Air Power, Insurgency and the “War on Terror” - Prof. Joel Hayward's ...

Starting with a Blank Sheet: Principles of War for a New Century
There were some interesting ideas here, <strong>and</strong>, in fact, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Air</strong> University exclaimed proudly:
“The principles of <strong>Air</strong> Warfare stem from Mitchell, Arnold, <strong>and</strong> Knerr, more notably than
from Frederick or Napoleon, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force thinking needs no Old Testament text for
justification.” 472 Unfortunately, despite <strong>the</strong> bold talk, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force failed to follow up. The
first official Basic Doctrine Manual of 1953 listed <strong>the</strong> same principles <strong>the</strong>n being used in
Army doctrine manuals. Today, US <strong>Air</strong> Force doctrine still lists nine principles; <strong>the</strong> same
tired list proposed by Fuller <strong>and</strong> modified by <strong>the</strong> US Army nearly a century ago. 473 The
airmen who copied <strong>the</strong>se l<strong>and</strong> warfare principles laboured to make <strong>the</strong>m into something
useful for <strong>the</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force; not always successfully. The discussion of mass, for example,
makes little sense in an age of precision-guided munitions.
It is now time to start with a blank sheet. War has changed so dramatically since 1916,
when Fuller first enumerated his strategic principles, that <strong>the</strong> continual attempts to shape
<strong>and</strong> s<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>se round pegs so <strong>the</strong>y’ll fit into square holes are becoming useless.
To <strong>the</strong> extent that Principles of War are at all useful to modern military <strong>and</strong> civilian
planners – <strong>and</strong> I think that <strong>the</strong>y are – <strong>the</strong>n clearly <strong>the</strong> new environment coupled with
revolutionary transformation in <strong>the</strong> conduct of war dem<strong>and</strong> a fresh start. I <strong>the</strong>refore
propose <strong>the</strong> following list.
1. <strong>Air</strong>, space, cyberspace <strong>and</strong> naval supremacy: The US <strong>and</strong> its closet allies have come to
depend upon – to assume – this dominance. They do so for good reason. The US Army
has not had to fight without air superiority since Kasserine Pass in 1943. 474 It has not lost
a soldier to an enemy aeroplane since 1953 during <strong>the</strong> Korean War. It has never had to fire
a surface-to-air missile at an enemy aircraft. The bad guys have never gotten that close.
US <strong>and</strong> allied sea superiority has been equally impressive. Since <strong>the</strong> 1943 victory in <strong>the</strong>
Battle of <strong>the</strong> Atlantic during World War II, our dominance at sea has been unquestioned.
In short, <strong>the</strong> US <strong>and</strong> its allies have been able to deploy forces worldwide, by air or sea, for
over a half-century with virtually no losses. Once those forces have been established in
<strong>the</strong>atre, <strong>the</strong>y have been re-supplied, again by air <strong>and</strong> sea, largely unopposed. 475 Given that
virtually all US military operations occur abroad, this is very significant. In <strong>the</strong> battlespace
itself, air superiority, <strong>and</strong> indeed, air supremacy, has meant that <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r air missions so
essential to <strong>the</strong> joint force – deep strike, interdiction, close air support, reconnaissance,
battle management, airlift <strong>and</strong> air refuelling – have gone largely unimpeded, especially
since <strong>the</strong> Vietnam War over three decades ago.
Cyberspace is a new environment that is rapidly becoming a crucial front in modern war.
In fact, <strong>the</strong> US <strong>Air</strong> Force has designated a major comm<strong>and</strong> to deal with <strong>the</strong> challenges
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<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror”