Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The Blitz Companion offers a unique overview of a century of aerial warfare, its impact on cities and the people who lived in them. It tells the story of aerial warfare from the earliest bombing raids and in World War 1 through to the London Blitz and Allied bombings of Europe and Japan. These are compared with more recent American air campaigns over Cambodia and Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s, the NATO bombings during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s and subsequent bombings in the aftermath of 9/11. Beginning with the premonitions and predictions of air warfare and its terrible consequences, the book focuses on air raids precautions, evacuation and preparations for total war, and resilience, both of citizens and of cities. The legacies of air raids, from reconstruction to commemoration, are also discussed. While a key theme of the book is the futility of many air campaigns, care is taken to situate them in their historical context. The Blitz Companion also includes a guide to documentary and visual resources for students and general readers. Uniquely accessible, comparative and broad in scope this book draws key conclusions about civilian experience in the twentieth century and what these might mean for military engagement and civil reconstruction processes once conflicts have been resolved.

Air warfare.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The U.S. Air Force's remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) have played a significant role in current operations in southwest Asia. As the inventory of RPAs increases and new sensor technologies come online in the coming years, the Air Force has an opportunity to consider additional roles that RPAs might play. Thoughtful study into these possibilities will ensure that, when the Air Force employs RPAs, they will help fill capability gaps or augment existing capabilities in more-efficient or more-effective ways. This documented briefing describes a suite of tools developed by RAND Project AIR FORCE (PAF) to help the Air Force think through future roles for RPAs. The tools evaluate platform selection and concept of operations (CONOPS) development, sensor performance against various targets, weapon effects, environmental factors, platform survivability, computational processing of data, and exploitation of sensor products. The briefing also explains how the separate analysis in each of these areas feeds into a mission-level analysis, performed with PAF's Systems and CONOPS Operational Effectiveness Model, and a campaign-level analysis using PAF's Force Structure Effectiveness model. Use of these tools and models will help clarify how future RPAs can contribute to U.S. warfighting in cost-effective ways. The tools presented herein are additionally useful for examining the effectiveness of new capabilities more broadly; examining the effectiveness of new platforms in the context of the entire intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) force posture; and evaluating the most cost-effective ISR force structure to meet future operational needs.

Drone aircraft --- Air power --- Air warfare --- Planning.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Urban warfare. --- Air warfare. --- United States.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This report reviews Soviet impressions of Israeli air operations during the 1982 Lebanon war. It evaluates a 1983 article published in Soviet Air Force Monthly (whose audience includes Soviet aircrews), that assesses the implications of the Israeli-Syrian air battles. For Western audiences, the article provides insights into how the Soviets have interpreted the Beka'a Valley experience. It appears that the Soviets have either deliberately misrepresented Israel's air combat results to their own pilots or else failed to comprehend the tactical lessons suggested by Israeli combat performance.

Air warfare. --- Aeronautics, Military --- Lebanon --- History --- Aerial operations.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The psychological effects of air operations can significantly shorten wars and reduce their costs, particularly in American lives. In some conflicts, the psychological effects of air operations may exceed the physical effects in importance. This report examines ways to maximize the psychological impact of U.S. air power in future conflicts. Drawing upon POW interrogations and other data from the Persian Gulf, Vietnam, and Korean wars and World War II, the author assesses the psychological effects of past U.S. air attacks against both enemy strategic targets and deployed ground forces. The author identifies the conditions that have consistently produced a catastrophic disintegration in enemy resistance and large-scale enemy surrenders and suggests how U.S. commanders might design and conduct future military operations to exploit the psychological potential of air power more fully.

Air warfare --- Psychological warfare. --- Psychological aspects. --- Case studies.