Commanding Air Power: Some Contemporary Thoughts

1.30pm - 2.30pm

In this presentation WGCDR Hinchcliffe will discuss some of the ideas, beliefs and shibboleths that underpin contemporary Australian air power thinking regarding command and control.
 
In a time when the prevalence of irregular warfighting has led, in many quarters of the Australian Defence sector, to a re-evaluation of what might constitute appropriate force structures, organisation and doctrine, the question of command of air power has once again surfaced as a legitimate issue for debate. Not only in the Australian Defence community has such debate re-surfaced, but in recent articles in American and British journals and newsprint media the ‘question’ of air power command and even air force independence has gained some measure of exposure. Such debate should quite reasonably come as no surprise, nor be interpreted, necessarily, as an affront to Air Forces. In occasions of uncertainty and some contention, particularly within politico-military circles pertaining to the conduct of operations during a ‘shooting war’, invariably challenges are put to conventional doctrine, thinking and beliefs.

So it is presently with respect to how air power is commanded and controlled in the irregular context of conflict in Afghanistan and recently, Iraq. These challenges rather than being dismissed or shied away from, should be engaged with by air power advocates. They may quite usefully form the basis of a considered re-evaluation of Air Force beliefs regarding the employment of air power, hopefully allowing us to distinguish doctrine from dogma, flexibility in concept from flexibility in application, reaffirming that which is proven in battle and reconsidering that which is not. Such re-evaluation the presenter will argue, is a necessary, healthy and invigorating process that Air Force should embrace.

In discussing the ideas of airmindedness, strategic effect and centralised control and decentralised execution, WGCDR Hinchcliffe hopes to stimulate the discourse concerning the command, control and application of Australian air power.

Wing Commander Mark Hinchcliffe

Wing Commander Mark Hinchcliffe is a Royal Australian Air Force Air Combat Officer with 26 years of service. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College with a Masters Degree in Military Operations. He holds a Diploma of Teaching Secondary Science and Maths, a Bachelors Degree in Politics with 1st class Honours and a PhD in International Relations. Mark has taught at the RAAF School of Air Navigation, in the department of International Security and Military Studies at the Air University, Maxwell AFB Alabama and before taking up his current position as Chief of Air Force Fellow ADFA, was the Deputy Director Air Power Development at the Air Power Development Centre.

Attachment(s)

• Presentation Notes
• Presentation Slides