|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Air Power Alone |
|---|
| It's Never Worked, But Its Attractions Increase |
|
This is Dark Cloud on Wednesday, April 07, 1999. Since the first airplane, military commanders have dreamed of the day when wars could be won in the air. There is a real attraction to this. The pilot, undoubtedly a highly trained and skilled individual, is spared the horror of seeing his work, separated by altitude and speed. This means he, and now she, can remove himself from reality for a bit, and perhaps last longer psychologically. Planes are, for the damage to an enemy achieved, quite cheap, certainly cheaper than training the number of ground elements needed to attain the same goals. This counts. It means that money may not be the normal point of friction in a democracy waging war that it has been in the past. Waging an exclusive air war can be fast, once air superiority is achieved. The enemy cannot strike a blow at you at all save by divine intervention. These are compelling arguments for an air war, and the fact they have never, ever worked this way has not dulled the enthusiasm air forces world wide exhibit in budget and war room meetings. This time, they can do it. This time it is for real. It was not for real after the first World War, when people like Billy Mitchell insisted naval warships were now of no importance. To demonstrate this, he anchored an old German battleship and bombed it over a period of days. Eventually it sank, and air power advocates went bananas. That the ship couldn't move or fight back failed to get the coverage it should have, and many wrong conclusions were made as the arguments went on. In fact, during the Second World War, two entirely different campaigns produced entirely different results. The Pacific War was pretty much won by naval air power, and strategic bombing of Japan seemed to work, given that two of the bombs were nuclear. In Europe, strategic bombing by both sides pretty much failed, and the war was won on the ground, mostly by the Soviets. In China, where the war was run by General Joseph Stilwell on the ground and General Claire Chennault in the air, the conflict between the two military theories was fought out. Stilwell concluded that if Japan felt threatened by Chennault's air strikes, they would attack the air bases on the ground, which is precisely what happened. Chennault could not protect his bases, and had to rely on the Chinese ground troops he so despised. Stilwell concluded that air power over nothing was valueless, but because he had expressed admiration for the Chinese communists, who actually fought the Japanese as opposed to Chang Kai Chek's forces, who stole and hoarded supplies and only ran a pretend war, his views were not made available. As a result, Chennault's viewpoint won the press war, and America found itself in Asian conflicts convinced that air power could win it. In both Korea and Vietnam, the prestige of the air supremacists took a major beating. Unlike the Japanese war, we couldn't just cut off an island and leave it behind us to starve into submission. And after a while, the theory was restated as no war could be won by air power alone. I am not sure that is true any longer. I think it is quite possible that certain kinds of wars - like the Serbian war now being waged - may indeed achieve all their objectives without the addition of army troops. If not now, this war paves the way for such an event. Serbia trying the transparent nonsense of an Easter truce is a strong indication that their military is taking a walloping. They now face the unpleasant possibility of having their heavily armored units out of gas, munitions, and supplies stuck in Kosovo, unable to protect themselves against the rebel forces. If the weather remains good, tactical strikes could remove their armor. They have no ability to strike back at NATO. They cannot support themselves in the field; they will have to abandon it. They will lose. Their land will not be conquered, but they will have lost an entire war due to airpower. This will be a first, and despite early Cassandras, it now, today, seems like it is going to happen. That is good news for imperial powers fighting provincial wars, or at least those technically advanced enough. |
| Post your views and reviews on The Boulder Lout Forum. |