Air University (AU) > AUPress > Articles

March 30, 2026
Implementing New Airpower Concepts: Insights from Agile Combat Employment

This paper examines a multiyear Headquarters Air Force effort to develop, implement, and institutionalize Agile Combat Employment (ACE) across major commands and subordinate units. Focused on dispersed aircraft operations with allies and partners, the initiative addressed doctrine, organization,
March 20, 2026
Case Studies of Pacific Island Battles in World War II

This study draws strategic lessons from World War II to assess the implications of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. It begins by recalling how the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan reshaped the global order, emphasizing the scale and complexity of Pacific amphibious
March 6, 2026
Trust But Verify: The Character, Competence, & Control of Large Language Models

As large language models (LLMs) evolve into strategic instruments, this Walker Paper proposes a pragmatic framework for evaluating when and how they can be trusted in military decision‑making. Adapting human trust models to the algorithmic domain, the paper advances a “Trust
Feb. 20, 2026
Assuring Allies and Partners: The Utility of Ballistic Missile Defense

The contemporary multipolar environment heightens threats from nuclear‑armed states such as Russia, China, and North Korea, raising doubts about US resolve in extended deterrence. Legal and policy constraints prevent Washington from transferring nuclear weapons and require reducing their role in
Jan. 22, 2025
Fortifying South Korea’s Nontraditional Security: Addressing Cybersecurity and Economic Vulnerabilities

This paper analyzes and evaluates South Korea’s response to the shifting paradigm of national security, especially nontraditional security. The South Korean government has tried to address these nontraditional security issues. Still, the national sectors’ imbalance in national security
Dec. 4, 2024
Securitization in the Indo-Pacific: A Comparative Discourse Analysis of India’s and Japan’s Responses to the “China Threat”

Through the lens of securitization theory, this paper comparatively analyzes important Indo-Pacific issues in the context of India’s and Japan’s responses to China’s rise. The India–Japan partnership is often touted as a bulwark against the “China threat” in the
Nov. 20, 2024
Subregionalism, the Pacific Islands Forum, and Regional Security

Pacific subregionalism is exemplified by the establishment of three geocultural subregional groups within the design of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). To examine the complex dynamics of Pacific subregionalism and its implications on regional security, this paper identifies three
June 28, 2024
The Theoretical Foundations of Spacepower: From Economics to Asymmetric Warfare

“The Theoretical Foundations of Spacepower: From Economics to Asymmetric Warfare” establishes how the universal logical basis of military theory must be tailored to the unique domain of space warfare. Surveying past military theory and histories, author Shawn W. Hackett delves into
April 29, 2024
Performing Panda: Chinese Economic Coercion in the Era of Xi Jinping

This paper provides an original contribution to the literature of economic coercion, based on empirical analysis of signaling from China to the United States from late 2012 to late 2022, President Xi Jinping’s first two terms. I argue that Xi has expressed more assertive economic coercion
April 23, 2024
The Wrath of Khong: Science Fiction, Future Analogies, and Early Military Space Policy

This paper investigates the role that science fiction had on the early development of military space policy. It examines three science fiction motifs: the concept of space as a frontier, the fear of nuclear apocalypse, and the central theme of human spaceflight. Using Yuen Foong Khong’s