The Quest for Relevant Air Power

192 │ GERMAN Air Force
with the first EURAC air power colloquium. The seminar particularly
highlighted recent developments of the ESDP and NATO
and their impact upon European air power. 259
These days, Army and Navy officers are routinely present at the
air power seminars, reflecting the German armed forces’ thrust
towards jointness. 260 A significant change also took place regarding
content. Whereas until 2000, the primary goal of the air power
seminars was to educate lieutenant colonels and colonels on a specific
air power topic and to further air power thinking, the air
power seminars have since become product oriented. The new focus
is to make a concrete contribution to the GAF’s conceptual
development that the Air Staff can draw upon. 261 From 2002 to
2006, topics included network-centric warfare, conduct of joint
operations, RPAs, and the GAF’s position in relation to space. 262
Regarding the dissemination of German air power thought in
journals and books, there used to be a GAF yearbook between
1964 and 1981. Topics ranged from weapon systems and force
structuring to air power in light of NATO’s deterrence strategy
and doctrinal issues, such as the meaning of depth and time for
aerial forces. 263 Furthermore, though the GAF has never published
a journal similar to the Royal Air Force Air Power Review or Penser
les ailes françaises, GAF officers used to pronounce their views
during the 1980s in defence journals such as Wehrtechnik (Defence
Technique), Europäische Wehrkunde (European Defence Information),
or, on a more international level, NATO’s Sixteen Nations.
The articles were commonly written by high-ranking GAF
general officers as well as mid-career officers working at the MOD.
Topics included force planning, mission priorities, air defence,
missile defence, and joint operations. 264
In the post–Cold War era, GAF officers posted at the MOD primarily
voiced their views in the journal Europäische Wehrkunde,
which was renamed Europäische Sicherheit (European Security)
in January 1991. The emphasis of the various contributions has
been clearly put upon force structuring, procurement, airlift, or
air defence, and accounts of Western air campaigns in the post–
Cold War era have been rare, and very often with a predominantly
technical focus, as was the case in the wake of Operation
Desert Storm. 265 Only after Operation Allied Force can the first
true account of a modern air campaign be found in Europäische