As aviation technology has advanced, the ability to defend a country’s air space has become increasingly important. RAND research has evaluated aircraft options and costs, defensive systems and strategies, deployment, and the importance of international partnerships in an effort to help the U.S. and allied air forces assess and enhance their ability to combat enemy air strikes — for national defense as well as in military operations around the globe.
This study examines the doctrine and force structure of the Luftwaffe in the context of German defense policy considerations. It analyzes several of the propositions of Luftwaffe doctrine using U.S. quantitative models of air-land combat in NATO's ce...
Reviews Measuring Military Power: The Soviet Air Threat to Europe, by Joshua M. Epstein (Princeton University Press, 1984).
This Note discusses a concept for the active defense — through "homing bullets" — of tactical fighter-bombers against surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
Reports the results of a 1976-l977 assessment of the capability of the lower tiers (the subcontractors and suppliers) of industry to meet the Air Force's peacetime and surge requirements. Suggests goals for a more productive policy approach: (1) find...
In the last decade, air defense developments have culminated in systems that oppose tactical aircraft with a technically advanced and dense air defense. As evidenced in the 1973 Middle East war, this poses a severe threat to air support operations. T...
Air operations on future tactical battlefields will have to face a technologically advanced and highly dense air defense system; thus it will not be prudent to rely on low- and slow-flying manned aircraft to provide surveillance, target acquisition a...
The proliferation, redundancy, and diversity of Soviet surface-to-air defenses, especially in defense of the battle area, severely limit the air space in which tactical aircraft can operate effectively and survive. Further complications arise when th...
An overview of topics discussed with the Swedish Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense Research Institute. The introduction of "smart" weapons will create far-reaching changes. Standoff precision weapons could strike the whole rear structure, making a...
An updated programmer's manual for TAFCOM, which simulates large-scale air attack; it can handle thousands of aircraft with hundreds of bombers attacking tens of targets and penetrating through up to 20 air defense systems of varying effectiveness.
An account of India's "MIG deal" with the USSR. In spite of her meagre resources, India would like to acquire a first class, modern air defense force capable of meeting any threat from either China or Pakistan. The reason the initially hostile Wester...
A summary of a talk presented before the National Security Planning Working Group at the 12th Military Operations Research Symposium, held at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, 22-24 October 1963. The paper describes the many aspects of defense...
A defense of overseas bases in response to a 1959 article in Air Force by Major General Dale O. Smith.
An analysis, as a two-sided war game, of the problem of allocating two types of aircraft (bombers and fighters) among three different air tasks (counter air, air defense, and support of ground operations) in a multistrike campaign.
An analysis of a complex data-processing decisionmaking system to determine how it responds in meeting its charged responsibilities.
Data collected during a squadron operational test designed to measure the interceptor team effectiveness in accomplishing the air defense mission. This paper attempts to determine the impact of maintenance or reliability on operational capabilities. ...
The study of a problem in tactical air war concerned with the allocation at each strike of the tactical forces among such competing air tasks as counterair, air-defense, and support of ground operations.
An analysis, as a two-sided war game, of the problem of allocating two types of aircraft (bombers and fighters) among three different air tasks (counter-air, air defense, and support of ground operations) in a multistrike campaign.
A problem concerned with allocating aircraft among three different air tasks — counterair, air defense, and support of ground operations — in a multistrike campaign as a two-sided war game.
A description, in terms of a two-sided war game, of the optimal allocation of tactical aircraft among three air tasks-counter air, air defense, and support of ground operations — on each strike of a multistrike campaign.
A description of data collection and data processing techniques which influence the methodology of the Systems Research Laboratory studies. In addition, various problems involved in the experiment are considered....
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