Airpower's advantages unlocked via sound strategy, paper says Published March 13, 2008 By Maj. Sam Highley Airpower Research Institute MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- American leaders should worry less about which armed service is preeminent and more about their severe strategy deficit, according to a new research paper written by Dr. Colin S. Gray. No single service will dominate all future conflicts, writes Doctor Gray, a well-respected author of 22 books on national security and strategy. "It is time, and then some, to call a halt to the American habit of indulging in harmful interservice combat," Doctor Gray contends in "The Airpower Advantage in Future Warfare: The Need for Strategy," published recently by Air University officials here. Instead of arguing about whether air-, land- or seapower is the most vital to American security, U.S. leaders should develop overall strategic thinking that best represents and captures all service capabilities, Doctor Gray argues. "America needs a unified theory of war and warfare, and it has to try to cure itself of its strategic allergy," he writes. Doctor Gray fears that many in the United States do not fully appreciate the importance of strategy, the purpose of which he says is to translate political ends into the ways and means for their achievement. "Strategy is the bridge that should link the realm of policy with the world of its instruments," he writes. As one of those instruments, Doctor Gray calls airpower a "very great" asymmetrical advantage for the United States, noting "that the balance of relative influence, at least in regular warfare, has shifted very noticeably in favor of airpower." However, airpower's strategic advantage depends entirely upon the contexts of war, crisis and peace, and Airmen who ignore or deny these situational limitations only provide fodder to airpower's critics, he argues. "The U.S. defense community is well populated by strong critics of airpower who will be only too pleased to exploit that silence and exaggeration," Doctor Gray writes. He adds that airpower's increasingly greater influence on regular conventional conflict over the past 20 years will mean little in the future if there is not a comprehensive strategy guiding it. "The only key able to unlock the complete leverage that U.S. airpower can deliver in future warfare is strategy," Doctor Gray concludes. Doctor Gray's paper is the latest product of Air University's effort to push out timely ideas on airpower and national security. The Airpower Research Institute at AU commissioned Doctor Gray to write the paper. "To have someone like Colin Gray write about American airpower is really a great service to our nation and the Air Force," said Dr. Dan Mortensen, the institute's chief of research. "He is an authority on strategy, so this paper fits perfectly into our effort to develop Airmen who think strategically." The paper can be downloaded at http://aupress.maxwell.af.mil/ARI_Papers/GrayARI2.pdf. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) View the comments/letters page