U.S. Air Force: Overview

This entry is a subentry of U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. Air Force, the world's most powerful air arm, was not always the most potent. The force dates its beginnings from 1907 as an organization of three men and no operational aircraft within the U.S. Army. During and immediately after World War I, the Army Air Service remained much smaller and less capable than European air forces. However, as the Army Air Forces, it grew during World War II to become the mightiest air force in the world, with 2.4 million uniformed people in 1944 and nearly 100,000 operational aircraft. In 1947, as the U.S. Air Force (USAF), it finally became an independent service, reaching its maximum size in 1955 during the Cold War era (960,000 people). By 1998 it had “downsized” to 381,100 active duty, uniformed personnel (plus 184,000 in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard). But today's force, with its 580 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 4,700 aircraft (another 1,900 in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard), and numerous space‐based reconnaissance satellites, has much greater range, capability, mobility, and flexibility than the numerically larger Army Air Force of World War II.

The USAF provides its aircrews with more flying hours and more realistic training than any other comparable force in the world, and its equipment is unmatched technologically. Those that can compete with USAF crews in skill are all regional: Israel, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Australia retain motivated, capable air forces, but all are range‐limited and considerably smaller. Although some air forces approach the size of the USAF in aircraft numbers (e.g., China's), all of them are range‐restricted and most of their aircraft are obsolete. The Soviet Union came closest to possessing a large, global air force, but since 1991 Russia's airpower has greatly deteriorated.

The American air forces have been reorganized several times. From 1907 to 1947, the force was part of the U.S. Army. Within the army, it became sequentially the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Signal Corps (1907–14), the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps (1914–18), the Army Air Service (1918–26), the Army Air Corps (1926–41), and the Army Air Forces (1941–47). Since 1947, the force has been on a par with the army and navy.

Through 1918, its primary mission was reconnaissance, although some air supremacy fighting and ground attack did occur during World War I. It was not until 1923 that army doctrine officially recognized combat strike uses for airplanes. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Army Air Corps developed the strategic bombing doctrine in which “air power” was envisaged as being decisive in war: an enemy's vital targets would be bombed, and the war could end before ground or naval forces became engaged.

The idea of strategic bombing dominated air force thinking and force structure through World War II and for twenty‐five years thereafter. In the 1930s, the Army Air Corps developed robust four‐engine bombers, but poor fighter‐aircraft, because fighters were seen as unnecessary for escorting the defensively armed and armored bombers that it was believed “would always get through.” It was thought a war would end before fighters became necessary to support ground forces. The Army Air Forces (together with Britain's Bomber Command) blasted German cities into rubble using mainly B‐24 and B‐17 heavy bomber aircraft, but the war in Europe ended only when Allied armies occupied Germany's territory. The Army Air Forces achieved more decisive results in the Pacific, but only after the army, navy, and Marine Corps captured enough territory to bring very long range B‐29 bombers within range of Japan. Massive bombardment in 1945, culminating in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was probably the most important factor causing Japan to surrender without an invasion.

Convinced that aerial bombardment had won both the European and the Pacific Wars, air force leaders developed a huge strategic bombing force during the 1950s that would deter the Soviet Union, or defeat it should war occur. While the USAF developed superior interceptor aircraft, it discounted the value of tactical aircraft for supporting ground forces. The Korean War did not dramatically alter this situation, nor did the growing power of the Soviet ground forces in the 1950s. Today's air force, however, is more flexibly equipped.

Its current mission is to control air and space in order to provide freedom of action for air, sea, and ground forces to secure national security objectives. And the USAF is more capable of performing multiple missions than in the past. One can track the change in doctrinal emphases from the Vietnam War, when the emphasis on strategic bombing gave way to increased emphasis on tactical operations. Since 1982, six consecutive air force chiefs of staff have been fighter pilots, none of whom had any flying time as strategic bomber crew members. In 1992, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Strategic Air Command (SAC), the command most identified with strategic bombing, was disestablished. SAC's nuclear strategic missions were placed in a new joint (multiservice) command, the Strategic Command. (SAC's conventional missions went to other organizations.)

Today's balanced air force is divided into eight major commands, thirty‐eight field operating agencies, and three direct reporting units. The eight major commands contain almost 94 percent of the uniformed personnel. Air Combat Command is the largest, with 28 percent of the people. It has fighters (F‐15s, F‐16s, F‐117s, A‐10s, etc.) and bombers (B‐52s, B‐1s, B‐2s). Two other commands also possess fighters. U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Pacific Air Forces (combined, 16% of the air force) would both be supplemented by Air Combat Command aircraft if needed. The Air Education and Training Command, about 17 percent of personnel, is equipped with training aircraft (T‐37s and T‐38s, etc.), and is responsible for training and most professional education. The Air Mobility Command (about 15%) has aerial refueling tankers (KC‐135s and KC‐10s) and transports (C‐130s, C‐141s, C‐5s, and C‐17s). The Space Command (6%) maintains the strategic missile forces during peacetime and the space‐based satellites. The Special Operations Command (2%) is equipped with helicopters, some specially equipped C‐130s, and gunships. The Materiel Command (10%) equips the force through research, development, and acquisition of systems, and sustains it through maintenance and supply.

The thirty‐eight field operating agencies, such as the Air Weather Service, contain 5 percent of personnel. Finally, the three direct reporting units (e.g., Air Force Academy) contain about 1 percent of personnel.

The USAF today is engaged in missions around the world, demonstrating daily its global power and reach.

[See also Academies, Service: U.S. Air Force Academy; Air and Space Defense; Air Force Combat Organizations; Special Operations Forces: Air Force Special Forces; Strategy: Air Warfare Strategy; Tactics: Air Warfare Tactics.]

Bibliography

• Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, editors, The Army Air Forces in World War II, 7 vol., 1948–1958.
• Irving B. Holley, Jr., Ideas and Weapons: Exploitation of the Aerial Weapons by the United States during World War I; A Study in the Relationship of Technological Advance, Military Doctrine, and the Development of Weapons, 1971.
• Robert F. Futrell, Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: A History of Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force 1907–1964, 1974.
• United States Air Force, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia, 5 vol., 1981–1983.
• Robert F. Futrell, The United States Air Force in Korea 1950–1953, 1983.
• Thomas A. Keaney and Eliot A. Cohen, Gulf War Air Power Survey Summary Report, 1993