Air Warfare

V

World War II (1939-1945)

World War II began in 1939 with the invasion of Poland, the bombing of its major cities, and the immediate destruction of the Polish air force by the German Luftwaffe (air force). In 1940 the defeat of Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France was achieved partly through air support. The Battle of Britain, in August and September 1940, concluded with the RAF Fighter Command fighting off the Luftwaffe. Strategic bombing efforts to destroy British factories and civilian morale had failed. The entry of the United States into the war began with the Japanese carrier-borne aircraft attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. Such attacks quickly destroyed most American land-based combat aircraft in the Pacific.

In the European theater of operations, air defense systems in England were greatly aided by the development of radar to guide interception, as well as by the inability of German fighter planes to escort their bombers because of low fuel capacity. The development of night-fighter systems by the Germans did not begin until after British night bombers began large-scale raids on Germany, such as the 1,000-plane raid over Cologne in May 1942. At the same time, American bombers were carrying out early daylight attacks on specific industrial and military targets. This Combined Bomber Offensive included the costly Ploesti mission of August 1, 1943 (planes launched from Africa to bomb Romanian oil fields) and the Regensburg-Schweinfurt mission of August 17 (the first large-scale American attack on Germany, launched from bases in England). American losses in these and other offensives were heavy until 1944, when long-range P-47 and P-51 escort fighters became available and made it possible for bombers to reach sites deep within Germany in relative safety. The Allies then gained air superiority by destroying German aircraft and aircraft-production facilities. On D-Day (June 6, 1944), Allied air superiority permitted only a few sorties by the Luftwaffe against land invasion forces.

German developments, however, indicated the future of air warfare. Their V-1 missile, or buzz bomb, a pilotless jet-propelled plane carrying 907 kg (2,000 lb) of explosives, was directed against England in June 1944. The V-2 rocket, a true guided missile capable of carrying 748 kg (1,650 lb) of explosives some 320 km (200 mi), was launched in September 1944. These attacks came too late to affect the final outcome of the war, as did the failure of the Germans to use the Me 262 as a jet fighter until 1945.

In the early days of the war, the China-Burma-India theater was the site of the efforts of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers. After the Japanese conquest of Burma (now known as Myanmar), supply flights from India to China over the Himalayas were as important as combat efforts. Bases in China later served in launching bombing operations against Japan.

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In the Pacific theater, the Battle of Midway in June 1942 was a great victory for American carrier-based naval air power. The battles for the Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana islands eventually provided bases for bomber attacks on Japan. The Japanese had not developed strong air defenses at home, and the use of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, starting in 1944, caught them unprepared to detect bombers or to coordinate army and navy efforts. On March 9, 1945, a massive incendiary raid destroyed about one-fourth of the buildings in Tokyo, and on August 6, the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. See Nuclear Weapons.

The use of air power resulted in the defeat of Japan without an invasion and indicated to some that, in a future general war, ultimate defeat or victory could be determined by air battles. Some 20 years later, in 1967, this was demonstrated in the Six-Day War between the Arabs and Israel, which was decided in the first three hours when the Arab forces lost 452 aircraft.

VI

Post-World War II

By the 1950s surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, air-to-air, and air-to-surface missiles, as well as missiles fired from under water, were adopted by the major powers. The tactical use of piloted aircraft was, however, continued in the so-called limited wars fought after World War II.

The United States entered the Korean War (1950-1953) using World War II propeller-driven aircraft, but soon employed the U.S. F-80 and F-86 against the Russian-built MiG-15 in the first aerial combats between jet fighters. For political reasons, U.S. Air Force and Navy strikes were limited to interdiction—that is, the prevention of enemy movements and destruction of their communications and supply lines by gunfire and bombing. In 1954 the doctrine of massive retaliation suggested that in future conflicts the United States would not necessarily confine air strikes to the local area of hostilities, but might strike at the enemy’s homeland.

A

The Vietnam War (1959-1975)

Weaponry used in the Vietnam War included supersonic jets; the Russian-built MiG-17 and MiG-21 opposed the F-105 and F-4. American pilots faced the substantial new menace of surface-to-air (SAM) missiles used for air defense. Electronic technology, however, provided them with laser-guided and optically guided bombs, missile-detection and radar-jamming countermeasures, and air-to-air and air-to-ground rockets. The development of aerial refueling aided in extending the range of combat aircraft. On the other hand, the efforts of carrier-based aircraft were largely wasteful compared with their successes in World War II. It was in Vietnam that helicopters, initially used for observation, transport, and medical evacuation, became a significant combat weapon, and the World War II C-47 cargo plane was converted into a gunship.

B

The Persian Gulf War (1991)

In January 1991 the role of air power in modern warfare was dramatically demonstrated during the Persian Gulf War. Adhering to the military doctrine “Airland Battle,” behind-the-lines attacks were made on Iraqi command and control centers, communication facilities, supply depots, and reinforcement forces, and air superiority was established before armored ground units moved in.

The initial attacks included Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from warships in the Persian Gulf, F-117A Stealth fighter-bombers armed with laser-guided smart bombs, and F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft loaded with HARM anti-radar missiles. Timed to eliminate or reduce the effectiveness of Iraq’s ground radar defenses, these attacks permitted the F-14, F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 fighter bombers to achieve air superiority and drop TV- and laser-guided bombs. The A-10 Thunderbolt, with its Gatling gun and heat-seeking or optically guided Maverick missiles, provided support for ground units and destroyed Iraqi armor. The AH-64 Apache and the AH-1 Cobra helicopters fired laser-guided Hellfire missiles, guided to tanks by ground observers or scout helicopters. Also essential to the allied air fleet were the E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS), and an aging fleet of B-52Gs.

Over 2,250 combat aircraft, including 1,800 U.S. craft, participated against Iraq’s approximately 500 Soviet-built MiG-29s and French-made Mirage F-1s. By the end of the fifth week, more than 88,000 combat missions had been flown by allied forces, with over 88,000 tons of bombs dropped.

C

The U.S.-Iraq War

Airpower continued to be decisive during the U.S.-Iraq War in 2003 when United States and British forces invaded Iraq to depose the regime of President Saddam Hussein. Operating under a new national security doctrine of preemptive or preventive war, the U.S.-British alliance began its air campaign on March 19 with limited nighttime bombing of the capital Baghdād, followed days later by intensive bombardment. The U.S. Department of Defense labeled the air campaign “shock and awe” because its ferocity was intended to terrify Iraqi forces and bring about an early surrender. Nearly 14,000 sorties were flown, and more than 800 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a cost of $1 million each were fired at Iraqi targets from March 19 until mid-April 2003.

In addition to the intensity of the bombardment, the air campaign was also notable for its use of a new generation of precision-guided bombs and aerial reconnaissance aircraft that provided battlefield commanders with real-time images of Iraqi positions. Precision-guided bombs used in the conflict included Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), conventional bombs outfitted with a device that uses the global positioning system to home in on targets. Despite the improved precision of U.S. weaponry, errant missiles landed in the neighboring countries of Saudi Arabia and Turkey and reportedly in civilian residential areas of Iraq’s capital. U.S. officials, however, maintained that only a tiny percentage failed to hit their targets. Unmanned aerial vehicles, such as the Predator drone, provided U.S. forces with real-time images of Iraqi troop movements and positions. Infrared cameras on surveillance aircraft also enabled U.S. and British forces to track Iraqi movements at night.

Iraqi antiaircraft weapons were unable to reach high-altitude U.S. bombers, such as the B-52, or to target stealth aircraft such as the B-2 and the F-117A. United States and British aircraft used radar-detecting devices and aerial reconnaissance to locate and destroy Iraqi antiaircraft weapons. No Iraqi fighter aircraft took to the air to challenge U.S. or British fighter aircraft. So-called bunker-busting bombs, designed to penetrate and destroy underground bunkers, also disrupted Iraqi command and control facilities.

The U.S. air supremacy meant that Iraqi ground forces could not seriously challenge American ground forces in a conventional war. United States and British aircraft for the most part flew unmolested over Iraqi territory throughout the campaign. By mid-April 2003 U.S. and British forces controlled all of Iraq’s major cities and oil fields. Fighting continued between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents in the subsequent months and years, however, weakening this control. See also Air Defense Systems; United States Air Force; United States Navy; Military Aviation; Smart Bombs.

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