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2. Catastrophic Interdiction: Air Power and the Collapse of the Iraqi Field Army in the 2003 War
- Author:
- Carl Conetta
- Publication Date:
- 09-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project on Defense Alternatives
- Abstract:
- This report analyzes an important aspect of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF): the interdiction of Iraqi ground units by coalition air forces. Based on air campaign statistics, observations from the field, and the experience of past air campaigns, the report assesses the likely impact (in terms of combatant casualties) of coalition air attacks on the Iraqi army in the field. Our approach is a comparative one that views the OIF air interdiction campaign in light of the experience of the 1991 Gulf War. Among the issues we explore is the contribution of coalition air power to the catastrophic collapse of the Iraqi Republican Guard and regular army.
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Middle East
3. First Strike Guidelines: the Case of Iraq
- Author:
- Charles Knight
- Publication Date:
- 09-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project on Defense Alternatives
- Abstract:
- In the first Clinton administration Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced that the United States would seek the capability to undertake offensive counterproliferation strikes against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). To this end Les Aspin's 1993 Bottom Up Review calls for "Improvements in the ability of both our general purpose and special operations forces to seize, disable, or destroy arsenals of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their delivery systems."
- Topic:
- Security and Defense Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East
4. Air Power Promises and Modernization Trends after Operation Desert Storm
- Author:
- Kathy Bloomgarden and Carl Conetta
- Publication Date:
- 12-1994
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project on Defense Alternatives
- Abstract:
- This article first appeared in 1994 in a slightly edited form in Hawk Journal, the annual publication of the Royal Air Force Staff College. The expectation of an airpower revolution began in earnest soon after victory in the first US-Iraq Gulf War, 1990-1991. Drawing extensively on official and outside expert assessment of airpower in “Operation Desert Storm,” this article critically reviews the evidence for an airpower revolution while summarizing a range of contemporary opinions on the issue. Specifically, the article examines three claims advanced by airpower enthusiasts at the dawn of the post-Cold War period: that the Gulf War experience suggests greatly expanded options for limited-aims “raiding missions,” strategic bombing campaigns, and airpower dominance over the ground battle (using improved battlefield interdiction and close air support.) Included are summaries of the extensive Gulf War Air Power Survey and other surveys of the war which provide an unsurpassed view of the war’s dynamics. It also examines the technologies, contemporary and in development, central to the putative airpower revolution.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Conflict, Gulf War, and Air Force
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, and United States of America
5. Toward Defensive Restructuring in the Middle East
- Author:
- Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher
- Publication Date:
- 02-1991
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Project on Defense Alternatives
- Abstract:
- Examines the character of force structure and military conflict in the Middle East and outlines a nonoffensive defense posture for nations in the region. It also draws the implications of such a posture for arms transfers and arms control policy. An appendix reviews the pertinent lessons of the 1990-91 Gulf War.
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Military Affairs, Conflict, and Gulf War
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and United States of America