Air Force Magazine is the monthly journal of the Air Force Association and one of the world’s foremost publications in the fields of defense and aerospace.

From Air Force operations, programs, and people to the exploits of Air Force heroes, Air Force Magazine reports on important aerospace news and developments, and provides authoritative background material.

Air Force Magazine is the reference for the Air Force and aerospace. Its special issues and features include the USAF Almanac and Space Almanac, special aircraft, and informative charts.

The Air Force Association (AFA) is an independent, nonprofit, civilian education organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation.

AFA publishes Air Force Magazine, conducts national symposia and disseminates information through outreach programs. It sponsors professional development seminars and recognizes excellence in the education and aerospace fields through national awards programs. AFA presents scholarships and grants to Air Force active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members and their dependents; and awards educator grants to promote science and math education at the elementary and secondary school level.

August, Air Force Magazine:
Editorial: Failure Is an Option
A Force Remade by War
PACAF Between War and Peace
2008 Space Almanac
Travail of the Tanker
The Turk Connection
How the Luftwaffe Lost the Battle of Britain
White Knuckles To the Azores
AFA Nominees for 2008-09

Visit Air Force Magazine, August 2008 Website

Online HTML, or you can download the magazine in PDF format.

Failure Is an Option
By Robert S. Dudney , Editor in Chief

Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.

Air forces can fail, as witness the World War II disasters suffered by Japan and Germany as well as those that have befallen Argentina, Egypt, and other states. Most Americans today have no real experience of such unpleasantness.

For decades now, the US Air Force has produced only successes. These range from Linebacker II in Vietnam in 1972 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991 through Southern and Northern Watch and air campaigns in Bosnia and Serbia in the 1990s, and then operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. USAF makes it seem easy.

The key word is "seem." Success is hard-won and never assured. And so, in assessing Air Force prospects, we feel constrained to repeat the well-known mutual fund warning: "Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns."

Others also have been thinking along the same lines. An example is the recent book Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat, edited by Robin Higham and Stephen J. Harris. Another is a similar and more recent internal USAF brief, "Why Air Forces Fail: Learning From History’s Lessons."

The brief is based on 11 cases, from failure of the Kaiser’s fliers in the Great War to defeat of Argentina’s in the Falklands War, with side trips to World War II, Vietnam, and the Mideast. ...

Visit Air Force Magazine Official Website

Airforce-magazine.com features the digital version of Air Force Magazine and original online features, including the Daily Report, a digital news page published weekdays that focuses on information about the US Air Force, airpower, and national defense; In More Depth, short features about airpower and national defense issues and USAF activities; and Data Points, charts on airpower and defense issues.

The Web site also features The Document File, a compilation of historical and current airpower and national defense reports and studies; Testimony, Congressional statements by USAF officials; and access to Air Force Magazine’s vast archive of material.

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Comment

smaller | bigger

Add Comment