The Quest for Relevant Air Power

40 │ POST–COLD WAR CHALLENGES
the air forces of the Anglo-Saxon world. An early indication of
this rising air power debate was John Warden’s book The Air Campaign:
Planning for Combat, published in 1988, on the precipice of
the end of the Cold War. However controversial Warden’s ideas have
become, his book contributed considerably to the reemergence of
a doctrinal debate embracing air power in its entirety instead of
focusing upon single air power roles. 164
We next review the evolution of air power doctrine in the USAF,
RAF, and RAAF. This provides a yardstick to examine the doctrine
development process in Continental European air forces and also
helps to illuminate to what extent Anglo-Saxon air power thinking
has influenced Continental European thinking. The USAF
was chosen for its leading role in air power and the RAF for its
prominent air power history. The RAAF is an example of a relatively
small- to medium-sized air force that—despite its size
constraints—has made significant contributions to air power
thinking. The discussion concentrates upon basic air power doctrine—the
so-called strategic doctrine—as it is the link between
national defence policy and the operational level. We also consider
the evolution of air power teaching as well as the dissemination
of air power thinking within these air forces.
The resurgence of intellectual air power thinking within these air
forces has also been accompanied by scores of books and articles
written by scholars and airmen alike. In the aftermath of Desert
Storm, the literature chiefly reflected the intense debate over the effectiveness
of air power. The air campaign seemed to prove the views
of air power zealots, who believed in the distinct effectiveness of air
power and who voiced their standpoints in a number of articles. From
their point of view, the distinct employment of air power against
leadership-related target sets is synonymous with the term strategic. 165
Yet, soon these views began to be contested by critics such as Robert
A. Pape, who argued that the true value of precision air power lies in
integrated air-land operations and not in distinct strategic air campaigns.
166 Besides these air power controversies, Anglo-Saxon authors
also presented more balanced and encompassing views on air power
evolution. 167 Primary references for this research were limited to official
and unofficial writings within the air forces.
Specific topics have emerged in the post–Cold War air power
debate. In the aftermath of Desert Storm, the concept of parallel