ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the air power component of ‘remote warfare’ – the considerations driving adoption, particularly in the West; its value and limits as a mode of armed conflict; and the moral challenges it generates in relation to civilian harm. This chapter argues that remote warfare is best understood in evolutionary, rather than revolutionary terms; as the culmination of longstanding political and technological trends in Western warfare towards increasingly distanced and lower-risk violence. The degree to which both these trends have been internalised by Western powers, however, is distinct. In terms of its morality, remote warfare is not inherently problematic. It does, however, entail moral trade-offs. Too often, the force protection goals that drive remote warfare are pursued and met at the expense of increased – and unacceptable – harm for civilians on the ground. The effectiveness of remote warfare is also mixed. While there are real tactical and political benefits to this way of war, there are also limits – remote warfare mitigates many of the challenges that afflict more intensive combat operations, but it is no military cure-all.
