He identifies this ‘unproductive gradualism’ as a misuse of air power that greatly hindered its use and utility until the late stages of the campaign. In Lambeth’s view early intervention could have forestalled the growth of the nascent movement. A core theme, for example, is that President Barack Obama was too hesitant to intervene in the initial phase of ISIS’s growth. Lambeth then draws a straight line from these strategic decisions to air power practitioners’ operational and tactical issues in the field. He frequently questions the political and strategic decision-making emanating from the White House, Pentagon and U.S. Lambeth’s scope complicates the book’s analysis. Indeed, blurs the debate on this topic rather than illuminate it. However, while Lambeth uses these interviews in conjunction with a variety of published works, the analysis in this book, which is derived from the aforementioned sources, fails to live up to the standards of his previous work. In addition, Lambeth’s book includes a deep level of detail surrounding the issues faced by the allied planners and practitioners, based on interviews with many personnel directly responsible for the strategy, planning and execution of the campaign. Although Lambeth covers the same subject matter, he provides a more argumentative perspective on the conduct of the air war against ISIS. This book joins recent works that have examined this subject area, including the recent RAND study The Air War Against the Islamic State: The Role of Airpower in Operation Inherent Resolve (2021). A key example of Lambeth’s work was his in-depth dissection of the 1999 effort to liberate Kosovo from Serbian control, NATO’s Air War for Kosovo (2001).Ĭontinuing in the comprehensive manner of his previous work, in Airpower in the War against ISIS, Lambeth reflects on the five-year campaign against Daesh in Syria and Western Iraq between 20. A long-time RAND Corporation political scientist and now a non-resident fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Lambeth has written numerous books that have provided deep insight into modern operations and issues. In the study of contemporary air power operations, Benjamin Lambeth has primarily led the field for over 40 years. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2021. Lambeth, Airpower in the War against ISIS. Header image: An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from HSC 15 flies as the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) conducts flight operations in the US 5th Fleet area of responsibility supporting Operation INHERENT RESOLVE.īenjamin S. He is the author of Turkey’s New Foreign Policy: Davutoglu, the AKP and the Pursuit of Regional Order and has published in the peer-reviewed journals Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Insight Turkey, and The Journal of Strategic Security. He also reveals the fascinating and almost unbelievable engagements between US and Russian aircraft in this complex conflict.ĭr Aaron Stein is Director of the Middle East Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia in the US. In this exciting episode, Dr Aaron Stein discusses his new book, The US War Against ISIS, which details how air power played a crucial role in the conflict against terrorist groups in Syria. The war in Syria from 2011 onwards has featured heavy reliance on air power, not just by the US and its allies but also by the Russian Air Force. You can also find our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. You can find our Soundcloud channel here. Editorial Note: Led by our Editor Dr Mike Hankins, From Balloons to Drones produces a monthly podcast that provides an outlet for the presentation and evaluation of air power scholarship, the exploration of historical topics and ideas, and provides a way to reach out to both new scholars and the general public.
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