Defending Arabia

1. Introduction 1.1. The Emergence and Evolution of Security Concerns in Arabia 1.2. Origins of British Involvement in Arabia 2. Air Power and Empire in the Arabian Peninsula 2.1. The First Air-Routes: Persian Gulf and Basra-Aden 2.2. Policing and Air Operations 2.3. The Growing Strategic Importance of the Gulf 2.4. The Arabian Peninsula in the Second World War 2.5. Postwar Reassessments 3. Postwar Policy: British Retreat and Imperial Vestiges 3.1. Air Operations in Aden Protectorate 3.2. Evolving Commitments and the Oman War 3.3. The Problem of Deployment and the Defence of Kuwait 3.4. The Struggle for Aden 3.5. The Last Outpost: Oman and the Dhufar Rebellion 4. The US and Gulf Security 4.1. The Changing of the Guard 4.2. US Interests in the Gulf in the 1980s 4.3. Threats to Gulf Security: the Paradigm 4.4. Evaluating External Threats 4.5. Evaluating Regional Threats 4.6. Evaluating Internal Threats 5. US Military Options in the Gulf 5.1. US Commitment to Defend the Gulf 5.2. The Rapid Deployment Force: Origins, Evolution and Structure 5.3. Evaluating RDF Capabilities 5.4. Assessing RDF Performance 6. Gulf Security and Gulf Self-Defence 6.1. The Emergence of Arabian Nation States 6.2. Saudi Military Capabilities 6.3. Other GCC Defence Capabilities 6.4. The Iranian Revolution and the Formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council 7. Defending Arabia in the 1980s 7.1. The British Legacy 7.2. The American Intent 7.3. The GCC and the Future