Preface

This volume brings together the papers delivered to the second of the Chief of the General Staff's annual historical conferences, held on 29 September 1995 at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra. The theme of the conference was the Australian experience of the land/air battle, both in historical perspective and with an eye to current concerns and likely future developments. The conference attracted approximately 130 participants, mainly from Army and the Royal Australian Air Force but with a sprinkling of retired senior officers who were able to comment on the issues raised in the light of their own, often considerable, experience of army/air interaction. The papers delivered on the day have been supplemented here by a number of invited contributions.

The great French soldier Ferdinand Foch remarked in 1910 that while aircraft might be fine for sporting purposes, 'for the Army the airplane is of no use'. Within half a dozen years he had been proven decisively wrong, and as the papers here indicate, armies have developed an increasingly close and dependent relationship with aircraft and air forces ever since. The application of the air weapon in support of ground forces has been marked by technological limitations, basic doctrinal disputes, and disagreements over the control of air assets, underpinned in the Australian experience by often intense inter-service rivalry. The evolution of the land/air battle concept involves more than merely an intensified form of close air support to ground forces, and as appropriate doctrine and organisation are developed in the Australian Army in the future, it is clear from the record of the past that these fundamental issues will need to be resolved satisfactorily.

In running the conference and publishing these proceedings we wish to record our thanks to Colonel Peter Leahy and the staff of the Directorate of Army Research and Analysis, especially Captain Russell Parkin. Elizabeth Greenhalgh undertook the technical production of the proceedings with her usual high skill and patience. Thanks are due also to Brigadier MPJ O'Brien, Commander of the Army Technology and Engineering Agency.

Finally, we acknowledge our debt to the contributors, who produced their papers to tight schedules without complaint, and to all those who participated on the day.

Jeffrey Grey and Peter Dennis

Contents

Contributors: Contributors

Opening Remarks
Lieutenant General John Sanderson: Sanderson

In the Shadow of the Dragon: Doctrine and the US Army After Vietnam
Roger Spiller: Spiller

The Urgency of War: The Development of Close Air Support Doctrine in the Second World War
Captain Russell Parkin: Parkin

A Higher Plane: Land/Air Operations in the South-West Pacific 1942-1945
Nicola Baker: Baker

The Korean War 1950-1953: Land/Air Aspects
John Mordike: Mordike

The Australian Experience of Land/Air Operations: Vietnam
Chris Coulthard-Clark: Coulthard-Clark

The Odd Couple: Army/Air Force Operations
Alan Stephens: Stephens

A Land Forces' Technological Perspective for the Future
Major Mike Howard: Howard

Doctrine and Command in the Land/Air Battle
Brigadier Peter Cosgrove: Cosgrove

The Third Dimension in Land Force Operations: The Present and the Future from an Australian Perspective
Colonel Peter Simpson: Simpson