ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the development of air power theory. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, air power had begun to dominate war on land and at sea, but air theorists seldom matched their ideas to the technology they championed. Between the world wars they spun ideas that were years ahead of the abilities of aircraft and weapons of the time. Post-Second World War, military leaders virtually abandoned the field of air power thinking to civilian academics who devised theories of nuclear war and deterrence. The late 1980s, however, witnessed developments that led to a renaissance in conventional air power theory. In Operation Desert Storm, technology and conceptual thought came together with unprecedented impact. In today’s world, preoccupied with terrorist threats and collapsing nations, air and space technology has leapt forward into pre-eminence, but the theories needed to employ it successfully lag current practice and capabilities. The author characterises air power as an inherently strategic and powerful offensive weapon, but warns against placing faith in the strategists who offer a model of war that purports to be a universally applicable answer; instead, he encourages strategic thinking based on proper targeting analyses to catch up with technological progress. Flexibility rather than pre-fixed solutions is the key to a successful air strategy.
