Air Power, Insurgency and the 'War on Terror'

22 / 23 August 2007

The First Biennial Conference of:

Air Power Studies,
King’s College London at the Royal Air Force College

RAFC Cranwell, Lincolnshire, NG34 8HB

In today’s ambiguous strategic environment it is common to see the campaigns against terrorism and various insurgencies being characterised as primarily soldiers’ struggles. Media coverage of those campaigns routinely depicts platoons of soldiers in body-armour patrolling hostile suburbs. Yet the media seldom shows air forces and their aircraft despite these playing significant roles in almost all aspects of the multi-faceted, multi-theatre War on Terror and the various insurgencies that it reportedly includes.

This conference – to be held at the historic and prestigious Royal Air Force College – will assess the nature and significance of air power’s recent and current roles, contributions and challenges.

The Air Power Studies team intends the conference to attract practitioners, policy-makers, academics and especially university students (for whom attendance will be free upon presentation of a student id card), and for it therefore to wrestle analytically with big air power-related themes and topics at the heart of current strategy and security debates.

The conference proceedings will be published.

We invite submissions on the following topics:

• Air power and national defence strategies
• Air power and Low-Intensity Conflict
• Air power and the wider War on Terror
• Air power in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon
• Historical case studies of air power against insurgencies • Air power and the media
• The ethics of air power in this ambiguous environment
• Developments in relevant concepts and doctrine

Speakers already confirmed include:

• Professor James S Corum, Department of Joint and Multinational Operations, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
• Dr Philip S Meilinger, eminent American air power scholar
• Dr Christina Goulter, Senior Lecturer, Joint Services Command and Staff College, United Kingdom
• Dr Alan Vick, Senior Political Scientist, RAND Corporation, Virginia

Abstracts (of no more than 350 words) should be emailed to Mr Chris Finn, the Conference Administrator, at:

cfinn-kcl@cranwell.raf.mod.uk,

or posted to him at:

Air Power Studies,
King’s College London at the
Royal Air Force College,
Cranwell, Sleaford,
Lincolnshire NG34 8HB,
United Kingdom

All submissions must be received by 1 November 2006.

All prospective contributors will be notified in late November.

Queries of an academic nature should be directed to:

Dr Joel Hayward,
Head of Air Power Studies
(and Conference Convenor), at:

jhayward-kcl@cranwell.raf.mod.uk

Tel. +44 (0)1400 268020

The length of each presentation and the number of papers per session will be determined in accordance with the number and thematic distribution of the successful proposals.

Prospective presenters should normally expect 30 minutes per presentation, plus 10 minutes of discussion time.

We are particularly keen to ensure that graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and junior faculty are able to play an active role in the conference.

In addition to making attendance entirely free to all currently enrolled university students we may be able to provide limited financial support (for transport and accommodation) to any students whose papers have been accepted for presentation.

Air Power Studies,
King’s College London at the
Royal Air Force College

Since late 2005, cadets on the RAF's Initial Officer Training Course have enjoyed a far more extensive and rigorous academic syllabus than before. That syllabus is the handiwork of a new academic unit – Air Power Studies, a specialist component of King's College London’s War Studies Group – and of the RAF's own skilled trainers.

Created in partnership by the RAF and KCL's Defence Studies Department, the Air Power Studies team aspires to provide world-class, broad and critical defence-related education to RAF officers across various levels from initial officer training through to the RAF's flagship single-service course, the Higher Air Warfare Course.

The Air Power Studies team aims to develop into a national (and internationally recognised) centre of excellence in air power and related defence research and teaching. It seeks to generate academic discourse and public awareness of air power's unique abilities, activities and accomplishments across the spectrum of conflict. The team is also committed to supporting the RAF with specialist defence and security advice and the production of high-level research.