The Air War in Vietnam - (Peace and Conflict) by Michael E Weaver

About the Book

A reexamination of the effectiveness of air power during the Vietnam War, from the tactical aspects of war to the level of national policy.

Book Synopsis

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 form 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.

Review Quotes

"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

"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.)

"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

"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 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