Publisher's Synopsis
United States Army corps and division commanders pursued varied approaches to integrate Army attack aviation into their schemes of maneuver over the past thirty years. Two predominant schools of thought emerged: close combat attack or deep attacks. After focusing on deep attacks during the 1980s and 1990s, the attack aviation community drastically "about faced" towards supporting ground maneuver units in the close fight in mid-2003.This book analyzes the development and employment of attack aviation over the past three decades through the analogy of chaotic coupled pendulums to explore the influence of corps, divisions, ground maneuver brigades, and the Army Aviation branch upon aviation brigades. As the Army transitions out of sustained stability and counterinsurgency operations, the Army Aviation community should embrace the opportunity to explore methods for attack aviation to execute deep operations in support of corps and division operations while retaining the proficiency in integrated air-ground close combat.
