The Gulf War Air Power Survey is a report commissioned by the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 in 1993 to document and analyze its performance during the 1991 Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

. It consists of five sections each averaging over 700 pages, and a 276 summary report. It was one of the most popular reports issued by the U.S. military at the time.

On 22 August 1991, then Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice commissioned an independent study "to review all aspects of air warfare in the Persian Gulf". Rather than a historical account, it analyses the operational level of the air war, in which 52,788 sorties were carried out, resulting in 41,309 strikes. The study was directed by Eliot A. Cohen

Eliot A. Cohen

Eliot A. Cohen is the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. Cohen is the Director of the Strategic Studies Program at SAIS and has specialized in the Middle East, Persian Gulf, Iraq, arms...

, a professor at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

's School of Advanced International Studies

Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies , a division of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's leading and most prestigious graduate schools devoted to the study of international affairs, economics, diplomacy, and policy research and...

, and the research and writing was carried out by teams consisting of civilians and retired and active military officers.

In 2002, the Air Force removed links to the study from its websites in what the Federation of American Scientists

Federation of American Scientists

The Federation of American Scientists is a nonpartisan, 501 organization intent on using science and scientific analysis to attempt make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs...

 called "merely one instance of a continuing government-wide trend of removing unclassified information from public access on the web". In response, FAS posted copies of the report to its own website. The study was subsequently put back on the military sites.

External links

• Downloadable files of the summary and five sections, Air Force Historical Studies Office
• Downloadable files of the summary and five sections in the Secrecy and Security Library, Federation of American Scientists
  Federation of American Scientists
  The Federation of American Scientists is a nonpartisan, 501 organization intent on using science and scientific analysis to attempt make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs...
  
  
• AIR FORCE TAKES GULF WAR STUDY OFFLINE, FAS Project on Government Secrecy, 10 September 2003
• WorldCat library database entry