Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Military, Helicopter, Aviation, Capacity Building, Colombia, Iraq, Afghanistan
Department
Political Science
Major
Political Science
Abstract
In 2016, the National Military Strategy of the United States of America listed building the capacity of partner nations as a key priority. By building military capacity, partner countries can become better equip to fight ongoing insurgencies, transnational terrorist organizations, and other threats to the U.S. themselves, allowing the U.S. to shift focus and resources towards other areas that need attention. In today’s battlefield, mobility and firepower are of the utmost importance. One capability that can address both of these areas is helicopters, which can greatly increase the effectiveness of a military and reduce the required number of ground troops (and therefore cost) needed to combat internal security threats. This paper seeks to address U.S. efforts to build military helicopter capabilities in partner nations and how five factors (perceived threat to the U.S., intended enemy countermeasures, terrain, national human capital, and national economics) can affect these missions. The cases of Colombia, Iraq, and Afghanistan will be examined to evaluate how the factors in each of these countries contributed to shaping the process and effectiveness of the respective U.S. capacity building mission. This paper concludes by comparing the cases and evaluating how important and in what ways these factors influence missions, and how this information can be applied to U.S. missions and policy in the future.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Dan Caldwell
Presentation Session
Session A
Location
Plaza Classroom 191
Start Date
24-3-2017 5:30 PM
End Date
24-3-2017 5:45 PM
Included in
Building Military Helicopter Capacity: Influences on Process and Effectiveness
Plaza Classroom 191
In 2016, the National Military Strategy of the United States of America listed building the capacity of partner nations as a key priority. By building military capacity, partner countries can become better equip to fight ongoing insurgencies, transnational terrorist organizations, and other threats to the U.S. themselves, allowing the U.S. to shift focus and resources towards other areas that need attention. In today’s battlefield, mobility and firepower are of the utmost importance. One capability that can address both of these areas is helicopters, which can greatly increase the effectiveness of a military and reduce the required number of ground troops (and therefore cost) needed to combat internal security threats. This paper seeks to address U.S. efforts to build military helicopter capabilities in partner nations and how five factors (perceived threat to the U.S., intended enemy countermeasures, terrain, national human capital, and national economics) can affect these missions. The cases of Colombia, Iraq, and Afghanistan will be examined to evaluate how the factors in each of these countries contributed to shaping the process and effectiveness of the respective U.S. capacity building mission. This paper concludes by comparing the cases and evaluating how important and in what ways these factors influence missions, and how this information can be applied to U.S. missions and policy in the future.