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Volume 33 Issue 4, Winter 2019

  • Published
  • Air & Space Power Journal, Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL
  • SENIOR LEADER PERSPECTIVE
  • A C-17 Globemaster III sits on a flightline March 19, 2019, on Buckley Air Force Base, CO. Lockheed Martin along with The Air National Guard and active duty components loaded the 70,000 pound cargo, successfully delivering the second GPS III Space Vehicle to Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida to begin satellite launch processing. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Michael D. Mathews)

    Unfinished Business: Refining the Air Component Structure

    Gen Jeffrey L. Harrigian, USAF
    Maj Gen Charles S. Corcoran, USAF
    Col Edward T. Spinelli, USAF
    Col John C. McClung, USAF

    Building upon initiatives taken by United States Air Forces Central Command in 2016, US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) has continued the evolution of the Air Component structure, merging the traditional Air Force Forces (AFFOR) staff with the 603rd Air Operations Center (AOC), to create an organization that seamlessly provides airpower to United States European Command (EUCOM) and United States Africa Command across all phases of joint operations.

  • FEATURE ARTICLES
  • Space Power and the Foundations of an Independent Space Force

    LTC Brad Townsend, USA

    Even after the eventual establishment of an independent Space Force, the objections raised by opponents of its creation will continue to hinder its future development and standing with other services. Objections to its creation center on the lack of an accepted space power theory as well as the inability of existing military space systems to create direct kinetic effects. This article addresses both objections.

  • Leadership and Ethics across the Continuum of Learning: The Ethical Leadership Framework

    Col Kenneth R. Tatum Jr., USAF, Retired
    Laura Parson, PhD
    Jessica Weise
    Lt Col Megan Allison, USAF, Retired
    R. Joel Farrell II, PhD

    Informed by the research and theoretical underpinnings of leadership development, this article introduces the Ethical Leadership Framework (ELF) to address the growing ethical dilemmas military personnel face and to situate ethical leader development within the context of Air Force leader development. In the past, ethical leadership and ethical thinking frameworks have been treated as separate from overall leadership development (e.g., strategy, decision making).

  • VIEWS
  • Photo of Maj John P. Biszko, USAF wear USAF service dress uniform

    Consolidating and Automating Social Media Impacts to Risk

    Maj John P. Biszko, USAF

    This short article walks the reader through key features of the flight tracking and noncooperative social media access problem, gives an operational example, articulates a general technical solution, and ends by defining major impact touch points and suggesting future developments. The central questions of the article are: How does the Air Force process social media driven changes in emerging warning intelligence and risk in near real time?

  • Artist concept of critical thinking depicting three heads

    On Critical Thinking
    It Takes Habits of Mind and Patterns of Inquiry

    Col Stephen E. "Wilbur" Wright, PhD, USAF, Retired
    Too many traditional proponents of critical thinking concepts and practice focus on descriptive skill sets, rather than helping us understand whom and how we might develop as a critical thinker. Looking for critical thinkers begins by searching for the insatiably curious and not by administering critical thinking skills tests. Once found, we can educate the insatiably curious with the habits of mind that discipline thinking.

  • Quote and Photo of Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright

    The US Air Force Suicide Prevention Program and Our Airmen Today

    2nd Lt Ryan McKnight, USAF
    This article examines transformational leadership and its potential impact on squadron-level leadership and intertwined effects on unit morale, cohesion, resiliency, and most importantly, suicide prevention. It reviews Air Force suicide trends and associated changes since the implementation of the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program in 1996.

  • Photo of Capt Michael J. Brown, USAF in service dress

    A Case for Open Mission Systems in DOD Aircraft Avionics

    Capt Michael J. Brown, USA
    Robert D. Fass, PhD
    Jonathan Ritschel, PhD

    The DOD is adopting open mission systems (OMS) as the future in the military aviation environment. OMS proponents promise reduced costs and truncated schedules through increased competition in the marketplace and reduced coding efforts. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined the success of these open architectures in the DOD. Therefore, we investigate costs and schedule for a recent DOD avionics OMS demonstration platform in comparison to 13 historically analogous programs.

  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Book cover of The Girls Next Door: Bringing the Home Front to the Front Lines

    The Girls Next Door: Bringing the Home Front to the Front Lines

    by Kara Dixon Vuic
    Reviewed by Deonna D. Neal, PhD

    The Girls Next Door explores gender and sexuality issues in the military through the lens of the roles women played in the Red Cross, YMCA, USO, and other armed forces recreation and services programs. The book traces the history of women in these roles from World War I to the Iraq War. 

  • Book cover of AMARG: America's Military Aircraft Boneyard

    AMARG: America's Military Aircraft Boneyard

    by Nicholas A. Veronico and Ron Strong
    Reviewed by Lt Col Kevin R. Nalette, USAF

    Nicholas A. Veronico and Ron Strong’s narrative is a pictorial documentary of America’s foremost aircraft boneyard or outdoor storage facility, located in the Arizona desert near Tucson. The 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) is a subset of the 309th Maintenance Wing assigned to the Ogden Air Logistics Complex in Ogden, Utah.

  • Book cover of Combat Talons in Vietnam: Recovering a Covert Special Ops Crew

    Combat Talons in Vietnam: Recovering a Covert Special Ops Crew

    by John Gargus
    Reviewed by Capt Donald Williams, USAF

    Combat Talons in Vietnam: Recovering a Covert Special Ops Crew is a historical and monographic narrative combining military education, Vietnam War analysis, international relations, and complex search, rescue, and recovery. This book takes the audience through a complete journey that includes Gargus’ motivation to continuously attempt to obtain resolution with the central idea that is unique to the American military—every member returns home. 

  • Book cover of Courage Alone: The Italian Air Force 1940-1943

    Courage Alone: The Italian Air Force 1940-1943

    by Chris Dunning
    Reviewed by SSgt Seth Roese, USAF

    It was during World War II when the world learned of the importance air superiority had on the outcomes of battles. Aircraft were used in a variety of ways to achieve objectives on the battlefields and gain the upper hand. Various air missions were used from all nations involved in the war to seize the offense and advance their positions in the war. 

  • Book cover of Review of Joint Base Langley-Eustis

    Review of Joint Base Langley-Eustis

    by Mark A. Chambers
    Reviewed by Lt Col Paul Guevin, USAF, Retired 

    Review of Joint Base Langley- Eustis is a pictorial history that Arcadia Publishing published in their Images of Modern America series. Mark A. Chambers is a contracted senior technical writer with the National Air and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center, which is adjacent to the Langley portion of Joint Base Langley–Eustis in Hampton, Virginia. 

  • Book cover of Air Officer Commanding: Hugh Dowding, Architect of the Battle of Britain

    Air Officer Commanding: Hugh Dowding, Architect of the Battle of Britain

    by John T. LaSaine Jr.
    Reviewed by Col Jamie Sculerati, USAF, Retired 

    The Battle of Britain marked a turning point in the path of World War II and in airpower history—an attempt to neutralize British military power in Europe, primarily conducted and contested from the air in the summer of 1940. The outcome of the battle rested heavily on the world’s first integrated air defense system, an operational and technical innovation largely created, and later commanded by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. 

  • Book cover of Aviation Records in the Jet Age: The Planes and Technologies behind the Breakthroughs

    Aviation Records in the Jet Age: The Planes and Technologies behind the Breakthroughs

    by Lt Col William A. Flanagan, USAF, Retired
    Reviewed by Lt Col Dan Simonsen, USAF, Retired

    Since man mastered the science and art of heavier-than-air flight, aviators have attempted to push the envelope of flight by flying faster, farther, and higher. Along the way, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (World Air Sports Fédération) acknowledged these accomplishments as world records. 

  • Book cover of Beyond the Beach: The Allied War Against France

    Beyond the Beach: The Allied War Against France

    by Stephen Alan Bourque
    Reviewed by Capt Mallory E. Marlin, USAF

    Beyond the Beach: The Allied War Against France is a historical monograph that focuses on the Allied bombing campaigns carried out against German-occupied France with a particular emphasis on the months leading up to Operation Neptune in June 1944. The inspiration for this work struck author and retired Army officer Stephen Alan Bourque during his travels in France. 

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