Arlington, VA | August 20, 2025 — The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies announces a new entry in its Forum Paper series, Air Force Under Fire: Time To Own Base Defense, by Lt Col Phil Ferris, USAF.

Missile defense, force protection, and base defense as a whole are common military functions for all the services, and doctrine directs the Air Force to “conduct offensive and defensive ops, to include appropriate air and missile defense, to gain/maintain air superiority.” Army air defense assets will always be stretched thin, its limited assets already committed to supporting other joint and high-priority missions, and many of the Army’s systems are too logistically cumbersome to meet the Air Force’s needs. Therefore, the Air Force must be funded by Congress and the Department of Defense to have some organic, service-retained, capabilities to counter small UASs and cruise missiles to cover the gaps in the joint force’s coverage while also investing in passive defenses and other mitigation measures. The Air Force must also improve its air base ground defense capabilities to meet emerging base defense challenges and to leverage technology to make up for the lack of available manpower.

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