Overview

The Air War in Vietnam is a deep dive into the effectiveness of air power during the Vietnam War, offering particular evaluation of the extent to which air operations fulfilled national policy objectives. Built from exhaustive research into previously classified and little-known archival sources, Michael Weaver insightfully blends new sources with material from the State Department's Foreign Relations of the United States Series. While Air Force sources from the lion's share of the documentary evidence, Weaver also makes heavy use of Navy and Marine materials. Breaking air power into six different mission sets--air superiority, aerial refueling, airlift, close air support, reconnaissance, and coercion & interdiction--Weaver assesses the effectiveness of each of these endeavors from the tactical level of war and adherence to US policy goals. Critically, The Air War in Vietnam perceives of the air campaign as a siege of North Vietnam. While American air forces completed most of their air campaigns successfully on the tactical, operational, and strategic levels, what resulted was not a failure in air power, but a failure in the waging of war as a whole. The Air War in Vietnam tackles controversies and unearths new evidence, rendering verdicts both critical and positive, arguing that war, however it is waged, is ultimately effective only when it achieves a country's policy objectives.

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9781682832646

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Reviews

""The Air War in Vietnam is a welcome comprehensive study of American airpower in this complex conflict. Weaver insightfully connects the tactical to the political and much in between. His well-researched narrative is as deep as it is broad, giving scholars of the Vietnam War and students of the efficacy of airpower a great deal to consider."" --William Thomas Allison, Georgia Southern University ""The Air War in Vietnam, an indispensable volume of airpower scholarship, provides richly developed analysis of airpower in a decade-long war of challenging hybrid characteristics and shifting US strategies. For planners, policymakers, senior leaders, and warfighters seeking insight on how to apply airpower as a strategic instrument and tactical tool, [this] fulsome chronicle insightfully analyzes the suboptimization of America's airpower portfolio in Southeast Asia."" --Vince Alcazar, Parameters Bookshelf, US Army War College Press ""Based on a wide and exhaustive array of documentary evidence, The Air War in Vietnam is as rich in details as it is nuanced in its conclusions. This book is more than a history of US operations in the skies above North Vietnam and across the rest of Indochina; it is an illuminating, thought-provoking, and original assessment of a key aspect of the Vietnam War that has been misunderstood and misjudged for far too long."" --Pierre Asselin, author of Vietnam's American War: A History ""Michael E. Weaver offers a detailed, comprehensive and meticulous re-examination of air power effectiveness during the Vietnam War. His fresh approach, shrewd analysis, and insightful research, including newly declassified evidence, demystifies air power's contribution to statecraft in a war that defied traditional metrics for measuring success and failure. This book is a work of significance and highly recommended."" --Colonel John Andreas Olsen, author of A History of Air Warfare ""Michael Weaver's The Air War in Vietnam is a comprehensive, in-depth, and multifaceted look--strategy, tactics, politics, and technology--at all aerial warfare missions in Vietnam, from interdiction to air superiority, along with supporting operations often not addressed, such as aerial refueling, aerial reconnaissance, and electronic warfare. A well-researched book that uses many recently declassified documents, The Air War in Vietnam is a must-read history for anyone interested in the use of air power in Vietnam."" --Col. Eileen A. Bjorkman, USAF (Ret.), author of Unforgotten in the Gulf of Tonkin: A Story of the U.S. Military's Commitment to Leave No One Behind ""This book will add measurably to the historical record and is a must-read for all Vietnam War and airpower enthusiasts and scholars."" --Brigadier General Chand T. Manske, USAF (Ret.)

Author Information

Michael E. Weaver is an Associate Professor of History in the Department of Airpower at the United States Air Force's Air Command and Staff College. He specializes in aviation, Cold War, and American history and is the author of Guard Wars: The 28th Infantry Division in World War II. He currently lives in Wetumpka, Alabama.

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