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Document created: 1 December 2007
Air & Space Power Journal - Winter 2007

Lt Col Paul D. Berg, USAF, Chief, Professional Journals

Air Force doctrine defines irregular warfare (IW) as “a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations,” adding that “IW and traditional warfare are not mutually exclusive and both are often present in the same conflict.”¹ This guidance clearly reflects IW’s complex nature. The United States faces many national-security challenges, but IW demands particular attention in the era following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

Airpower’s proper role in IW has become a controversial topic. Complex challenges typically call for integrated joint and interagency solutions, yet some military doctrine depicts IW as a ground-centric activity in which airpower serves only a narrow, supporting role. Army Field Manual (FM) 3-24 / Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (MCWP) 3-33.5, Counter­insurgency, exemplifies that constricted view by confining airpower to a five-page annex in a nearly 300-page document.² Conversely, Gen T. Michael Moseley, US Air Force chief of staff, articulates the broader view that “employed properly, airpower (to include air, space, and cyberspace capabilities) produces asymmetric advantages that can be effectively leveraged by joint force commanders in virtually every aspect of irregular warfare.”³ The new Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 2-3, Irregular Warfare, which reflects General Moseley’s vision, energizes a more joint conception of airpower’s role in IW. Joint approaches often yield synergies not found in narrower military perspectives, so AFDD 2-3 makes an important contribution to the ongoing dialogue about how best to integrate all military capabilities into IW.

Experts at operating in the air, space, and cyberspace domains (all of them vital to IW), Airmen have the necessary perspective for devising innovative ways to exploit them. Airmen do not claim that their areas of expertise can meet all IW needs, but they do question the validity of military approaches that fail to optimally harness the potential of those domains. AFDD 2-3 notes that “the Air Force provides valuable and unique capabilities in IW. In many cases, these capabilities provide flexible and persistent options for dealing with the IW challenges by providing a less intrusive force that can respond quickly and improve commanders’ overall situational awareness.”⁴ Joint force commanders deserve a comprehensive articulation of how all military capabilities relate to IW. We would make a serious mistake by confining our thought to a single operational domain.

No doctrine manual will ever serve as an IW panacea, but, given IW’s status as essentially a war of ideas, doctrine can play a key role in that type of conflict. Air and Space Power Journal (ASPJ), the professional journal of the USAF, is another participant in the ongoing war of ideas. Realizing the importance of IW and the vigorous debate surrounding airpower’s role in that struggle, the ASPJ staff dedicates this issue to advancing the professional dialogue about both topics.

Notes

1. Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 2-3, Irregular Warfare, 1 August 2007, 1 and 8, https://www.doctrine.af.mil/afdcprivateweb/AFDD_Page_HTML/Doctrine_Docs/afdd2-3.pdf (accessed 6 September 2007).

2. FM 3-24 / MCWP 3-33.5, Counterinsurgency, December 2006, appendix E, “Airpower in Counterinsurgency,” http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf (accessed 6 September 2007).

3. AFDD 2-3, Irregular Warfare, foreword.

4. Ibid., 14.

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University

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