![]() ![]() In evolutionary terms, air power progressed rapidly from its infancy of being a peripheral component during the First World War to its pervasive contribution in World War II. This is a role air power has historically performed with a great deal of success. It need hardly be underscored that warfare primarily involves generation and successful enforcement of favourable asymmetry. But the foremost lesson of the twentieth century is that no war can be prosecuted successfully without air power and that it would doubtless be lost without befitting application of air power. Many zealots have been wont to claim that air power could win a war by itself-these assertions may be driven by hyperbole. Attributes of high speed, long reach, quick response, and termination, technological intensity, precision fire power and shock-effect-without regard to frontiers and coastlines-have made air power a formidable component of national military power. It is defined as a nation's "capacity to impose its will through the medium of air or aerospace and includes the employment of all its aviation resources, civil and military, public and private, potential and existing". In the nearly hundred years since the revolutionary new dimension began to lift off the surface of the earth, air power has played a crucial role in warfare. Its ability to achieve air superiority, strategic application of force and counter surface campaign is highlighted. The article examines the concept of air power as it has evolved over the last century and extrapolates on its likely role in modern warfare. The unique attributes of combat aircraft along with calibrated escalation and disengagement control makes air power an ideal weapon for deterrence by denial or punishment. A look at the conflict paradigm of the future suggests that air power will make an even greater impact. 12)Ī Century of Air Power: Lessons and Pointersįor nearly a century since its inception, air power has played a dominant role in the generation and successful enforcement of favourable asymmetry. ![]() ![]() A Monthly Journal of the IDSA March 2001 (Vol. ![]()
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