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

Starting with a Blank Sheet: Principles of War for a New Century
well as quantity is important. Perhaps most importantly, however, is <strong>the</strong> dominance that
<strong>the</strong> US enjoys in power-projection forces. At <strong>the</strong> present time <strong>the</strong>re are slightly over 1,100
large cargo aircraft in <strong>the</strong> world. The US has over 700 of <strong>the</strong>m (all in <strong>the</strong> USAF), which is
63 percent of <strong>the</strong> world total. There are also 825 aerial refuellers in <strong>the</strong> world: <strong>the</strong> US has
707 of <strong>the</strong>m, or around 86 percent of <strong>the</strong> total. Most of <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r large cargo aeroplanes
<strong>and</strong> tankers belong to NATO countries. This incredible air mobility fleet allows <strong>the</strong> US
<strong>and</strong> its allies to project power anywhere in <strong>the</strong> world, rapidly, <strong>and</strong>, just as importantly, to
sustain those forces for an extended period of time.
This has been demonstrated on a number of occasions over <strong>the</strong> past two decades. The
Gulf War of 1991 saw mountains of materiel <strong>and</strong> hundreds of thous<strong>and</strong>s of personnel
deployed to <strong>the</strong> Middle East. US airlifters – enabled by <strong>Air</strong> Force tankers – hauled 500,000
people <strong>and</strong> 540,000 tons of cargo into <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>atre, making it <strong>the</strong> most massive airlift in
history. During Desert Storm itself, <strong>the</strong> tankers flew 16,868 sorties to offload over 800
million lbs. of gas in 51,696 hook-ups. On any given day tankers accounted for around
20 percent of all Coalition sorties flown. Of importance, nearly one-third of <strong>the</strong> aircraft
refuelled by <strong>the</strong> tankers were from <strong>the</strong> US Navy, Marine Corps <strong>and</strong> Coalition countries. 490
During <strong>the</strong> decade-plus following Desert Storm, <strong>the</strong> US <strong>and</strong> its allies flew over 300,000
sorties in Nor<strong>the</strong>rn <strong>and</strong> Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Watch over Iraq. Beginning in 1995 <strong>the</strong> implosion of
Yugoslavia was marked by a bloody civil war that saw NATO air power take an increasingly
active role. In 1995 NATO deployed south for <strong>the</strong> conflict in Bosnia, <strong>and</strong> in 1999 <strong>the</strong>y went
back to <strong>the</strong> Balkans to protect <strong>the</strong> Kosovars. Late 2001 <strong>and</strong> early 2002 saw <strong>the</strong> destruction
of al Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> overthrow of <strong>the</strong> Taliban regime. In
2003 came <strong>the</strong> removal of Saddam Hussein.
During all of <strong>the</strong>se operations air refuelling was essential. Tankers refuelled deploying
fighters from all <strong>the</strong> services <strong>and</strong> allied countries to bases in <strong>the</strong> crisis regions; <strong>the</strong>y <strong>the</strong>n
refuelled <strong>the</strong> airlifters maintaining <strong>the</strong> air bridge between <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>atres <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> US; <strong>and</strong>
<strong>the</strong>y also refuelled US <strong>and</strong> coalition aircraft throughout <strong>the</strong> combat operations <strong>the</strong>mselves.
The increased dem<strong>and</strong> for tankers has been due to several factors. The reduction of overseas
bases by two-thirds in <strong>the</strong> aftermath of <strong>the</strong> Cold War meant that deploying aircraft would
have to fly far<strong>the</strong>r to arrive at a crisis area. Upon arrival, <strong>the</strong> expeditionary bases <strong>the</strong>n used
were often a great distance from <strong>the</strong> targets to be struck. This was especially true for both
l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> carrier-based strike aircraft hitting targets in l<strong>and</strong>-locked Afghanistan. Finally,
<strong>the</strong> shift to fleeting <strong>and</strong> time-sensitive targets means a greater dem<strong>and</strong> for persistence, a
capability provided by air refuelling. All of <strong>the</strong>se conditions are likely to remain in effect
for <strong>the</strong> foreseeable future.
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<strong>Air</strong> <strong>Power</strong>, <strong>Insurgency</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> “War on Terror”