Snakes in the Eagle's Nest: A History of Ground Attacks on Air Bases

摘要

Recent RAND research on trends in global airpower suggests that few opponentswill be able to challenge the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the air. If that is correct, future adversaries are likely to look for alternative means to counter U.S. airpower. A RAND study for the Air Force, 'Countering U.S. Aerospace Power,' has been investigating those means. The historical effort reported here was part of that study and sought to better understand past, present, and future ground threats to air bases. In the course of the research, it became clear that attacks on air bases were much more frequent and successful than is commonly appreciated. For this reason, the history of those attacks is pertinent to future USAF operations. This report presents a comprehensive overview of ground attacks on air bases from the first known attacks in 1940 to the most recent in 1992. The objectives, tactics, and outcomes of those attacks are analyzed to identify lessons learned and their applications to future conflicts. In particular, this report identifies the attack techniques that proved most difficult to counter and offers some suggestions for improving air base defenses against them.