Volume 6 No 4 - Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies

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98 AIR POWER IN SMALL WARS: FIGHTING INSURGENTS AND TERRORISTS By James S Corum and Wray R Johnson Published by University Press of Kansas ISBN 0-7006-1240-8 Price £20.50 Reviewed by Group Captain Chris Finn Arecent quick survey of the shelves of the Joint Services Command and Staff College’s extensive library revealed a plethora of books on air power in support of all aspects of land warfare. There were even more books on the role of land power in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations. However, Corum and Johnson’s book, of which there were a respectable number of copies, sat in splendid isolation on the shelves between combat search and rescue and electronic warfare. This unscientific survey would, therefore, seem to support the publisher’s contention that Air Power in Small Wars is the first comprehensive history of the use of air power in conflicts pitting states against non-state groups. Having defined ‘small wars’ in terms of their nature rather than their length, the authors examine a series of conflicts ranging from the relatively well known to the almost unknown. The former category includes such examples as the use of colonial air control in the inter war years, and the successful British suppression of the Malayan insurgency of 1948-1960. There are then some lesser known conflicts, such as the French colonial wars in Indo-China and Algeria and, indeed, the use of American air power in South Vietnam in the decade leading up to the full American military involvement in that country. The latter category includes campaigns such as the Philippine response to the Hukbalahap insurgency and the US Army actions against the Mexican revolution under Pancho Villa. Finally, the authors look at how air power was used against insurgencies in Southern Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Chronologically the book is well structured with each individual campaign being dealt with by firstly examining the historical and political context and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the adversaries, then a brief history of the campaign itself, and lastly the specific air power lessons that can be drawn from it. The contextual aspects of each campaign will be particularly interesting to airmen who generally do not tend to read into those areas, and the authors’ analyses give both the pros and cons of the use of air power in each conflict. However, the authors’ detachment slips slightly in their consideration of media and public opinion of the Israeli-Hezbollah/PLO conflict. The only other campaign which the authors could profitably have addressed is the anti-terrorist one in Northern Ireland which has lasted for over 30 years, and which does not seem to fit the authors’
99 paradigm in that this conflict involved a terrorist organisation that had a clear political end state it wished to achieve. The book concludes with the discussion of 11 lessons, which follow on from the analyses at the end of each particular chapter. Among them are the points that small wars require pan-governmental, as opposed to just military, solutions and that those military operations have to be entirely joint. They also make the interesting point that both high and low-tech elements of air power have their place in these conflicts. Finally, they clearly identify the vital role played by the supporting capabilities of airpower in ‘small wars’. In summary, this is a well researched and well written book dealing with an aspect of the use of air power which has, until now, not had the exposure it deserves.
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SEE THE ROYAL AIR FORCE AIR POWER R
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FOREWORD The leading article for th
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AIR POWER Review Editor Jay Myers P
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1 Air Aspects of Operation Iraqi Fr
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3 Crown Copyright The night of 21/2
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5 A global hawk UAV had been operat
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7 On 13 April, less than 800 sortie
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9 The best measure of the tempo of
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DMPIs by Op Cat Qty 11 Counter Air
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13 could train better, having made
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As with Operation DESERT STORM, the
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Air power can still be employed aut
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19 or non-kinetic. Furthermore, the
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21 60 ‘By the Numbers’. 90 Op c
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23 By Air Marshal ‘Black’ Rober
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Contestants had to fly British airc
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27 establishment of the Royal Flyin
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29 The schneider Trophy was won thr
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31 AHB (RAF) The first flight of a
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33 Probably the most controversial
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Dr Paul McReady, claimed the second
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37 By way of a postscript on this r
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40 The most promising candidate sys
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42 more detail. The changed environ
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44 One’s passport was dusted off
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46 Advances in computing power and
Page 56 and 57: 48 find and strike precisely target
Page 58 and 59: 50 of JCA in 2012 will provide the
Page 60 and 61: Lt Col Prof Dr Dimitar Nedyalkov al
Page 62 and 63: 54 subsonic Soviet MiG-15s and MiG-
Page 64 and 65: 56 No MiG-21 pilot would forget the
Page 66 and 67: 58 Gaining height after acceleratin
Page 69 and 70: 61 Russian Air Power in Central Asi
Page 71 and 72: 63 Can Moscow find no other way of
Page 73 and 74: 65 Reported structure and aircraft
Page 75 and 76: In case of aggression against Kyrgy
Page 77 and 78: There remain open questions as to e
Page 79 and 80: 71 Afghanistan, and damage to the i
Page 81: the verge of collapse, as no traini
Page 84 and 85: 76 Since 1960 the number of airline
Page 86 and 87: 78 protect our economic security. T
Page 88 and 89: 80 Warfare has changed. Stealth, pr
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Page 92 and 93: 84 It is apparent that US foreign p
Page 94 and 95: A 3 Squadron Henry Farman 20 comes
Page 96 and 97: 88 The Bleriot of Lieutenant Jouber
Page 98 and 99: 90 The Bleriots were tractor monopl
Page 100 and 101: 92 Captain Allen, Commander of ‘A
Page 102 and 103: 94 3 Squadron aircrew involved in t
Page 104 and 105: 96 their support arrangements. Ther
Page 108 and 109: 100 The Last Escape By John Nichol
Page 110 and 111: 102 marches, and those who were lef
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Page 114: 106 ST. CLEMENT DANES, STRAND, LOND
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Volume 6 No 4 - Royal Air Force Centre for Air Power Studies

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