Airpower 101: an expeditionary air base model

Air & Space Power Journal, Fall, 2004 by John Dobbins

As an organizing construct, the model proved to be my most valuable tool in quickly defining and executing the many concurrent tasks needed to get Tallil AB up and running. It was simple to remember, and easy to use in an expeditionary environment. It also encompassed a logic that permitted me to talk to either higher headquarters about capabilities and requirements or to my newest Airmen about how they personally supported airpower production, using the same diagram for both discussions. I used it to quickly organize my thoughts and explain to others how the whole Tallil effort fit together; yet, for all its power and usefulness, it was still missing something. Standing up Tallil proved to be an onerous task, despite the insight the model provided.

As I considered the plethora of roadblocks that I encountered during the buildup of Tallil, I discovered that there was an additional layer under the model--the background infrastructure grids--that goes unnoticed if present and functioning, but if absent, raises barriers at every turn. The infrastructure that enables every air base includes basic power, water, road, transportation, and communication grids. Tallil's underlying grids were lacking because they were incompatible with our requirements, insufficient to our needs, in such disrepair as to be unreliable, or destroyed earlier in OSW. The imperative to quickly get Tallil AB producing airpower forced me to balance rebuilding infrastructure value chains with building airpower because I did not have the equipment, material, or manpower resources to do both simultaneously. I would also add a fifth infrastructure category called "facilities." Facilities infrastructure was the shelter needed by the work centers and is similar to the shelter people needed, as shown in the model's Airmen component. In the end, the balance of effort that generated airpower the quickest caused resources to be diverted from some people-sustainment efforts to make temporary grids. All of the components came together, and the 407th AEG made airpower happen. However, the Airmen who served at Tallil AB during March and April lived and worked without the normal infrastructure that makes airpower sustainable over the long haul. Still those Airmen were able to produce A-10 combat sorties by 2 April 200&, less than a week after arrival, a testament to how expeditionary the Air Force can be if required by the situation.

Support and Infrastructure Grids

With infrastructure grids added as background to the model (fig. 3), I could then at least articulate the Tallil AB challenges to headquarters and convey to the Tallil Airmen that they were temporarily sacrificing their personal comfort for a greater good and that their patience would eventually be rewarded with better facilities. I believe the model captures all the important aspects of standing up and fighting an expeditionary air base.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

Political considerations come into play, especially when building up bases in allied countries, and may add extra layers and coordination cycles to the decision-making process as a commander develops all the value chains that are necessary to function. While these political aspects do not affect the fundamentals of the model, their ramifications often become a primary influence on how the value chains operate and are always a starting point in understanding what is permissible in another country.