The Mystique of U.S. Air Power

Bibliographic Data

ID7776159
AuthorsEliot A Cohen (corresponding author)
Year1994
Volume73
Issue1
Pages109
Publication date1994-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueForeign Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-7120 • E-ISSN: 2327-7793
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/20045895
OpenAlexW154906078
LanguageEN
Citations received39

Air power an unusually seductive form of military strength, in part because, like modern courtship, it appears to offer gratification without commitment. Francis Bacon wrote of com mand of the sea that he who has it is at great liberty, and may take as much and as little of the Warre as he will, and a similar belief accounts for air power's attractiveness to those who favor modest uses of force overseas. Statesmen may think that they can use air attacks to engage in hostilities by increments, something ground combat does not permit. Furthermore, it appears that the imminent arrival of so-called nonlethal or disabling technologies may offer an even more appealing prospect: war without casualties. This rise in air power's stock comes from its success in the Persian Gulf War. In the view of some, that conflict represented the opening shot of a fundamental transformation in the nature of warfare, a mil itary-technical revolution as the Russians have termed it for more than a decade. Thus the Russian military sadly read the outcome of

Economic history · Physics · Political science · Power (physics) · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · History · Military and Defense Studies · Military History and Strategy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub