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A Select Title on the Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies "CAS Reading List"

Praise for Airpower Reborn ~

“Extremely well written and argued, this book should be required reading for every staff and war college in the country. These ideas need to be examined and discussed. Our present strategic thinking is moribund; if the ideas presented here are not a suitable answer, perhaps they will at least generate a serious debate as to the fundamental principles and goals.”

—The Journal of Military History

“The authors of Airpower Reborn cover a lot of ground; keeping up with them can be challenging. At the end of the day though they succeed in their goal of moving the discussion of airpower forward. This is a book strategists from any service should read.”

—Air Power History

"Airpower Reborn is an excellent update on strategic concepts and theory with an emphasis on airpower's strategic usefulness. This book is an excellent addition to your library for those who enjoy strategic analysis and theory. It should be required reading (as it may already be) at all the service War Colleges."

- Naval History Book Reviews

“Olsen, general deputy director in the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and visiting professor at the Swedish National Defence College, is one of the most impressive as well as energetic figures to make the case for the strategic capacity and use of air power... The collection is extremely interesting…exciting, thoughtful, provocative… This is a talented group of contributors.”

—RUSI Journal

“…much of what is discussed in Airpower Reborn is, in my opinion, that which is essential for the defence strategic community—military, civilian, political, academic and media —to understand. Airpower Reborn is an important book which is useful for any military professional’s individual development but which should also be beneficial for anyone interested in 21st century military operations. Hopefully Airpower Reborn gains the readership it deserves and the Western military is willing to adapt its mindset with the paradigm shift that is clearly necessary.”

—Australian Naval Institute

"Airpower Reborn is both an anthology of airpower thought and a call to action. Today, there is a great need for contemporary airpower thought. This book is a commendable attempt to spark discussion about airpower theory and strategy. Also, Olsen’s call to action is both timely and relevant, since the words 'Douhet was wrong' still ring from people’s mouths. This persistent (and mistaken) belief that modern airpower thought rests solely on century-old airpower prophecy says more about our failure as airpower advocates than it does about airpower critics. It is our job to effectively develop and communicate modern strategic airpower thought to our interested brethren. In this, we seem to have failed. Luckily, Olsen’s Airpower Reborn is a great step toward reinvigorating and improving the critically important field of airpower theory."

—The Strategy Bridge.com

"This volume examines the capacity of airpower to achieve crucial strategic results. After surveying the history of airpower theory, experts assess the current state of airpower policy, warning against over-reliance on advanced technology to improve capabilities."

—Survival: Global Politics and Strategy (IISS.org)

“Since its unbroken record of achievement from the first Gulf war of 1991 through the major combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, airpower has taken a back seat to the more costly and ineffective land fighting that has prevailed in Iraq and Afghanistan throughout the ensuing years. In Airpower Reborn, John Andreas Olsen has marshaled an able quorum of experts to reflect thoughtfully on the abiding strategic vision that will be needed for airpower to regain and retain its due place as the tool of first choice in future tests of strength around the world.”

—Dr. Benjamin S. Lambeth, author of The Unseen War: Allied Air Power and the Takedown of Saddam Hussein

“In Airpower Reborn, John Andreas Olsen presents an incredible contribution of insights from several leading strategists regarding the realization of airpower as fundamental to success in modern conflict. This work will well serve policymakers, national leaders, and warfighters. Olsen ties together assessments of why we must recognize success in future warfare as fundamentally different from the ground-dominant bias of how it was conceived, planned, and applied in the past. This reality will be critical to defining the ways, means, and ends of success in future conflict. The bottom line is that this book is a ‘must read’ for those interested in meeting the challenges of modern warfare.”

—Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, USAF (Ret.), dean, Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies

Airpower Reborn offers a conceptual approach to warfare that emphasizes airpower’s unique capability to achieve strategic effects. Six world-leading theorists argue that a viable strategy must transcend the purely military sphere, view the adversary as a multi-dimensional system, and pursue systemic paralysis and strategic effects rather than military destruction or attrition.

The book is divided into three parts. The first section presents a historical perspective on airpower theory and airpower strategy, tracing their evolution from the 1920s to the 1980s. The second section contains in-depth examinations of the strategic concepts that John R. Boyd and John A. Warden developed in the 1980s and 1990s, with an emphasis on their contemporary relevance. The final section provides further context on modern airpower theory and strategy. Theory, in this setting, serves as the basic paradigm, strategy represents its generic, mechanisms-centered application, and plans of campaign constitute the specific steps for any given situation.

In short, the authors look beyond the land-centric, battlefield-oriented paradigm that has continued to dominate military theories and strategies long after airpower offered new options. The book acknowledges the essential role of advanced technology in improving airpower capabilities, but emphasizes that air services must cultivate and harness the intellectual acumen of airmen and encourage officers and men to think conceptually and strategically about the application of aerospace power. Modern airpower can offer political decision-makers more and better options—provided the underlying strategy coherently links the application of airpower directly to the end-state objectives rather than limiting it to “the battle.”

The book recommends that all countries should consider establishing a dynamic and vibrant environment for mastering aerospace history, theory, strategy, and doctrine; a milieu for cultivating broader knowledge of and insight into airpower; and a setting in which airpower experts have the opportunity to communicate their narrative to politicians, the media, and fellow officers, and to interact to mutual benefit with experts from all sectors of governance. This effort should emphasize the potentially unique contribution of airpower to political objectives and joint operations, and in turn connect to operational headquarters that do operational planning. Mastering such strategic thought lies at the heart of the military profession, but it requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of theory, strategy, and airpower, and transcends traditional metrics.

Col. John Andreas Olsen is general deputy director in the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and visiting professor at the Swedish National Defence College. Col. Olsen is the author of Strategic Air Power in Desert Storm and John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power, and the editor of A History of Air Warfare, Global Air Power, Air Commanders, and European Air Power.