air forces: Postwar Use of Airpower

Since World War II, the increased role of helicopters has been a major development, allowing for increased air support of ground troops. In the Korean War air forces of the United Nations Command effectively enveloped the North Korean army and later cut supply arteries to Chinese Communist troops so that an armistice could be negotiated. Similar ground-air tactics were employed by the United States in Vietnam, while the North Vietnamese made effective use of Soviet-built ground-to-air missiles and tactical air support. The Persian Gulf War, which saw the introduction of stealth fighter planes (see stealth technology), was the first unambiguously decisive airpower victory in warfare, but even there the conflict was only ended after the ground forces attacked. Airpower was also used fairly effectively, although with less than immediate results, by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to force the capitulation of the Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis in 1999. Fighting in Afghanistan (2001) saw precision-guided smart weapons become the predominant ordnance, but these were often targeted most effectively when the air forces worked in conjunction with spotters on the ground.

The development of nuclear weapons, jet propulsion, the guided missile, and satellites has widened the concept of airpower and the role of air forces. The U.S. Air Force (see Air Force, United States Department of the) now refers to aerospace power (instead of airpower) and considers space a crucial military theater. Air forces also have come to assume a primary strategic role in deterring war by employing in readiness a second-strike retaliatory force (see nuclear strategy) consisting of both aircraft and missiles. In the United States this mission was carried by the Strategic Air Command, which has been replaced by the interservice Strategic Command.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Postwar Use of Airpower
• During World War II
• Evolution of the Modern Air Force
• Early Military Use of Aircraft
• Bibliography

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