IntroductionIn modern traditional warfare, it has become increasingly common to use non-traditional soldiers, weapons, and tactics to counter the military conventional. Unconventional and irregular methods of warfare may be used by our adversaries to attack us. What is the role of air power in this new era of conflict? While the conventional air force is organized, equipped and trained to conduct conventional operations, we must ask whether it is structured to deal with irregular threats and what might its challenges be? This essay will first provide the definition of air power and its role. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The essay will then further define what irregular warfare (IW) is, the role played by air power, how air power has shaped operations under IW, and the challenges that were encountered. With the facts presented, the essay will conclude and present plausible recommendations in an effort to ensure that the military retains a robust capability to fight traditional wars while retaining a sharp IW capability to flex its air power should those wars break out. Air power in layman's terms is simply the military strength of a country's air force. Over the course of history and the many horrific wars that have taken place since then, the definition of air power has varied and evolved. A quick online search for air power would bring up quotes from Sir Winston Churchill such as "Air power can either end war or end civilization" and "Air power is the most difficult of all forms of military force to be measured, or even expressed in precise terms. » In the years following World War II, air and military forces realized the importance of air power and how it shaped their campaigns. The US Army Air Force has defined air power as "the total ability of a nation to fly, act in airspace, and use controlled flight." With these defining quotes on how air power influenced the outcome of wars, we see the importance of air power not only as a measure of a nation's military ability to fight, but as a tool to exert military domination over adversaries in order to shape the outcome of wars. So what is the role of air power? General "Hap" Arnold, commanding general of the United States Air Force during World War II, drew a parallel between the importance of air power and the way the battlefield can be shaped when it said: “Air power includes a nation's ability to transport goods, people, destructive missiles and weapons of war. potential by air to a desired destination to achieve a desired objective. With AirPower, or more precisely with Air Supremacy, the highest level of air domination, we will be able to shape the outcome of the war against our adversaries, exercise our will as we see fit, and achieve the goals of our campaign quickly. We must also take a hard look at what the objectives of our military campaign are before deciding what role air power plays in these operations. It is necessary to take into account the state of the environment divided into three distinct phases. First, in a hot war context,the objective of air power would be to fight and win. In this case, the strike and destroy element of air power would be the predominant role assumed. Then there would be an environment of conflict. The objective would then be to deter war and resolve conflicts. Military operations would then imply that the strike component be reduced and that the flight of combat aircraft be more of a deterrent factor than a targeting campaign. in a peacetime environment. Operations would include operations other than war (OOTW), peace stability operations (PSO) and peacekeeping missions such as those of the United Nations (UN). The role of air power is then to promote peace by playing a supporting role in efforts such as air mobility, airlift, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). In the early years, aircraft were primarily used for reconnaissance. Moving forward in time to current operations, we see modern F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters carrying out strikes against Iranian targets in the Syrian capital, Damascus. How did we move from unarmed aircraft to modern fighters with strike capabilities? Men understood the need to evolve air power after World War I (WWI). It is necessary to dominate from the air to be able to carry out operations such as strikes and reconnaissance. Air power plays a huge role in shaping wars. Seventy-three years later, after the first aerial combats of World War II, armies around the world have grown and continue to invest heavily to ensure they have cutting-edge equipment. They also go to great lengths to train their personnel and operators so that, if called to war, they have the assurance that their air force will have the advantage over their adversaries. There are various definitions of irregular warfare or warfare in publications, doctrines and dictionaries. The one most would refer to would be the latest Joint Publication 1-02 from the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and it defines IW as: "Violent struggle between state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence on the population concerned. (s).” The 2013 Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 3-2 explains the differences between traditional warfare and irregular warfare. He states that “irregular warfare and traditional warfare seek to resolve conflicts by imposing a change in behavior in a conflict context. However, they differ significantly in terms of strategy and conduct. Traditional warfare focuses on dominating the opponent's ability to maintain combat capability. Irregular Warfare focuses on population-centered approaches that affect actors, behaviors, relationships, and stability in the area or region of interest. Therefore, irregular warfare requires a different level of operational understanding and threat understanding. Therefore, we are no longer just lining up our armies on the battlefield to see who has the last men standing, it is now both a strategic and social battle that our adversaries can exploit to gain gains. battles. Throughout military history, men have seen many forms of IC, such as guerrilla warfare and small wars. These wars are now taking place under the cover of irregular warfare. According to the IW Joint Operational Concept, the following activities are included in firing operationsconsidered part of IW: Counter-Terrorism (CT), Unconventional Warfare (UW), Foreign Internal Defense (FID), Counter-Insurgency (COIN), and Stability Operations. This list is not exhaustive but in my opinion covers the five major operations of IW. This section of the article aims to present summarized accounts of these IW activities and how air power was used in these wars. In both CT and COIN, the lethality of airpower strikes continues to be the key player in these operations. Although air power can be used to destroy key installations and nodes of these non-state actors from the first kickoff of the campaign, the following operations illustrate other roles of air power and how it can affect the outcome of the mission. First, the CT operation most often discussed by many would be the raid to capture Osama bin Laden. This was following the devastating terrorist act against the United States on September 11 and he was the identified perpetrator. This highly classified mission was carried out by Special Operations Forces (SF) using two Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks to execute a helicopter-borne air assault and for data collection efforts before and during the raid. The role of air power in this case was primarily used for air mobility and for ISR. How successful was this operation? To accomplish this mission, the helicopters used in the raid had to remain undetectable and were heavily modified for quieter operations and employing stealth technology to reduce their detection of radar signatures. With these modifications, they were able to safely transport their troops in and out of the area of ​​operations (AO) without encountering hostile resistance from adversaries. Air power achieved its objective and was effective in its role in providing air mobility and ISR efforts. What about CORNER? Excerpted from U.S. DoD Joint Publications 3-24, COIN is a blend of comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed to simultaneously defeat and contain the insurgency and address its root causes. To illustrate COIN operations, I have extracted key points from the US-dominated coalition's victory over Saddam's forces in 2003.9 There was dissension within Saddam's regime, the people were oppressed and seeking to change Saddam's regime. Relying on the idea that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction, the United States military launched a campaign to "disarm" Iraq and rid Saddam of his dictatorship. The challenges faced after the campaign were to bring the regime back to normal. The population was poor, and with Operations Other Than War (OOTW) lasting over a decade, there was a lot of resentment against this COIN operation. The role of air power in this sense lay in its strike capabilities and its ability to identify specific targets for suppression and destruction. However, a challenge in this regard would be for insurgents to no longer be identified as simply being in military gear and holding a weapon. Acts of insurgency and terrorism can be carried out by a housewife or even a teenager in the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq. and in Syria (ISIS). How effective will air power be in such situations? Proper identification and study of AO, coupled with timely and accurate information from ISR efforts, is increasingly essential in CT and COIN operations to minimize civilian casualties. The DoD defines FID as the act of participation of civil and military agencies of the..