The School of Advanced Air and Space
Studies
MISSION:
“Educate strategists
for the Air Force and the Nation.”
Home of the
Master
of Philosophy
&
Ph.D. in Military Strategy
BACKGROUND
A revolution in Air Force Professional Military
Education (PME) began in the late 1970’s following the frustrations of the
Vietnam War. Continuing into the
1980’s, this revolution led Air Force Chief of Staff General Larry D. Welch to
charter a new graduate school, the School of Advanced Airpower Studies (SAAS),
at Air University in 1988. The
first class convened in the summer of 1991 and graduated in June 1992. SAAS was fully accredited by the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools in 1999 and was re-designated the School of
Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS) in 2002. Since the graduation of its first class, SAASS has produced
many of the US Air Force’s most influential airpower strategists and future
leaders.
SAASS is a 50-week, follow-on school for selected
graduates of intermediate-level Department of Defense PME schools. SAASS creates warrior-scholars with a
superior ability to develop, evaluate, and employ airpower within the complex
environment of modern war. Upon
completion of all requirements and with faculty recommendation, graduates
receive a Master of Philosophy in Military Strategy.
SAASS faculty members hold a doctorate or
equivalent in their fields of academic expertise. The SAASS faculty consists of terminally-credentialed
field-grade or senior officers and civilian scholars. The depth, breadth, and diversity of their expertise
are demonstrated by their wide-ranging and internationally-renowned
publications and presentations.
CURRICULUM
The SAASS curriculum is designed to accomplish two
major objectives. The first is to
enhance students’ ability to think
critically about airpower and warfare through an extensive examination of
both theory and historical experience. This examination leads to a reasoned
synthesis that informs the question of how modern airpower can be best applied
across the entire spectrum of conflict.
The second objective is to cultivate students’ ability to argue effectively and responsibly
about airpower. This objective is accomplished by having students introduce and
defend propositions in graduate colloquia, produce interpretive arguments in
prose that meets publication standards, and reduce complex formal arguments
into comprehensible briefings.
Exceptionally well-qualified students are eligible to
compete for the AU PhD program in Military Strategy:
those selected may continue in a doctoral program
recently approved by the Secretary of Education. Several doctoral candidates per year will be identified as
AU PhD Fellows who can complete their dissertation in a one-year in-residence
SDE program.
APPLY TO SAASS
(1) graduate from an intermediate service school or equivalent,
(2) be a volunteer,
(3) possess a master's degree from an accredited institution or have an undergraduate degree with a GPA of 3.25 or higher,
(4) have less than 16 years total active commissioned service, and
(5) be selected by the central selection board held at the Air Force Personnel Center.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
MUIR S. FAIRCHILD RESEARCH CENTER
The
renowned Muir S. Fairchild Library is arguably the largest and most
comprehensive research facility devoted to the study of military art and
science in the world. Its collection
of over 2.6 million items includes 377,000 books and bound periodicals, 512,000
military documents, subscriptions to 2,000 current periodicals, 730, 000
microforms, 150,000 current and historical Air Force regulations, manuals, and
directives, and 870,000 maps and charts.
Of equal importance is a professional staff of exceptional quality
totally devoted to helping the students fulfill their academic requirements.
AF HISTORICAL RESEARCH AGENCY
Located
immediately adjacent to SAASS, the Agency is the repository for the Air Force
archives. The collection comprises
nearly sixty million pages of material (expanding by nearly two million pages
per year). It includes unit
histories, historical monographs and studies, working papers of joint and
combined commands, oral history interviews, personal papers, and special
collections that document military aviation from the Civil War through the
present.
AIR FORCE WARGAMING INSTITUTE
Chartered
to increase the understanding of the dynamics, planning, and decision process
of warfare through war games and exercises, the Institute support manual,
microcomputer and mainframe computer wargames. The supporting staff includes over 100 systems,
intelligence, and operations analysts and technicians.
