European Contributions to Operation Allied Force: Implications for Transatlantic Cooperation (Project Air Force Series on Operation Allied Force) - Softcover

Operation Allied Force, the 1999 NATO air campaign that sought toprevent a wider humanitarian disaster in Kosovo, has become theepicenter of controversy over European security and defensecapabilities. It represents the triumph of air power to someobservers, and highlights the limitations of air power for others. Itrepresents a successful case of cooperative allied military action forproponents of NATO, and suggests the limits of U.S.-Europeanmilitary cooperation to the skeptics.This report offers a dispassionate assessment of what OperationAllied Force really means in terms of future U.S.-European militaryaction and future European military capabilities. It provides per-spectivesfrom both sides of the Atlantic, offering the lessons learnedand implications from Allied Force as they might appear in Brussels,Paris, London, and Berlin as well as in Washington. The report alsoprovides perspectives appropriate to various levels of involvement inthe operation: the political, general military, and all air force-specificimplications.This study was conducted as part of the Strategy and Doctrine pro-gramof Project AIR FORCE, and was sponsored by the U.S. AirForces in Europe (USAFE). It should be of interest to the U.S. andEuropean partners in NATO as well as the U.S. Air Force.Other documents published in this series currently include thefollowing:MR-1279-AF, Command and Control and Battle Management:Experiences from the Air War Over Serbia, James E. Schneider,Myron Hura, Gary McLeod (Government publication; notreleasable to the general public)MR-1326-AF, Aircraft Weapon Employment in Operation AlliedForce, William Stanley, Carl Rhodes, Robert Uy, Sherrill Lingel(Government publication; not releasable to the general public)MR-1351-AF, The Conflict Over Kosovo: Why Milosevic Decided toSettle When He Did, Stephen HosmerDB-332-AF, Aircraft Survivability in Operation Allied Force,William Stanley, Sherrill Lingel, Carl Rhodes, Jody Jacobs, RobertUy (Government publication; not releasable to the generalpublic)Topics examined in series documents nearing completion include: Supporting Expeditionary Aerospace Forces: Lessons from theAir War Over Serbia A Strategic and Operational Assessment of NATO's Air War forKosovo Lessons Learned from Operation Allied Force Tanker OperationsPROJECT AIR FORCEProject AIR FORCE, a division of RAND, is the Air Force federallyfunded research and development center (FFRDC) for studies andanalyses. It provides the Air Force with independent analyses ofpolicy alternatives affecting the development, employment, combatreadiness, and support of current and future aerospace forces.Research is performed in four programs: Aerospace ForceDevelopment; Manpower, Personnel, and Training; ResourceManagement; and Strategy and Doctrine.

John E. Peters (Ph.D., International Relations, Georgetown University) is a senior researcher, at RAND.

NORA BENSAHEL (PH.D. STANFORD UNIVERSITY, 1999 Department of Political Science) is a policy analyst at RAND.