Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Hey West Point, here’s an airpower reading list from an expert

By Lt. Gen. David Deptula (USAF, ret.) Best Defense department of airborne victory –Winged Defense: The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power Economic and Military, William Mitchell, 1925 — The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat, John Warden, 1988 —The Transformation of American Air Power, Benjamin S. Lambeth, 2000 —The Influence of Air Power upon History, ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Wikimedia

By Lt. Gen. David Deptula (USAF, ret.)

By Lt. Gen. David Deptula (USAF, ret.)

Best Defense department of airborne victory

–Winged Defense: The Development and Possibilities of Modern Air Power Economic and Military, William Mitchell, 1925

— The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat, John Warden, 1988

The Transformation of American Air Power, Benjamin S. Lambeth, 2000

The Influence of Air Power upon History, Walter J. Boyne, 2003

Airpower Advantage: Planning the Gulf War Air Campaign, 1989-1991, Diane T. Putney, 2004

The Art of Airpower: Sun Tzu Revisited, Sanu Kainikara, 2009

Learning Large Lessons: The Evolving Roles of Ground Power and Air Power in the Post-Cold War Era, David E. Johnson, 2007

The Foundations of US Air Doctrine: The Problem of Friction in War, Barry D. Watts, 1984.

A History of Air Warfare, John Olsen, 2010

Global Air Power, John Olsen, 2011

Ideas, Concepts, Doctrine: Basic Thinking in the United States Air Force, Frank Futrell, 1989

The Icarus Syndrome, Carl Builder, 1993.

I would replace Douhet on the USMA History Department’s top 10 classics with “Winged Defense.”

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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