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Air Force Doctrine

For those of you interested in keeping up, the following is forwarded
from AFNS release.

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. (AFPN) -- Doctrine for the new
expeditionary aerospace force for the 21st century concept has been
approved by the chief of staff and is being released by the Air Force
Doctrine Center here.

"Just as technology, world threats and opportunities change, so must our
doctrine," wrote Gen. Michael E. Ryan in the foreword to Air Force Doctrine Document 2.

Titled, Organization and Employment of Aerospace Power, the new document
follows up on AFDD 1, Basic Air Force Doctrine, which was released in
September 1997.

"AFDD 2 takes aerospace power discussions to the next level of detail,
describing how the Air Force organizes and employs aerospace power at
the operational level," said Lt. Col. Bob Poynor, chief of the Aerospace
Power Division at the AFDC and the lead writer for AFDD 2. "This
publication also outlines how to set up, plan and execute air
expeditionary forces. The ideas in AFDD 2 represent the recommended
best way to organize for expeditionary operations."

One of the reasons AFDD 2 is important to the Air Force is that before
now "we've been expeditionary in nature, but not in organization," said
Poynor.

"Our operational doctrine, as embodied in AFDD 2 and the other keystone
doctrinal publications, describes not only how we employ aerospace
forces to meet the threats and challenges facing us today, but also the
point of departure for guiding our nation's Air Force in meeting the
challenges of tomorrow," Ryan said. "Aerospace power is a critical --
and decisive -- element in protecting our nation and deterring
aggression. It will only remain so if we, as professional airmen,
study, evaluate and debate our capabilities and the environment of the
future."

Although AFDD 2 is a stand-alone document, Poynor said, "it's important
to have read AFDD 1 because AFDD 1 gives the reader an understanding of
terms used and the larger conceptual framework."

"All this -- the EAF framework and AFDD 2 -- has been evolving together,
with many of the same sources of ideas," said Poynor. "However, the EAF
concept is a policy decision, and guides things like how to schedule
units for vulnerability for deployment. AFDD 2 talks about organization
and command relationships, which is a different issue. In short, it's
two sides of the same coin."

The direction to develop AFDD 2 came from former Air Force Chief of
Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman in 1996 as a result of his long-range
planning summit. Since then major commands, numbered air forces, the
air staff and subject matter experts, among others, have contributed to
the development of the document.

Copies of AFDD 2 will be distributed to all officers and senior
noncommissioned officers in the next few months.
"This is a very significant document," said Poynor. "The Air Force
hasn't had anything like this before, so it's important to get this word
out to the force in a timely manner."

An electronic copy of the document is available on the Air Force
Doctrine Center's home page at http://www.hqafdc.maxwell.af.mil.
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