Air University Press

Drew Papers

The Drew Papers are award-winning master’s theses selected for publication by the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS), Maxwell AFB, Alabama. This series of papers commemorates the distinguished career of Col Dennis “Denny” Drew, USAF, retired. 

  •  AFD-190207-861-010.PDF

    A Better State of War: Surmounting the Ethical Cliff in Cyber Warfare [ONLINE ONLY]

    Maj Billy E. Pope, Jr.
    This study analyzes the emergent field of cyber warfare through the lens of commonly accepted tenets of ethical warfare. By comparing the foundational understanding of concepts that determine the justice of wars (jus ad bellum) and justice in war (jus en bello) with the capabilities cyber warfare offers, this work highlights both causes for concern and opportunities for betterment. [Maj Billy E. Pope, Jr. / 2019 / 86 pages / AU Press Code: DP-0029]
  •  AFD-171121-320-073.PDF

    A US Air Force Strategy for Africa [ONLINE ONLY]

    Paul F. Spaven
    This groundbreaking study offers a thorough analysis of the context for USAF strategy making in Africa, followed by a synthesis of what that strategy might look like. The study concludes that a viable Air Force strategy in Africa is properly based on modest “ends” that reflect US national interests on the continent that are themselves limited in scope. Spaven proposes that “only by accepting the risk of stepping beyond tactical and operational thinking can the Air Force do great things for the poorest of continents.” Major Spaven’s thesis was the recipient of the Airlift/Tanker Association’s 2008 “Global Reach” Award. [Paul F. Spaven / 2009, 116 pages / ISBN: 978-1-59566-198-2 / AU Press Code: p-73]
  •  AFD-171121-527-050.PDF

    Air Superiority at Red Flag

    Lt Col Joseph W. Locke, USAF
    Originally written as a master’s thesis, Lieutenant Colonel Locke’s Air Superiority at Red Flag relies on data compiled from 299 Red Flag missions to illuminate the role of air superiority. His provocative and well-written study shows a distinct correlation between attrition rates and force ratios. He concludes that despite the role of mass, evolving technology produced the “only observable change in the kill ratio.” [Lt Col Joseph W. Locke, USAF / 2009 / 200 pages / ISBN: 978-1-59566-201-2 / AU Press Code: P-75]
  •  AFD-171121-048-063.PDF

    Airpower Lessons for an Air Force Cyber-Power Targeting Theory [ONLINE ONLY]

    Steven J. Anderson
    Cyber targeting and associated doctrine should be the center of Air Force cyber strategy and its plans to organize, train, and equip a force for full-spectrum cyberspace operations. Understanding what targets cyber operations can affect is critical to deliberate planning or crisis planning. This paper attempts to draw parallels to early airpower targeting principles in order to propose a cyber-power targeting theory based on offense, defense, and exploitation objectives. It draws upon limited artifacts inherent to wielding cyber power—attribution, authorities, and centers of gravity—and acknowledges their impacts upon leaders and practitioners of cyber power. In addition to focusing on the adversary, the theory is intended to cause introspection toward the end of identifying potential Air Force and national security vulnerabilities in, through, and from cyberspace. [Steven J. Anderson / 2016 / 169 pages / ISBN: 9781585662388 / AU Press Code: P-100]
  •  AFD-171121-742-053.PDF

    All the Missiles Work

    Lt Col Steven A. Fino, USAF
    Innovation has always clashed with entrenched bureaucracies and tradition, creating a tension that weaves itself through the fabric of US military history. With his concept of technological dislocation, the author examines factors that can dislocate the predicted evolutionary pathway of established or emerging technologies and steer them in new directions. Colonel Fino shows how a commitment to existing technologies and a fascination with the promise of new ones often complicate an institution’s ability to recognize and adapt to an evolving strategic environment. This study provides today’s leaders and strategists much-needed insights into how to bring about change and create advantage in the swirling complexity of modern technology and bureaucracy. [Lt Col Steven A. Fino, USAF / 2015 / 169 pages ISBN: 978-1-58566-248-7 / AU Press Code: P-108]
  •  AFD-171121-466-052.PDF

    At the Fulcrum of Air Force Identity [ONLINE ONLY]

    Lt Col Jonathan Riley, USAF
    This paper explores the roots of the Air Force's identity problems to explain why many previous leadership-driven identity initiatives—bits of sizzle in the form of a shiny logo, fresh motto, or revamped uniform—have been so startlingly unsuccessful. It concludes that senior Air Force leaders have failed, in part, because of their disregard for the powerful roles that organizational cultures play in the day-to-day lives of the average Airman. In the end, a leader will be truly successful only by discovering and communicating an emergent sense of Airman culture that resonates throughout the rank and file and inspires Airmen with a clear and compelling “why.” [Lt Col Jonathan Riley, USAF / 2014 / 97 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-229-6 / AU Press Code: P-92]
  •  AFD-171121-554-062.PDF

    Balancing on the Pivot [ONLINE ONLY]

    Lt Col Reginald J. McClam, USMC
    The United States has used primacy as its grand strategy for some time now. While this strategy has ensured US hegemony, it has also fiscally drained American power and left the United States with a poor global standing. As such, rethinking US grand strategy should be considered in order to maintain its relative position in the twenty-first century. The United States is poised to pivot east, to meet the demands of China as a rising challenger. The question I raise here is how viable would an alternative grand strategy in Asia be? There is considerable enthusiasm in some corners of the policymaking world for the United States to return to a balancing strategy in Asia. Formerly known as offshore balancing, the strategy aims to conserve American power as it deals with the challenges of a rising China. One important, albeit overlooked element of offshore balancing is: Who plays the role of the balancer? This thesis seeks to answer that question. [Lt Col Reginald J. McClam, USMC / 2016 / 107 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-257-9 / AU Press Code: P-110]
  •  AFD-171121-291-064.PDF

    Blunting the Spear [ONLINE ONLY]

    Lt Col Brian T. Stahl, USAF
    Analysis of Air Force rated officer retention data, interviews with squadron commanders, and surveys of pilots from the fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft communities highlight the need for more focused retention methods. The surveyed communities reported different contextual definitions of key retention variables. Failure to negotiate these disparities at key points throughout an officer’s career will lead to decreased retention of the best, regardless of monetary payout incentives. The author proposes methods the Air Force can use to address retention contextually from the Air Force level to individual major weapons system communities. [Lt Col Brian T. Stahl, USAF / 2015 / 177 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-237-1 / AU Press Code: P-99]
  •  AFD-171121-768-056.PDF

    Casting Net Assessment

    Lt Col John M. Schutte USAF
    In government service, Andrew Marshall has projected and sustained influence in defense policy circles while serving eight presidents and 13 defense secretaries. Yet he remains an enigma to all but his closest associates. This paper attempts to answer the central and compelling question, who is Andy Marshall? Marshall’s formative ideas about the practice of net assessment and his unique understanding of organizational behavior provide him a kaleidoscopic and masterful understanding of strategy. The story of Marshall’s journey, of his growth and maturation as a strategist, is the focus of this biography. [Lt Col John M. Schutte USAF / 2015 / 114 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-240-1 / AU Press Code: P-104]
  •  AFD-171121-316-058.PDF

    Complex Adaptive Systems and the Development of Force Structures for the United States Air Force

    Lt Col Eric M. Murphy, USAF
    Force-structure analysis is critical to the process of planning, programming, and acquiring the military means to provide for national security and to shape the strategic environment. The author presents a theory of complex adaptive systems and demonstrates that force structures are examples of such systems. He then argues that the prevailing paradigm of the force-structure-analysis community in the United States Air Force is inconsistent with this reality. Recommendations identify low-cost opportunities with the potential for significant long-term effects in aligning the force-structure-analysis paradigm with the fact that force structures are complex adaptive systems. [Lt Col Eric M. Murphy, USAF / 2015 / 125 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-239-5 / AU Press Code: P-103]
  •  AFD-190319-140-003.PDF

    Creating a New Military Service: Historical Precedents

    Lt Col Matthew Hyland
    This paper examines the organizational responses to the emergence of air and space as warfighting domains and, using these experiences as points of comparison, applies the same logic to consider the question: Should the Department of Defense create an independent US Cyber Force? The author determines that the Army Air Forces had achieved de facto independent status within the War Department by 1942, but airpower advocates continued to press for separation to more effectively advocate for budget share. [Lt Col Matthew Hyland, USAF/2019/86 pages/AU Press Code DP-0032]
  •  AFD-171121-718-051.PDF

    Culture Wars

    Lt Col Jeffrey W. Donnithorne, USAF
    This work studies American civil-military relations at the level of an individual military service and considers the impact of the Air Force’s organizational culture on its civil-military relationship. Whereas most of the literature on civil-military relations treats the military as a unitary actor, this study considers the services as separate entities with unique self-interests. [Lt Col Jeffrey W. Donnithorne, USAF / 2013 / 123 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-225-8 / AU Press Code: P-101]
  •  AFD-171121-730-061.PDF

    Deconstructing Afghanistan

    Lt Col Marc E. Greene, USAF
    A comparative history of Afghanistan and the post-Civil War US South societies reveals the sharing of three important traits: highly differentiated class structures, ethnically and economically diverse societal mosaics, and a belief in peripheral and societal autonomy. The author of this paper explores the prospects for either renewed civil war or stable peace in Afghanistan after US and coalition military forces withdraw. The comparison with the South after April 1865 suggests that political reconciliation with Taliban leaders, sustained peace, and stable economic growth are possible. The study concludes that Afghanistan’s fate rests with the Afghan people and not the international community, despite the weight of effort expended by the US and coalition nations since October 2001. [Lt Col Marc E. Greene, USAF / 2015 / 111 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-236-4]
  •  AFD-190220-433-005.PDF

    Downloading Deterrence: The Logic and Logistics of Coercive Deployment on US Strategy

    Maj Steven Scott Byrum
    This study proceeds in two parts. The first section is a theoretical and historical review of the role of logistics—enabled military presence as a part of coercive strategies. The second section of the work systematically examines the United States’ current aerial port technologies and concepts of operations. [Maj Steven Scott Byrum /2019 / 72 pages / AU Press Code: DP-0030]
  •  AFD-171121-722-071.PDF

    Femme Fatale

    Kristal L. M. Alfonso
    Women have always participated in armed conflict, most often as active supporters of the armies they have followed. Some women, usually the wives of soldiers, served as nurses, laundresses, cooks, and seamstresses. Other women chose active participation in battle, including the famed Molly Pitcher. Mary Hays McCauly earned this moniker during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 when she provided pitchers of water and medical care to members of the Continental Army fighting the British. After shrapnel struck her husband, McCauly took up his position as a cannoneer so that the artillery crew could continue to fight. Gen George Washington rewarded her bravery by making her a noncommissioned officer.* The story of Molly Pitcher symbolizes the realities of women and war. War has always affected women to some capacity despite civilized society’s best attempts to protect the gentler sex from war’s brutality. Yet, despite Molly Pitcher’s successes on the battlefield, which included picking up an injured soldier to save him from charging British soldiers, American culture has traditionally deprecated female participation in war. In most cultures, even today, a woman engaged in combat operations represented an anathema, such as the reactions to Jeanne d’Arc by political and religious leaders. [Kristal L. M. Alfonso / 2009 / 137 pages / ISBN: 978-1-58566-196-1 / AU Press Code: P-74]
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