Expeditionary operations

Air & Space Power Journal,  Summer, 2008  by Paul D. Berg

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TRADITIONALLY, EXPEDITIONARY operations have called for the physical deployment of forces, but that notion is evolving. Practically all airmen are assigned to one of 10 air and space expeditionary forces, and air Force leaders constantly reiterate the importance of being ready to deploy. Yet, current joint Doctrine defines an expeditionary force as "an armed force organized to accomplish a specific objective in a foreign country," a definition that does not specifically require physical deployment overseas. (1) is the air Force properly emphasizing the physical-deployment aspect of expeditionary operations?

Our service operates in the air, space, and cyberspace domains, but only the air domain lends itself to traditional expeditionary operations. Flying units typically forward-deploy personnel and equipment, establish bases, conduct operations until they achieve their objectives, and then redeploy. Expeditionary space and cyber operations involve less need for overseas deployment. Space operations place satellites in orbits that traverse the world, but space units and personnel often remain at their home stations. Cyberspace units can also perform many wartime duties without deploying.

Our chief of staff provided important guidance about expeditionary operations in his white paper on air Force strategy, which mentions the word expeditionary only once. (2) However, it also touts the air Force's "Global Vigilance, Global Reach and Global Power" (emphasis in original)--concepts that mean, among other things, monitoring opponents, positioning air Force assets, destroying targets, and projecting other desired effects worldwide. (3) Despite these expeditionary-sounding attributes, the global war on terror challenges the service to demonstrate how it contributes to irregular warfare. Daily news reports describe soldiers and marines engaged in ground combat yet seldom mention airmen. Highlighting airmen's physical presence in the war zone may offer one way of counteracting any potential public perceptions that the air Force is not fully engaged in the fight; however, an effects-based approach to operations would require the air Force to concentrate on producing desired effects overseas, regardless of whether those effects come from physically deploying equipment and personnel.

Some air Force operations are difficult to categorize as expeditionary in the traditional sense--or even as predominantly air, space, or cyber. For example, operators in nevada remotely control unmanned aircraft systems (UaS) that fly combat sorties in iraq. These seem to be expeditionary air operations, yet they rely heavily on space and cyberspace systems to transmit signals. In a reversal of traditional roles, the UAS's ground crew may physically deploy to the combat zone while its operators stay home. Combat assessment and other intelligence activities that transcend single domains and "reach back" to harness the talents of analysts in the United States can also resist simple categorization. However one categorizes these "cross-domain" operations, the key point is that they produce expeditionary combat effects and may represent the wave of the future. (4)

Expeditionary operations constantly morph as airmen seek innovative ways to integrate and leverage air, space, and cyber power. Whether the air Force is properly balancing physical deployment with an effects-based approach to operations remains to be seen, but Air and Space Power Journal, the professional journal of the air Force, dedicates this issue to promoting dialogue about this vital topic.

Notes

(1.) Joint publication (Jp) 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, 12 April 2001 (as amended through 17 October 2007), 193, http://www.dtic.mil/Doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf.

(2.) Gen T. Michael Moseley, The Nation's Guardians: America's 21st Century Air Force, CSAF White Paper (Washington, DC: Department of the Air Force, Office of the Chief of Staff, 29 December 2007), 6, http://www.af.mil/shared/media/document/aFd-080207-048.pdf.

(3.) Ibid., 1.

(4.) Ibid., 2.

LT COL PAUL D. BERG, USAF, CHIEF, PROFESSIONAL JOURNALS

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COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning