HomeOffice of Sponsored ProgramsResearchArticle Display


Roles & Functions of USAF

  • Published
  • By HAF A5SM

TOPIC SPONSOR: HAF A5SM 

The character of military competition in the air domain is rapidly changing, which potentially increase the vulnerability of air operations for the US and other nations that rely on airpower

What are the future strategic opportunities and vulnerabilities that could impact the role and function of the USAF? How can they be addressed? What are new or expanded roles for the USAF?

  • Beers. Lt. Col. Shannon, "Congress, Commander in Chief and the Implications for the Department of Defense," AF Fellows Portfolio (Georgetown), 2025, 19 pgs.
    • Beers identifies a strategic vulnerability in the USAF's role: an overreliance on fifth-generation stealth technology (such as the F-35, F-22, and NGAD) as a "silver bullet" for future conflicts. Because modern adversaries are increasingly capable of threatening U.S. airpower without relying solely on radar, treating stealth as the only necessary attribute becomes a liability. To address this vulnerability, he argues the USAF must maintain a mixed force design that values capabilities like rapid weapon integration, external carry, and air-to-ground sensors to complement its stealth platforms in the frequent, smaller conflicts it will inevitably be tasked to fight.
  • Blasdel, Tyler R., "'The Enemy of My Enemy': A History of the USAF's Fixed-Wing Aggressors," SAASS thesis, 2025, 90 pgs.
  • Castle, Maj. Nicklas A., "So Many Targets, So Little Time: Overcoming Airpower's Struggle to Win in Future Joint Fight," GCPME, 2024, 60 pgs. 
  • Heistuman, Tom J., "Dusting off the Defensive Playbook: Analyzing Cold War Defensive Strategies for Modern Threat Environments," SAASS thesis, 2024, 116 pgs.
    • Heistuman answers these topics by evaluating the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) scheme of maneuver as the necessary response to China's Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2AD) network and long-range missile threats. He argues that the USAF can no longer rely on large, centralized main bases, which have become prime, lucrative targets. To address this vulnerability, he recommends that the USAF combine active and passive facility hardening with on-base dispersal and distributed operations. Distributing operations across multiple bases, while spreading aircraft out within those bases, forces China to expend significantly more of its finite munitions to successfully degrade US airfields.
  • Taylor, Maj. Zane Jarrett and Maj William Dean Long, "Maneuvering in Contested Skies: Factors Impacting Air Operations in the European Theater," ACSC elective paper, 2024, 16 pgs.