Some Principles News Today

Since 1898, the U.S. Naval Institute’s book division has been producing works of lasting importance both to the Navy and to all who love naval history.

With the approval of the fiscal year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress and the President expanded the Navy’s official role. Now, in addition to warfighting, they acknowledge what has been fact since the American Revolution: that the Navy’s mandate includes “the peacetime promotion of the national security interests and prosperity of the United States.”

Aviators need a common vocabulary and understanding of the wild blue to debate how best to configure air forces and deploy them for tactical, operational, and strategic gain.

We can—and must—do better.

Air Power Needs a New Champion—And a New Strategy Aviators need a common vocabulary and understanding of the wild blue to debate how best to configure air forces and deploy them for tactical, operational, and strategic gain. Heres What You Need to Remember:  Bottom line, the elements of air forces are interdependent just as capital ships, cruisers, and flotilla craft prowling the sea are interdependent. To circle back to where we started, the U.S. Air Force should evaluate candidates for th...

Where Is the Sage of Air Power Doctrine? Clausewitz felt little need to prove that armies should exist, Corbett that navies should ply the oceans, or Mao that guerrillas and other irregular fighters should bestride the field. Where is the expert on air? Heres What You Need to Remember:  Aviators need a common vocabulary and understanding of the wild blue to debate how best to configure air forces and deploy them for tactical, operational, and strategic gain. Without that foundation partisans ...

Lieutenant Suarez’s analysis of Alfred Thayer Mahan’s thinking on maritime economic warfare is acute. He gives Mahan proper credit for his understanding of the implications of globalization and the potential of sea power to achieve decisive effects in a new economic paradigm. Suarez also clarifies the point—likewise raised by Nick Lambert—that, however much Mahan advocated the need for decisive victory at sea, he always understood that a successful fleet action was a means and not an ...

The ideas of Mahan and Corbett remain relevant in the 21st century.

A fun thought experiment.  Heres What You Need to Remember: A bigger navy could withstand combat losses in an anti-access setting and keep fighting. Better a surplus of assets than a deficit. Heres a thought experiment: would America build the U.S. Navy currently plying the seven seas if it were starting from scratch? Color me skeptical. If not, what kind of navy  would it build, and how can we approximate that ideal in light of budgetary constraints, a slew of legacy platforms that cant si...

Light Attack: Why Its Time to Get Real About Air Power Not every such mission demands an aging A-10 Warthog, a flying tank built around a massive Gatling gun, or a pricey fighter/attack jet like an F-16 Falcon or F-35 Lighting II. Hence the recent experiments. Heres What You Need to Remember: The interdependence among the components of an air force has gotten lost in the debate over light attack, not to mention quarrels over the proper mix of stealth and non-stealthy aircraft in the inventory,...