Tactical Air Power and the Vietnam War

This book introduces a much-needed theory of tactical air power to explain air power effectiveness in modern warfare with a particular focus on the Vietnam War as the first and largest modern air war. Phil Haun shows how in the Rolling Thunder, Commando Hunt, and Linebacker air campaigns, independently air power repeatedly failed to achieve US military and political objectives. In contrast, air forces in combined arms operations succeeded more often than not. In addition to predicting how armies will react to a lethal air threat, he identifies operational factors of air superiority, air-to-ground capabilities, and friendly ground force capabilities, along with environmental factors of weather, lighting, geography and terrain, and cover and concealment in order to explain air power effectiveness. The book concludes with analysis of modern air warfare since Vietnam along with an assessment of tactical air power relevance now and for the future.

Author: Phil Haun
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/18/2024
Pages: 312
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.29lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d
ISBN: 9781009364171

About the Author
Haun, Phil: - Phil Haun is a retired US Air Force colonel and decorated A-10 pilot. His is a Research Affiliate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program and his previous publications include A-10s over Kosovo (2003), Coercion, Survival, and War (2015), Lectures of the Air Corps Tactical School (2019), and Air Power and the Age of Primacy (2021).