Benjamin S. Lambeth

Is it possible for two combatants who possess equally strong air forces to conduct limited warfare by restraining air operations? In Restraining Air Power, Robert C. Owen asks this question and allows contributing authors to provide theoretical and empirical assessments of restrained air warfare through five historical case studies since 1945. Through an objective analysis of the past, this collection evaluates the principles of escalation and escalation management in conventional warfare scenarios to better understand when, why, and how peer opponents in past conflicts have expanded or restrained air operations. The surge in cyber warfare, the development of artificially intelligent weaponry, and the founding of the US Space Force in 2019 means that analysts and military planners must be prepared to think about escalation management and peer conflict in increasingly complicated and challenging ways. This comprehensive study provides readers with refined theoretical visions of the possibilities and challenges of managing escalation as a powerful mode of warfare between opponents who believe they must choose between sacrificing their own national interests or risking escalated destruction of their economies, military forces, and governing authority. The analysis within the pages of this volume is an attempt to update our understanding of air warfare within a world of unprecedented military complexity and, as such, will hold immense value for specialists in advanced military studies as well as those studying international relations and history.

This title examines how the urban physical, social, and political environment constrains aerospace operations; identifies key operational tasks that aerospace forces can help accomplish; and discusses strategies and technologies that can improve success in urban operations.

Airpower in the War against ISIS chronicles the planning and conduct of Operation Inherent Resolve by U. S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from August 2014 to mid-2018, with a principal focus on the contributions of U. S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT). Benjamin S. Lambeth contends that the war's costly and excessive duration resulted from CENTCOM's inaccurate assessment of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), determining it was simply a resurrected Iraqi insurgency rather than recognizing it as the emerging proto-state that it actually was. This erroneous decision, Lambeth argues, saw the application of an inappropriate counterinsurgency strategy and use of rules of engagement that imposed needless restrictions on the most effective use of the precision air assets at CENTCOM's disposal. The author, through expert analysis of recent history, forcefully argues that CENTCOM erred badly by not using its ample air assets at the outset not merely for supporting Iraq's initially noncombat-ready ground troops but also in an independent and uncompromising strategic interdiction campaign against ISIS's most vital center-of-gravity targets in Syria from the effort's first moments onward.

Airpower in the War against ISIS chronicles the planning and conduct of Operation Inherent Resolve by U. S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from August 2014 to mid-2018, with a principal focus on the contributions of U. S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT). Benjamin S. Lambeth contends that the war's costly and excessive duration resulted from CENTCOM's inaccurate assessment of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), determining it was simply a resurrected Iraqi insurgency rather than recognizing it as the emerging proto-state that it actually was. This erroneous decision, Lambeth argues, saw the application of an inappropriate counterinsurgency strategy and use of rules of engagement that imposed needless restrictions on the most effective use of the precision air assets at CENTCOM's disposal. The author, through expert analysis of recent history, forcefully argues that CENTCOM erred badly by not using its ample air assets at the outset not merely for supporting Iraq's initially noncombat-ready ground troops but also in an independent and uncompromising strategic interdiction campaign against ISIS's most vital center-of-gravity targets in Syria from the effort's first moments onward.

This title examines the inconclusive results of the Israeli Defense Force's operation in Lebanon after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in 2006, which many believe represents a 'failure of air power'. The author demonstrates that this is an oversimplification of a more complex reality and contrasts the operation with Israel's counteroffensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009. One-liner: This title examines the performance of the Israeli Defense Forces in Lebanon in 2006 and contrasts it with Israel's action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 and January 2009.

This report documents the exceptional cross-service harmony that the U. S. Air Force and U. S. Navy have steadily developed in their conduct of integrated strike operations since the first Persian Gulf War in 1991. That close harmony contrasts sharply with the situation that prevailed throughout most of the Cold War, when the two services maintained separate and unique operating mindsets and lacked any significant interoperability features.

Recent campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq have demonstrated that American carrier air power can conduct coordinated deep-strike missions well beyond coastal reaches, providing around the clock target coverage, consistently accurate target attack, and multiple successful target attacks per sortie.

This report describes and assesses the planning and execution of operation Enduring Freedom against al Quada and the Taliban in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Assesses the military space challenges facing the Air Force and the nation in light of the findings and recommendations of the Space Commission. The author reviews the Air Force's involvement in space since its creation as an independent service in 1947; examines the circumstances that occasioned the commission's creation and the conceptual and organizational roadblocks that have impeded a more rapid growth of U. S. military space capability; and enumerates the challenges facing the Air Force with respect to space.

This book offers a thorough appraisal of Operation Allied Force from a military, political, and strategic perspective, calling attention to those issues that are likely to have the greatest bearing on future military policymaking.

Since the effective performance of the allied air campaign against Iraq in Operation Desert Storm, the role of American air power in future wars has become a topic of heated debate. This study explores the extent to which the US can rely on air-delivered precision weapons in lieu of ground forces.

Operation Desert Storm is the closest thing to a laboratory test of the U. S. and Soviet ways of war. More important than what it may tell us about future Russian defense policy, however, is what we may learn from assessment of the war offered by military analysts in Moscow.