I received the following note in response to a post here last Friday on the limited role of airpower in COIN operations. The author wishes to remain anonymous, but he is an expert in the field.
While it may be the stuff of heresy around these parts, I agree with the majority of your post. Airpower is a vital U.S. asset in any situation, in peace or war. The USAF needs to focus on providing precise fires, tactical lift, strategic sustainment and battlespace awareness in COIN while also providing strategic deterrence (through the threat of direct attack, rapid strat airlift, etc) for America’s global interests. Moreover, most airmen would agree that we must avoid indiscriminate or inappropriate use of firepower in COIN. Note the relatively “clean” air campaigns we waged over the Balkans in 1995 (Deliberate Force) and 1999 (Allied Force) as well as the relative lack of serious collateral damage in either Iraq (1991/2003) and Afghanistan. Indeed, we put our pilots at great risk, in many situations, simply to minimize collateral damage.
The fight in Iraq and even Afghanistan, however, does not represent the spectrum of threats this country faces–and will continue to face–from the likes of Iran or even China. Thus, force development for all the services must take place in a balanced fashion. A DoD that becomes too COIN-oriented, for lack of a better phrase, opens vulnerabilities for other bad guys to exploit that might not otherwise exist if we appropriately shape our forces relative to our global interests.
More specifically, however, I think you might want to cut the old BUFF–the B-52–some slack. It’s not hard at all to see B-52s providing fire support in urban ops. These long range heavy bombers can now employ very precise JDAMs and lots of them. As we move toward acquiring more small diameter bombs for the inventory as well, a B-52 orbiting overhead can deliver PRECISE firepower, in large or small quantities, in support of forces in contact on the ground. The have tremendous reach, long loiter times, and pack a hell of a punch in any situation, COIN or conventional. Having said that, even if we can hit a specific room of a specific building from either ground or air platforms, we still run the risk that the bad guys aren’t the only ones in that room or that CNN won’t run footage the ENEMY claims is a strike on a mosque or day care center. No matter how precise the weapon, the other side, with an assist from some dimwit in a newsroom, can always cry “foul.”
