Postmodern Air Power and the Western Way of War

Abstract

Arguably, while the Western way of war has come to be defined and dominated by the employment of advanced airpower capabilities, how airpower is generated, which logic and considerations inform air operations, and which command processes are involved in planning and conducting air operations are generally poorly understood. Through the lens of the evolution of air warfare, this chapter offers a discussion of air operations: those activities that produce air power. Informed by a Western perspective, it traces the evolution of air power through the decades of interstate warfare to the first decade after the Cold War. These decades of experience spawned current procedures for conducting air operations. This is followed by an overview of developments since 9/11, showing how air operations are now effective in engaging small groups of non-state actors. It concludes with signifying what, as a result of advances in the past three decades, is currently considered the potential military and political value of precision age air operations.