BiblioScholar Operational Flexibility: Options for the 21st Century Air Component Commander

This monograph addresses the various issues affecting operational flexibility for the Air Component Commander as it applies to the 21st Century security environment. By studying the current conflicts in Central Command's area of responsibility, the paper suggests there is a difference in the way air command and control is applied for major combat operations as opposed to irregular warfare. The U.S. military has embraced the concept of the Joint Task Force (JTF) to distribute combat power throughout the area of responsibility. But U.S. forces have had difficulty adjusting to the notion that more than one Joint Force Commander (JFC) can exist in a geographic area. In CENTCOM, the Air Component Commander works directly for the CENTCOM Commander and not for the individual JTF Commanders. This arrangement frustrates the various JTF Commanders. The application of air command and control is causing increasing friction between the Army and Air Force. When compared to the Marine Corps there exist three reasons for this disparity: service culture, air-minded liaisons at the appropriate level, and differences in applying airpower to the irregular fight. The main lesson from these three differences is that the Marines tend to be more engaged at the tactical level for planning and executing the mission as a combined arms team.