Notes on the air war

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-02-151014.html



Notes on the air war
by Brian M Downing
Oct 15, '14

The air war over Germany in World War II lasted five years and its effectiveness is debated to this day. Nonetheless, after five weeks of airstrikes, many analysts and politicians are already judging the air campaign against the Islamist State to be a failure.

This may be in large part to events around the Kurdish town of Kobane, where airpower has thus far failed to stop an IS drive. However, the defenders of Kobane are a small group of untrained, lightly armed villagers, fighting in a small enclave distant from the main Kurdish regions in Syria and Iraq. All but the staunchest and less-informed advocates of airpower think that it can succeed without effective ground troops. Meanwhile, to the east, Kurdish fighters have made some advances against IS with the help of air support.

Drones

The US has relied on drone aircraft to identify targets for fighter aircraft and occasionally to deliver ordnance. In Afghanistan, drones have been used not only to kill Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders but also in support of Afghan army troops now fighting audaciously large Taliban attacks.

Despite an increased reliance on drones in US military thinking, there is a shortage of drones in Syria and Iraq. Too many are allocated to Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. Accordingly, the curtailment of IS's movement of troops and equipment has been disappointing.