USAF Vulnerability to Limited Ground Attacks

During Desert Storm, the United States Air Force demonstrated the lethality of airpower to its potential enemies. Virtually unstoppable in the air, airpower's vulnerability lies on the ground. The threat of limited ground attacks on parked aircraft will increase as the enemy learns that, with a limited investment in manpower and standoff weapons, they can easily destroy part of the shrinking inventory of USAF aircraft, worth billions of dollars.





This paper reviews the capabilities of the current AF Air Base Defense (ABD) Program to match the increased threat. It looks at the threat, the history of air base defense, current ABD procedures and program shortfalls.