Airpower and Its Effects in Warfare

Since Airpower entered the scene as an element of military power in World War I, war is no longer what it used to be. Air power has introduced technology-enabled capabilities and its impact on warfare has been enormous. The impact of airpower technology on war has been wrongly perceived by some. When it was first used in World War I, the observation and surveillance capabilities of air power very rapidly negated the maneuver options of the adversary. As a result, the inability to carryout flanking maneuvers contributed to the now infamous ‘trench warfare’ and its appalling casualty rate changed the face of war forever. The character of war once again changed during World War II as air power was employed as the only means to attack the German forces and territories in the initial years of the war. The concept of defending land borders by the army of the nation was proven to be unsustainable very quickly. Air control as a prerequisite for the success of any other operation also became apparent during World War II. Ever since then, every military force in the world strives to obtain and maintain Air control to ensure that surface military operations can be undertaken without interference from the enemy. Airpower has become the norm of war today. The two main reasons of this change have been the preponderance of lethal power that the military of the developed nations have and the rapid response air power has enabled.1
Another change to the character of war brought about by airpower is its modus operandi. Airpower through technology based advances optimizes control of the air, strike, air mobility, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). This made airpower become an asymmetric asset for the military forces and an important element in prosecuting an irregular war. This technology was first adopted by Air power and Special Forces. The improvements in operational and tactical application of airpower changed the character and conduct of operations of military forces but did not change the nature of war. War remains eternally influenced by the political objectives of the nation as an instrument of national policy. The conduct of war on the other hand is influenced by many factors and it’s continually in a state of flux. Airpower is one of the factors that altered the conduct of war greatly.
Airpower is dynamic, it keeps evolving. Air power theorists have therefore devoted much time and attention to identify essential and enduring properties that characterize airpower. They have also identified what distinguishes airpower from other forms of military power. Though attributes like “speed,” are greatly associated with airpower, the early theorists were more concerned with two salient features that remain fundamental today and will possibly remain in the future. The first feature is the ability of airpower to bypass army and navy forces of the enemy and all types of terrain without any impediment which is not the case for land or naval forces. This enables operations across wide area and strikes targeted deep in the middle of a hostile territory without any surface battlefield. The fact that airpower is fluid and flexible and can be operated from a long range along with the fact that it does not occupy terrain as surface forces do makes it distinct from all other forms of military power . The second salient feature of airpower which is related to the first is the ability of air power to pass quickly at a selected time and place. This feature led the early theorists to believe that air power was far more effective when used offensively than defensively. This is because in offense, a defender would be spread thinly across an area and therefore unable to meet an attacker with concentrated forces of its own. The coming of radar-based air defense systems however changed the equation and so have proliferation of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), airborne early warning aircraft, stealth, and other innovations that have come up over the subsequent decades.2
Throughout these evolutions, there has been a strong belief in the proposition that “air power is inherently offensive” to a greater degree than other forms of military power among airmen and universally at large. This conviction has many roots. One of them is the need for aircraft to act offensively at the individual level in order to destroy the enemy or targets. Another is that because airpower bypasses defense on the surface, it makes a central tenet of the dictum that defense is the stronger form of warfare to render air combat inapplicable. The attacker’s ability to concentrate air power at selected places and times is also another root of the belief that is held by airmen. Another significant advantage of airpower is that the combination of stealth and precision radically reduces the number of aircrafts, supporting personnel, and infrastructure required to effectively strike a large number of targets. This was first captured in October 1990 when calculations were made from the version of the air campaign master attack plan existing at the time. It was found that the F-117 (stealth) accounted for only 5% of the combat aircraft (30/580) striking 44% of the first 24 hour targets. The F-117 stealth aircraft flew less than 2 percent of the total combat sorties during the entire war while attacking 43 percent of the targets on the master target list. This showed effectiveness of the F-117.3
There are two other characteristics of air power, especially modern air power, that deserve to be mentioned though they are not necessarily military features. The first one is that airpower has become a particularly attractive policy tool used by leaders in the United States as well as in other nations. Airpower is wielded as the “instrument of choice” when there is reason to use military force against an adversary while having centralized control of its employment or when it is important to minimize friendly casualties which is almost always the case. The second characteristic is, for lack of a better term, the virtual nature of air power. This feature is often ignored yet it has far-reaching effects when it comes to policy and scholarship. The virtual nature of airpower can be seen by the fact that it cannot be restricted to an area. Though it can be based somewhere tangible, its influence is not restricted to a well-defined area whose boundaries can easily be drawn or represented on a map. Airpower has the potential of striking multiple range rings over a wide range of area giving it a wide theatre.2
Since 1991 most of the contemporary military action has either been majorly or completely comprised of airpower. Airpower has proven to be the “go to” means to employ as a military instrument of nation power. This is especially so in the west among democratic governments such as America. Leaders would choose to employ airpower especially in contemporary risk and causality-averse conflict. This is because airpower has evolved and matured making it strategic in the contemporary world.4




References
1. Seng GT. AIR POWER: ALTERING THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF WAR. http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/APDC/media/PDF-Files/Pathfinder/PF294-Air-Power-Altering-the-Character-and-Conduct-of-War.pdf. Published 2017. Accessed April 9, 2018.
2. Mueller KP. Air Power. RAND Corporation . https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/reprints/2010/RAND_RP1412.pdf. Accessed April 9, 2018.
3. Deptula DA. Effects-based operations: change in the nature of warfare. Aerospace Education Foundation; 2001.
4. Krause ME. Airpower in Modern War. AIR UNIV MAXWELL AFB AL AIR FORCE RESEARCH INST; 2015 Jun.