Airpower and Counterinsurgency: Building on a Proper Foundation

摘要

Since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the principal focus for the United Kingdom's (UK) military forces has shifted. Decades spent preparing for a war of national survival within an inter-alliance conflict have been replaced by years of discretionary coalition operations against isolated nations or nonstate adversaries. In Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Britain's armed forces did not battle against the enemy they had spent 40 years posturing to fight. Although many of the skills, tactics, and procedures honed in the Cold War had some utility in these subsequent conflicts, fundamental changes to the constraints placed on the use of armed force, the character of warfare, and the context to military operations demand more than the tweaked application of legacy capabilities. Rather, they dictate an elemental response in all three components of fighting power (moral, conceptual, and physical), and whilst land forces have borne the brunt of necessary changes, the Royal Air Force (RAF) must also evolve accordingly. The need for such development is not limited to the RAF but is relevant to any air force that has to transition from a Cold War legacy to be effective in today's global security environment. The author hopes that the points made in this article will therefore resonate with a wider audience.