Author Description

Explores the rivalry between the armed services of the U.S. relating to the employment of tactical airpower during the Vietnam War. Not being an American, Horwood is able to put a fresh perspective on this complex issue. This study focuses on tactical airpower in S. Vietnam between 1961 and 1968. Horwood avoids a lengthy discussion of the air war over N. Vietnam, focusing instead on the combat operations in the South. He examines a number of issues which are relevant to the use of airpower in irregular warfare: command and control of airpower, the use of airpower at the tactical and the operational-strategic level of war, the role of helicopters, and different service understandings of the proper role of airpower in a counterinsurgency.