Category: air power

Sunday Book Review: Beneficial Bombing

By Robert Farley

On September 29, 2013

Mark Clodfelter’s Beneficial Bombing: The Progressive Foundations of American Air Power, 1917-1945 attempts to situate the development of airpower theory within an early twentieth century Anglo-American political context. Specifically, Clodfelter argues that the development of strategic bombing theory (including its “industrial web” variant) in the United States should be understood as part of the big P […]

air power , iran , israel , nukes , syria

The NPT is Dead

By Robert Farley

On October 13, 2007

Well, this does make a certain kind of sense, I suppose. The Israeli strike on what now appears to have been a nuclear reactor at a very low state of construction is preventive war at its most distant

air power , israel , nukes , syria

Confusion Continues to Reign

By Robert Farley

On October 10, 2007

I’ve been reluctant to comment further on the Israeli strike on Syria, because I still don’t really understand what happened. As Kevin Drum notes, this appears to be a common affliction; e

Fighting Indian Fighter Aces…

By Robert Farley

In air force , air power , china , cope india , india

On July 11, 2007

Matt writes, in respone to David Axe’s suggestion that F-22s ought to be unleashed against Indian or British aggressor squadrons: Uh huh. But think about that. Why would the US Air Force be fighting Indian aces in Su-30s? And that’s to say nothing of the Royal Air Force. I don’t want to say it’s inconceivable […]

air force , air power , counter-insurgency

Speaking of the Air Force…

By Robert Farley

On July 3, 2007

I’m pretty much in agreement with Matt on the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan: As William S. Lind observed on June 11, the rise in strikes is indicative of the ongoing failure of the “su

air power , asymmetric warfare , sri lanka

Irregular Air Power

By Robert Farley

On March 29, 2007

According to Jane’s Defence Weekly, the airstrike that the Tamil Tigers launched against a government airfield is the first air attack by a non-state armed group. Is that true? I can’t thi

Air Power

By Robert Farley

In air force , air power

On October 18, 2006

Evidence cannot discredit revolutionary doctrine, as the revolutionaries simply interpret new evidence in whatever way they see fit. Air power enthusiasts have taken rather a hit lately, first with the failure of air power to tame Hezbollah in Lebanon (to the extent that the IDF did damage to Hezbollah, it was almost entirely with ground […]

air force , air power , cope india , india

Cope India 2006

By Robert Farley

On November 28, 2005

F-16s flying against Su-30s? My heart beats faster… Cope India 2002 focused on airlift operations. The 2004 joint exercise involved F-15s and a variety of Indian aircraft, including SU-30s. The

engineerscotty Why is Roger Daltrey the governor of Florida?
Poetic justice as fairness · March 25, 2023
engineerscotty Fairness is, like many things, a one way ratchet. The lower orders get their usual screwing? Life isn't fair, you whiners. The lower caste get any advantage over the upper, including a differential...
Poetic justice as fairness · March 25, 2023
Jerry Trying to ascertain whether a person is a mindful asshole or a clueless asshole sounds sort of Heisenbergian to me. At least we could get a read on his velocity.
Poetic justice as fairness · March 25, 2023
Just a Rube Current "AI" (really, just looking at large training sets and determining what the most like response is from that data) has the problem that it is very vulnerable to biases in its training data....
Poetic justice as fairness · March 25, 2023
ranglecat Can't help but read that as "I, Anal."
Poetic justice as fairness · March 25, 2023