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31. Catastrophic Interdiction: Air Power and the Collapse of the Iraqi Field Army in the 2003 War

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
This report analyzes an important aspect of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF): the interdiction of Iraqi ground units by coalition air forces. Based on air campaign statistics, observations from the field, and the experience of past air campaigns, the report assesses the likely impact (in terms of combatant casualties) of coalition air attacks on the Iraqi army in the field. Our approach is a comparative one that views the OIF air interdiction campaign in light of the experience of the 1991 Gulf War. Among the issues we explore is the contribution of coalition air power to the catastrophic collapse of the Iraqi Republican Guard and regular army.
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

32. First Strike Guidelines: the Case of Iraq

Author:
Charles Knight
Publication Date:
09-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
In the first Clinton administration Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced that the United States would seek the capability to undertake offensive counterproliferation strikes against proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). To this end Les Aspin's 1993 Bottom Up Review calls for "Improvements in the ability of both our general purpose and special operations forces to seize, disable, or destroy arsenals of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their delivery systems."
Topic:
Security and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, and Middle East

33. Evaluating the Post-Cold War Policy of the United States

Author:
Jonathan Dean
Publication Date:
11-1999
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Ambassador Jonathan Dean, Adviser on International Security Issues, Union of Concerned Scientists, presentation to the PDA symposium Ten Years After the Wall: Trends in post-Cold War U.S. Security Policy held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 11 November 1999.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, and Cold War
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

34. Dueling with Uncertainty: The New Logic of American Military Planning

Author:
Carl Conetta and Charles Knight
Publication Date:
02-1998
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Examines how the new planning concepts and methods adopted by the Pentagon since 1992 have led to military requirements disproportionate to real threats and have supported overweening ambitions for the application of military power. A version appeared in the March/April 1998 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as “Inventing Threats.”
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
United States of America

35. America's New Deal with Europe: NATO Primacy and Double Expansion

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
10-1997
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Including analysis relevant to the 2022 Ukraine crisis, this article addresses NATO expansion, burdensharing, the Balkans crisis, and relations with Russia and Germany. The American debate and public opinion regarding NATO enlargement is reviewed as well.
Topic:
Defense Policy, NATO, Conflict, and Regional Power
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Ukraine, Germany, Balkans, North America, and United States of America

36. The Development of America’s post-Cold War Military Posture: A Critical Appraisal

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
11-1996
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
This article outlines the factors influencing and distorting military planning (with special attention to the 1992-1996 period.) In the early years of the post-Cold War era, the US defense establishment set out to formulate a new military posture. This was supposed to reflect the new strategic environment and pursue the opportunities afforded by advances in information technology. The result, however, was a “new” posture closely resembling the old, writ somewhat smaller. It was to be progressively bolstered by cutting-edge technology inputs. However, while remarkably expensive, these inputs would only partially fulfill their promise, while exhibiting varying degrees of reliability and sustainability. Soon the USA would be spending as much and more inflation-adjusted dollars on its armed forces as during the Cold War. Also driving requirements and budgets upward would be the adoption of new strategic goals, roles, and missions exceeding those of the Cold War period. Over subsequent decades, the tension between purported military requirements and resources constraints would grow acute, while the armed forces found themselves over-extended worldwide and mired in seemingly endless wars, despite their presumed (and costly) advantages. How did US defense policy come to this point? The Development of America’s post-Cold War Military Posture shows how dysfunctional planning assumptions and processes can easily lead to dysfunctional policy.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Cold War, Science and Technology, and Military Affairs
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

37. Vital Force: A Proposal for the Overhaul of the UN Peace Operations System and for the Creation of a UN Legion

Author:
Carl Conetta and Charles Knight
Publication Date:
10-1995
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Reviews the problems of contemporary peace operations, recent reform proposals, and the requirements for successful operations. Includes a detailed proposal for enhancing and reorganizing the capacities of the UN to support and direct peace operations and for establishing a UN legion of three brigades.
Topic:
Defense Policy, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Reform, and Peace
Political Geography:
Global Focus

38. Defensive Military Structures in Action: Historical Examples

Author:
Carl Conetta, Charles Knight, and Lutz Unterseher
Publication Date:
05-1994
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Examines three major cases in the last 80 years where defensive preparations, structures, and tactics were of decisive importance in major military operations. Originally published in Confidence-Building Defense: A Comprehensive Approach to Security & Stability in the New Era, Study Group on Alternative Security Policy and Project on Defense Alternatives, 1994.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Cold War, Armed Forces, Military Affairs, and History
Political Geography:
Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, and Belarus

39. Confidence-Building Defense: a comprehensive approach to security and stability in the new era

Author:
Carl Conetta and Lutz Unterseher
Publication Date:
05-1994
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
Originally, this primer was written and then published in spiral-bound book format for a series of seminars sponsored by the Study Group on Alternative Security Policy (SAS) and the Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA). These seminars were held in 1994 in several of the newly sovereign states of Europe: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Belarus. The primer remains one of the most comprehensive presentations of the concepts of Confidence-Building Defense including details of their application to the structuring and operations of national armed forces. It totals 116 pages with 94 charts and tables. Although some details of arms and tactics change over time, the fundamentals remain relevant to present-day international security and military planning. Unfortunately, in 1994 no suitable seminar host was found in Ukraine. Although not a panacea, confidence-building defenses could improve Ukraine’s defenses and national morale in the present crisis.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Armed Forces, and Strategic Stability
Political Geography:
Europe, Ukraine, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Belarus

40. Air Power Promises and Modernization Trends after Operation Desert Storm

Author:
Kathy Bloomgarden and Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
12-1994
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
This article first appeared in 1994 in a slightly edited form in Hawk Journal, the annual publication of the Royal Air Force Staff College. The expectation of an airpower revolution began in earnest soon after victory in the first US-Iraq Gulf War, 1990-1991. Drawing extensively on official and outside expert assessment of airpower in “Operation Desert Storm,” this article critically reviews the evidence for an airpower revolution while summarizing a range of contemporary opinions on the issue. Specifically, the article examines three claims advanced by airpower enthusiasts at the dawn of the post-Cold War period: that the Gulf War experience suggests greatly expanded options for limited-aims “raiding missions,” strategic bombing campaigns, and airpower dominance over the ground battle (using improved battlefield interdiction and close air support.) Included are summaries of the extensive Gulf War Air Power Survey and other surveys of the war which provide an unsurpassed view of the war’s dynamics. It also examines the technologies, contemporary and in development, central to the putative airpower revolution.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Conflict, Gulf War, and Air Force
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and United States of America