USAF Airpower in War

The debate regarding airpower's ability to contribute to victory in war continues to overshadow the real issues related to its ability to achieve desired effects in war. The USAAF/USAF experience demonstrates that the pursuit of "destruction" dominated almost 80 years of airpower thought, development, and employment. A second period revolves around Operation Desert Storm, the first parallel use of airpower to achieve strategic effects through discriminant targeting. Marked as the last "Cold War" engagement, lessons learned regarding airpower's range, speed, and mass were set aside in the third, still evolving, era. Characterized by Operations Deliberate Force and Allied Force--and the still transforming Operation Enduring Freedom--airpower employment in this period has centered on efforts to coerce the enemy to capitulate even though it possessed the physical capacity to continue fighting. Together, these three eras capture airpower's evolutionary development, one demonstrating that the definition of "effectiveness" must adjust to reflect accurately airpower's contribution to success in the absence of decisive victory.