Air Power vs ISIS

Of course it wouldn’t be a win for them. But it wouldn’t be a loss, either.

As for the terms of the OP : “Air force is relegated to a supporting role to the forces on the ground” ? That’s what the Air Force is for. Air force does not and cannot win wars, period. Never has, never will. At some point or other you do still need dudes with guns out there in the boonies, and you do need those dudes to win hears and minds.
Systemic air raids do not win hearts and minds, not exactly.

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Of course it wouldn’t be a win for them. But it wouldn’t be a loss, either.
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Well, that’s where the debate aspect of this comes into play. I think it WOULD be a loss for them, as I said. Their stated goal is to carve out a viable territory and state, and they would not be able to achieve that goal, IMHO.

I agree, with the caveat being that it doesn’t have to be OUR troops that do that part of it (at least not our regular forces…I assume that our collective special forces are in play in the theater, and they are really the best instrument, such as it is, for winning ‘hearts and minds’). I think in this very narrow definition of ‘war’ and ‘winning’, the Air Force (and the air forces of our allies) can be decisive. They won’t stop all fighting or ‘win’ in any meaningful way from OUR perspective, but by preventing ISIS from winning by THEIR definition it’s a win.

Of course, technically speaking, there are lots of opposing ground forces in play. The Kurds, the Iraqi’s, the Syrians, other factions, etc. But the real decisive factors are that ISIS has to come out of the shadows and operate as a real military force, giving allied air a real shot at disrupting their ability to ‘win’ in their own terms.

Well, the wing wiper types would disagree with your assessment, obviously, and there are strategic as well as tactical aspects to all of the allied air forces, but I agree with your overall assessment. :stuck_out_tongue:

At the risk of being redundant,

“Anyway, my original question stands. What do the air power advocates propose, specifically?”

What are their plans for the knockout? Do they feel targets are being limited by politicians a-la Viet Nam?

BTW, I am a big fan of air power. Its just that if there is a simple answer to the ISIS mess by way of dropping bombs I’d like to hear it.