Draws on a review of relevant literature, service doctrine, training, and emerging technologies to assess U.S. military preparedness to undertake military operations on urbanized terrain.
A poignant and powerful portrait of Europe in the years between 1939 and 1941—as the Nazi menace marches toward the greatest man-made catastrophe the world has ever experienced—Under a Darkening Sky focuses on a diverse group of expatriate Americans. Told through the eyes and observations of these characters caught up in these seismic events, the story unfolds alongside a war that slowly drags a reluctant United States into its violent embrace. This vibrant narrative takes these dramatic personalities and evokes the engagement between Europe and a reluctant America from September 3, 1939—when Britain declares war—through the tragedy of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Robert Lyman's distinctively energetic storyline brings together a wide range of encounters, conversations, and memories, including individuals from across the social spectrum, from Josephine Baker to the young Americans who volunteered to fight in the RAF, as part of the famous “Eagle Squadrons.” Hundreds of young Americans—like the aces James Goodison, Art Donahue, and the wealthy playboy Billy Fiske—smuggled themselves into Canada so that they could volunteer for the cockpits of Spitfires and Hurricanes, as they flew against the deadly Luftwaffe over ever-darkening skies in London.
This research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the relationship between deception and the urban environment, first to explore the power of deception when employed against U.S. forces in urban operations, and second to evaluate the potential value of deception when used by U.S. forces in urban operations.
This book represents some of the thinking by students at the U.S. Army War College, considering the nature and direction of transformation. They consider how the transformed joint services of the United States should employ force in the 21st century. The services are exploring concepts such as Effects Based Operations and Rapid Decisive Operations to move swiftly and strike vigorously to secure victory in the coming decades. At the same time the nation and its armed forces are developing new concepts of homeland security to defend the country in the war on terrorism. Officers who participated in the Advanced Strategic Art Program (ASAP) during Academic Year 2002 wrote the individual chapters.
The urgent requirement for US Army preparedness in conducting urban operations (UO) is very real. As global urbanization continues to increase, the contemporary threat environment makes operations in cities impossible to avoid. The past decade has demonstrated through the American experiences in Mogadishu and Russian experiences in Grozny, less capable forces will attempt to use urban terrain asymmetrically to even the balance of power against technologically superior military forces. While we have always had a serious requirement to conduct urban operations, the very nature of the cold war, which was successful by its deterrence, prevented us from ever having to face the reality of fighting such urban engagements. In the post-cold war era, the U.S. Army is forced to face the realities of fighting in the urban environment. It is not enough to speak of preparing for “future urban operations”; the future is here today and the Army must be prepared to engage in urban operations even as it moves towards the objective force. Being prepared means having solid doctrine, realistic training programs and facilities, and appropriate equipment to ensure success on the urban battlefield when the time comes to fight there.
Intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), the Army's traditional methodology for finding and analyzing relevant information for its operations, is not effective for tackling the operational and intelligence challenges of urban operations. The authors suggest new ways to categorize the complex terrain, infrastructure, and populations of urban environments and incorporate this information into Army planning and decisionmaking processes.
The intent behind this book was to bring together a team of defence and national security scholars and real-world military and law enforcement operators to focus on the topic of "Non-State Threats and Future Wars". The book is divided into four main sections: The first concerns theory. The second section concerns non-state threats and case studies, providing an overview of non-state threats ranging from organized crime networks to cartels, gangs and warlords. The third section is based on counter-OPFOR (opposing force) strategies which detail advanced concepts, urban battlespace environmental perceptions, weaponry, intelligence preparation, networked force structure and C41. The fourth and final section contains an archival document from the late 1987 period concerning early Fourth Epoch War theory, and never before published interviews with Chechen commanders and officers who participated in combat operations against Russian forces in the 1994-96 war.