the conceptual basis for both the gulf war 1991 and kosovo 1999. Legendary in defense circles, warden is also the author of the air campaign. Even though living in different times, different places and different circumstances, these men. The evolution of air power theory has been fashioned along the way by harsh lessons of war, remarkable advances in technology, and the visionary concepts of a few select airmen. The most compelling task for the theater commander, he argues, is translating national war. Wardens book, the air campaign, was a thought provoking work at a time when the usaf as an institution needed to think about air power in new ways.
Targeting and proportionality during the nato bombing. Presenting both the positives and negatives of wardens personality and impact in this objective portrait, olsen offers a trenchant analysis of his revolutionary ideas and great accomplishments. Dean pdf with commentary at air university press the air campaign. John warden and the renaissance of american air power by.
John warden and the renaissance of american air power. First, ill explore the critical process of establishing an objective, then ill touch on each of the air campaign model influences, to include political constraints, industrialization level, type of war, proximate danger, resources available, rationality indexes, and. Disclaimer opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the. Air corps tactical school, seversky, warden, and others brought many similarities to light.
The effectiveness of airpower in battle is a result of interlocking, coordinated efforts that deliver mutually supportive effects as part of an integrated campaign. Wardens five rings represent a theory of military strategic attack, based on five levels of system attributes. John warden and the classical airpower theorists giulio douhet, hugh trenchard, billy mitchell, world war i context, new world, british empire, continental theories, gulf. Air force colonel john warden briefed the head of central command and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on his vision for the air campaign to repel the invaders from the tiny, oilrich persian gulf state. A major debate both within and outside of the us air force has been associated with. These improvements shed light on some of the more difficult problems of modern conflict including adaptation of the. Genesis of the air campaign against iraq air university press, 1995. Wardens radical ideas about air powers purposes and applications, promulgated at the expense of his own career, sparked the ongoing revolution in military affairs. In heart of the storm, colonel reynolds explores a hot and often bitter debate that developed in the early days of august 1990 between tactical and strategic schools of ix. This book, one of the first analyses of the pure art of planning the aerial dimension of war, explores the complicated connection between air superiority and victory in war. Two modernday theorists, colonels john boyd and john warden, have. Colin powellcolin powell, my american journeysince its original publication the air campaign. During his career, he developed a method to simplify analysis of complex organizations, articulated the radically new concept of parallel war, created an extremely new educational system, and synthesized a powerful new approach to business strategy. During his career, he developed a method to simplify analysis of.