Research at the Air War College

Published Feb. 25, 2021
Air War College, Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL

Students at the Air War College write various strategic studies research papers throughout the 10 month resident course. These papers address questions raised by strategic leaders from all military branches and other defense agencies. Services, functional commands, and combatant commands publish lists highlighting areas for research that are related to national security. The War Colleges—Army, Navy, and Air—as well as other JPMEII schools, share these lists with all students to help guide research.

At the Air War College, we have multiple research opportunities represented through the electives program that extends across two elective terms. Although most electives involve some level of targeted research; formal research venues include the following options:

o   The two term Strategic Studies Paper (SSP)
o   The single term Faculty Led Independent Research (FLIR) Paper
o   The two term Warfighting Advantage Research (WAR) initiative courses

Multiple WAR initiative courses offered each year (changes year to year)
Students are competitively selected by WAR faculty based on student applications
Each course is formally sponsored by a DoD agency (includes travel)
Students accepted into WAR courses come from both ACSC and AWC