Thunderbolts and Eggshells: Composite Air Operations During Desert Storm andImplications for USAF Doctrine and Force Structure

摘要

The lion's share of USAF aircraft in Operation Desert Storm was monolithicallyorganized and geographically dispersed among numerous air bases throughout Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. In Turkey, a composite wing was deployed to Incirlik AB. This thesis considers the relative merits of these organizations in the context of Desert Storm and implications for USAF doctrine and force structure. Many of the most important lessons cannot be discerned in a tabulation of results, but only in consideration of (1) how efficiently they were achieved under the operative conditions, (2) how sensitive results were to adverse circumstances that might have developed but did not, and (3) how future adversaries might exploit USAF vulnerabilities. The thesis then draws conclusions on the evidence of previous analysis. These include technical and training recommendations for improving composite air operations in a dispersed monolithic structure and observations concerning the strategic role of composite wings.