Volume 27 Issue 2, Mar-Apr 2013 Published March 1, 2013 Senior Leader Perspective Taming the Tigers: Recapturing the Acquisition Excellence of Our Planning, Programming, and Acquisition Three-Ring Circus Maj Gen Robert Kane, USAF / Lt Col Jason Bartolomei, PhD, USAF In spite of diverse global-security challenges and the specter of decreasing defense budgets, the Air Force must continue to ensure that the United States maintains leading-edge capabilities in air, space, and cyber. During this critical time, the... Feature Articles The Air War in Libya Maj Jason R. Greenleaf, USAF This article examines the Western-led air campaign, Operations Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector, initiated in response to a United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR 1973) designed to protect Libyan civilians. The overwhelming consensus... Airmen and Mission Command Lt Col James W. Harvard, USAF, Retired Mission command is an evolving doctrine construct with implications for the Airman. Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, published a white paper emphasizing the necessity of “ensuring that mission command is a common attribute... A New Approach to Ballistic Missile Defense for Countering Antiaccess/Area-Denial Threats from Precision-Guided Weapons Col Mike Corbett, USAF, Retired A threat from ballistic missiles is evolving as part of foreign efforts in antiaccess and area denial. Foreign developments intended to enable these missiles to precisely engage fixed or mobile targets will also permit defensive maneuvers that will... A Case for Air Force Reorganization Col Jeffrey P. Sundberg, USAF This article analyzes the Air Force’s top-level organization to determine whether organizational and personnel changes can better support the combatant commanders, allow the service to contend with the complex global environment and nature of... Realizing Operational Planning and Assessment in the Twenty-First-Century Air Operations Center: How a Refined Planning Construct and Semantic Technologies Can Enable Delivery of the AOC's Last Unsupported Functions (Part 1) Wg Cdr Redvers T. Thompson, Royal Air Force, Retired Operational planning and assessment, conducted at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of civil-military operations, provide Air Force commanders and their air operations centers (AOC) with significantly increasing analysis, data capture,... Views Observations on the Air War in Syria Lt Col S. Edward Boxx, USAF This article explores the use of airpower during the Syrian civil war. Initially, airpower enabled Bashar al-Assad’s forces to impede rebel advances and delay the regime’s collapse. However, antiregime forces adapted by employing better tactics and... Download Full Edition