Air Power Studies Centre Reviewed

It is by all means a move which is long overdue, and in this fashion the RAAF has clearly paved the way for other Western air forces, being one of the first to develop and publish a formal doctrinal manual. AustralianAviation had the opportunity to visit the Air Power Studies Centre (APSC} recently, and found that theAPSC is proving to be a worthwhile investment for the RAAF.

To the uninitiated, the importance of military doctrine and its maintenance may not be apparent. Doctrine as such is defined as the fundamental philosophy concerning the employment of a force, the body of knowledge and beliefs about war which guide the application of power in combat. Doctrine is traditionally derived from two areas, fundamental strategic principles and ongoing innovation resulting from experience, and can be seen to some degree as a continuously evolving staff manual on how a service thinks about applying itself to strategic, operational and tactical situations.

The practice of maintaining doctrine and using it to infuse a particular way of thinking into a service has a well established history with land and naval services, some armies have doctrines which detail tactics down to smallest unit levels. Air forces have however been quite lazy in this respect, and have traditionally fallen behind their sister services in the development of service doctrine. This largely reflectsthe fact, that military aviators are generally preoccupied with flying and therefore tend to concentrate on matters of technical and tactical importance, rather than pouring effort into developing an institutional body of strategic and operational knowledge, (tactical here defined as at a squadron level, operational at a wing level, and strategic at a national or joint force level}.

The RAAF’s position in the forefront of Western air power doctrine development is much the result of the efforts of the current Chief of Air Staff, AM Ray Funnell. Funnell has been an enthusiastic advocate of the need to study and formalise air power for much of his career, and had on numerous occasions earlier in his career attempted to generate interest in the development of a formal RAAF air power doctrine. With his appointment to the position of CAS, he acquired the authority necessary to force institutional change and this led to the forming inAugust 1989, of the RAAF’s Air Power Studies Centre at Fairbairn.

Initially staffed with a Group Captain as Director, and three Wing Commanders, the APSC’s first major project was the development of a formal air power doctrine for the RAAF. This project resulted after 12 months in the publication of AAP 1000, the RAAF Air Power Manual, the APSC completing a project which had been initiated some months earlier.

The AAP1000 document is a 273 page summary of how the RAAF sees itself waging war over a range of conflict levels and aircampaigns, all with a uniquely Australian perspective reflecting the idiosyncrasies of our geographical environment and force structure.

It appears that the RAAF’s effort in this area has paid dividends already, as it has raised the profile of the RAAF in this area internationally, and particularly in this post Gulf War period,

helped stimulate open debate on the issue of air power, other than

an increased level of debate between the RAAF, RAF and USAF. The role of the APSCis however much broader than the definition of doctrine alone. Otherresponsibilitiesinclude theongoing review of RAAF doctrine, the study of air warfare strategy in the Australian and world context, developing a detailed base of historical information about the RAAF, identifying literature and papers which are relevant to air power issues in the Australian context, organising and presenting seminars on air power and air warfare issues, preparing training and study material on specific air power topics, providing consulting services in the area of air power theory and doctrine, developing links with similar organisations domestically and overseas, and providing advice and support to non-service organisations and individuals with specificinterests in the area of air power studies.

The importance of these ancillary roles must not be underestimated. While a doctrine manual can provide broad guidance on terms of how to approach a problem, by its very nature it cannot be a specific and detailed reference on a particular topic, be it strategic, tactical or historical. This is the role of specific training courses and reference documents, which are the means by which knowledge about the particular topic is disseminated within and outside the service.

The consulting function is area of fundamental importance. The ability to produce good analytical studies presupposes a depth of expertise in that specific area, at this time there is no other organisation in this country capable of filling this role simply due to the absence of any meaningful concentration of good analytical thinkers with backgrounds in air warfare disciplines. While it is fashionable within certain defence and political circles in this country to espouse the view that such consulting should be carried out by non-service specific or academic organisations, the fundamentally technical nature of modern air warfare, combined with the unique psychological aspects of air combat, indicates that this can only ever be wishful thinking by the uninitiated. Air warfare is as much about technology as it is about outsmarting the enemy, and to do so successfully requires the ability to understand how that enemy thinks. Since that enemy is by definition an aviator, a layman without flying experience is unlikely to ever fully appreciate the way of thinking which goes with the profession, and hence by definition is unlikely to be besuccessfulat getting inside the head of his would be opponent, and hence effectively analysing the opponent’s likely responses.

The consulting role of the APSC has at this time yielded some dividends in the new and substantially revised course syllabus at the RAAF’s Staff College. The Staff College conducts a one year course which prepares officers for senior staff positions, and can be said to be analogous to the civilian world’s now almost mandatory mid-career MBA for senior management positions. The Staff College course has received substantial input from the APSC, particularly in the areas of strategy and operations, and the course content is by all means quite substantial.

Other areas where th eAPSC is active at this time is in the generation of specific topical studies. At this time a comprehensive Gulf War Study Project is under way, as is the production of a handbook on military applications of space, in the Australian context.

The RAAF AirPowerStudies Centre is a major step forward in the development of a more formal approach to air power matters in this country, and must be seen as a long overdue move in the right direction. We can hope that the RAAF will continue to expand this capability over the coming years, so that the profession has a visible academic as well as practical footing. In this day and age of information intensive warfare, the long term payoff will certainly exceed the outlay.