Does The Air Force Support Army Combined Arms Warfare

You are here: Homepage > Search

Does The Air Force Support Army Combined Arms Warfare

R. W. Schmidt

Does Air Force doctrine Support the Army's combined arms approach to tactical warfare. When national political objectives require the commitment of American land forces to the battlefield to achieve those objectives, then all other means of war should be brought to bear in support of the ground effort. The introduction of the infantry clearly implies a surface focus. As important as aircraft are to controlling the enemy's airspace, and the littoral stranglehold imposed by our navy in denying the enemy access to freedom of the seas, victory is only driven home to a recalcitrant enemy when a U.S. infantryman is standing over him with a bayoneted rifle to his chest. History has shown that a determined and resourceful enemy can overcome a more technologically sophisticated force. However, the enemy's strength, or will to resist is most affected when he stands face to face with the American infantryman, who as part of a finely tuned combat arms team, threatens him with certain physical destruction. It is the ground combat arms team which truly confronts the enemy with the naked moral aspect of war. This belief is the foundation from which the author explores the controversial issue of whether Air Force aviation doctrine adequately supports combined arms warfare in the U.S. Army in pursuit of land victory and moral superiority.