Air Defense

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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.

  • Russian Mi-28N helicopters fly in formation at the Dubrovichi range near Ryazan, Russia, August 2, 2015, photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

    Content

    Where Russia Markets and Sells Advanced Conventional Weapons

    Russia uses arms exports to further relations with other countries, influence their political and military leaders, and further its broader foreign and defense policy goals. A series of maps show the extent of its marketing, negotiating, and sales of key weapons systems.

    Jun 11, 2021

  • Two U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly over Joint Base Langley-Eustis’ Felker Army Airfield at Fort Eustis, Virginia, June 12, 2018. Felker Army Airfield represents the success of consolidating Army and Air Force operations through a joint base as the airfield continues to support aerial missions while being operated by the Air Force’s 1st Operations Support Squadron, photo by Tech. Sgt. Natasha Stannard/U.S. Air Force

    Report

    Winning the Battle of the Airfields

    Airfields have long been recognized as essential military facilities. And combatants have gone to great lengths to destroy enemy aircraft on the ground and to deny the use of airfields through attacks. What enduring lessons do RAND's seven decades of work on air base defense and attack provide?

    Feb 24, 2021

Explore Air Defense

  • Report

    Report

    Army Air and Missile Defense: Future Challenges

    The U.S. Army must take steps now if it is to defend itself against future enemies. This briefing examines six future scenarios and looks at potential areas of air and missile defense shortfalls.

    Jan 1, 2002

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    Report

    A Global Access Strategy for the U.S. Air Force

    A set of recommendations for a global access strategy to render the USAF better equipped to meet its access and basing needs and hence to perform its missions both rapidly and effectively.

    Jan 1, 2002

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    Future Air and Missile Threats

    Summarizes research that analyzed six plausible future worlds to determine which types of air and missile threats might confront the Army in a range of geopolitical or strategic situations.

    Jan 1, 2002

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    A New U.S. Strategy for a Changing Asia

    Proposes an approach that the United States can take to help preserve stability in Asia in the face of the region's changing security environment.

    Jan 1, 2001

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    A Decision Support System for Evaluating Ranges and Airspace

    Ranges and airspace for Air Force training purposes are scarce resources. RAND and the Air Combat Command developed an analytic structure containing a joint mission framework, training requirements, infrastructure requirements, and the current infrastructure

    Jan 1, 2001

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    Relating Ranges and Airspace to Air Combat Command Missions and Training

    Ranges and airspace for Air Force training purposes are scarce resources for which the Air Force must present a rigorously defensible claim.

    Jan 1, 2001

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    Aerospace Operations Against Elusive Ground Targets

    This book seeks to identify concepts and technologies that could improve the USAF's capability to detect, classify, recognize, and defeat elusive targets, whether dispersed ground forces or mobile ballistic missiles.

    Jan 1, 2001

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    Report

    Emerging Threats, Force Structures, and the Role of Air Power in Korea

    North Korea's ballistic missile program, the theater missile defense debate, and ongoing discussions concerning South Korea's next-generation combat aircraft have combined to heighten awareness of the critical importance of aerospace power.

    Jan 1, 2000

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    International Law and the Politics of Urban Air Operations

    To help the Air Force develop concepts of operation to conduct joint urban military operations effectively and at lower risk to U.S. forces, this report examines the legal and political context within which urban air operations would take place.

    Jan 1, 2000

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    Report

    Air Power as a Coercive Instrument

    Examines the phenomenon of coercion and how air power can contribute to its success. Three factors increase the likelihood of successful coercion.

    Jan 1, 1999

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    A Vision of Theater Air Defense Battle Management Command and Control in 2010

    A Vision of Theater Air Defense Battle Management Command and Control in 2010

    Jan 1, 1998

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    Air Force Operations in a Chemical and Biological Environment

    This documented briefing examines how adversaries might use chemical and biological weapons (CBWs) to paralyze U.S. Air Force operations, how the Air Force might continue operations despite a contaminated environment, and what additional measures might enable the Air Force to sustain tactical aircraft sortie generation and airlift cargo delivery operations in a contaminated environment.

    Jan 1, 1998

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    Report

    McGregor Renewal and the Current Air Defense Mission

    Evaluates the military rationale for retaining in the military system the 600,000-acre McGregor Range on Fort Bliss. The report is organized around arguments suggesting that the McGregor Range should be returned to the public domain.

    Jan 1, 1998

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    Defining the Role of Airpower in Joint Missions

    The stage is set for the emergence of a "new American way of war," in which U.S. forces are able to bring military power against an enemy state quickly, comprehensively, decisively, and with minimal risk of heavy casualties. But obstacles remain.

    Jan 1, 1998

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    Report

    Strategic Appraisal 1997: Strategy and Defense Planning for the 21st Century

    This publication brings together the views of several experts in both the process and substance of defense planning.

    Jan 1, 1997

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    U.S. Security Needs for the 21st Century

    Suggests embarking on a fundamental assessment of U.S. strategy and defense planning--one that takes full advantage of emerging capabilities and exploits technological, organizational, and operational innovations to make a smaller force more capable.

    Jan 1, 1997

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    Russia's Air Force: An Institution in Painful Transition

    Examines the major challenges facing Russia's air force leadership during this post-Soviet era of transition.

    Jan 1, 1996

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    Report

    Enhancing Air Power’s Contribution Against Light Infantry Targets

    The objective of this effort was to explore the signatures and vulnerabilities of adversary light forces, to identify promising sensor and weapon technologies applicable to this target set, and to develop new concepts of operation (OPCONs).

    Jan 1, 1996

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    Report

    Perspectives on Theater Air Campaign Planning

    This report describes the findings of an independent, exploratory look at how the United States Air Force plans and executes air campaigns and operations.

    Jan 1, 1995

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    Planning for Theater Air Campaigns

    Interviewed planners at U.S. Air Force organizations -- at home and abroad -- to gain insights into air campaign planning and how the process might be improved.

    Jan 1, 1995

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