Power Projection: Making the Tough Choices
Gunzinger, Mark A. (1993-01-01). Power Projection: Making the Tough Choices (Report). Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Technical Information Center.
- Has attachment: File:PMJZIVDP.pdf
Abstract: The United States Air Force (USAF) has undertaken a number of initiatives aimed at improving its responsiveness and effectiveness in fast-moving, quickly evolving contingencies. Whether confronting a humanitarian crisis in Africa, sustaining a peacekeeping operation in Southwest Asia, or fighting a major war in Korea, the USAF has sought to increase its contributions to deterrence, crisis response, and war fighting when called on to respond to challenges to U.S. interests. To accomplish this goal, the Air Force has instituted significant changes in its organization, operations, doctrine, and planning. Having reconstituted itself as an “expeditionary aerospace force,” or EAF, the Air Force is now in the process of changing many aspects of how it does business. This report is intended to contribute to this process by helping the Air Force think through one critical aspect of its future: access for basing. Many important components of U.S. power projection capabilities, including land-based fighters and Army divisions, rely on access to overseas installations, foreign territory, and foreign airspace. The Army has no role other than homeland defense if its forces do not venture outside U.S. borders, and the Marine Corps’ raison d’etre is the conduct of expeditionary operations “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.” Even the Navy’s carrier battle groups, free of the need for foreign bases per se, nevertheless require access to foreign ports and facilities for resupply and other support functions.
"...Although the United States maintains a strong and sizable presence in East Asia and the Pacific, it has not been involved in any substantial military operations in that region in some time. The level of U.S. political commitment here, however, is quite high. Bilateral defense agreements with Korea, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand and unilateral commitments to provide for the security of the Marshall Islands, Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia all promise sustained U.S. involvement..."
"...U.S. forces in Asia are permanently based primarily in South Korea and Japan, with smaller components on the sovereign U.S. territory of Guam and in Australia and Singapore. The latter’s strategic interest in maintaining good ties with the United States is self-evident; it has offered increased access for U.S. forces, an offer that is being taken advantage of.22 While the United States enjoys no permanent presence in Thailand, the two countries participate in a regular and substantial program of military exercises and maintain close ties. Finally, U.S. arrangements with Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands are based on compacts of free association that commit the United States to take full responsibility for the security and defense of these countries. In exchange, the United States enjoys considerable access rights..."
Extra details:
MAG: 300157596 OpenAlex: W300157596 CorpusID: 108164755
