New Generation Warfare for Air Force Special Operations Command

The U.S. can learn a great deal from our competitions' accomplishments. Russian new generation warfare elevated information operations outside of the realm of national military power into all types of national power. Superpowers evaluate this type of warfare for new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). AFSOC is ideally placed to adapt new generation warfare TTPs given current capabilities, and the commands ability to change to an evolving operational environment. A literature review identified the pre-cursors to new generation warfare, new generation warfare development, new generation warfare characteristics, and possible AFSOC contributions to new generation warfare. A comparative case study of three recent conflicts provides a list of new generation warfare tactics. This thesis evaluated these tactics against AFSOC capabilities and the U.S. joint operations principles of restraint and legitimacy using a prescriptive research method. The evaluation provided AFSOC capabilities in support of new generation warfare tactics employment. The U.S. military is limited in its authorities compared to Russia, but new generation warfare tactics might be just the topic to challenge those old norms allowing the U.S. to adapt and overcome future adversaries.