ABSTRACT
The most radical approach to applying non-offensive defence (NOD) principles to air forces is captured by Dieter Lutz's question whether "everything that flies should go". The traditional perceptions of air power may also have something to do with it. While air power per se in Clausewitzian terms can be used equally well to strike a blow or to parry it, the theory of air power has had a strong offensive bias. NATO thus lists offense as one of the principles of air operations, with the formulation that "Offensive action is an essential ingredient of success in war". The role of strategic air power in the defeat of Japan is more difficult to judge, and the bombing of Japanese cities with incendiary bombs was certainly very effective due to the light construction of buildings. Numerical reductions of combat aircraft have ranked high among the proposals to limit the offensive use of air power.
