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The Iran Strikes Beg the Question: What Is Airpower For?

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Manage episode 493534615 series 1324080
Content provided by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

You can’t win a war with airpower alone, despite what the U.S. Air Force will tell you. For more than 100 years, the masters of the air have promised that military and political objectives can be achieved if you just let them drop enough bombs.


It’s a theory that’s been tested, and fallen short, many times. Operation Midnight Hammer, the Trump administration’s use of 14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators on Iranian nuclear sites, is just the latest test. The promise is that this has set back Iran’s nuclear program (it probably has) but Israel is hoping for much more—regime change in the Islamic Republic.


Time will tell, but I’m not betting on it.


On this episode of Angry Planet we zoom out and talk about the strategy behind airpower in the 21st century. Robert Farley, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kentucky, is on the show today to give us his thoughts on the Iran strikes, airpower in general, and the lessons to be learned from watching the war in Ukraine.

  • Should we abolish the independent Air Force?
  • Was Israel’s war on Iran a success?
  • Has airpower ever forced regime change?
  • Curtis LeMay mentioned
  • Bombing doesn’t create revolutionary fervor
  • Airpower as theater
  • “Israel-splaining”
  • What’s a Golden Dome for anyway?
  • Are FPV drones part of the air force arsenal or infantry weapons?

Strikes on Iran Show the Force, and Limits, of Airpower


Robert on PBS in Kentucky


Buy Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force


The Five-Ring Circus: How Airpower Enthusiasts Forgot About Interdiction

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

473 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 493534615 series 1324080
Content provided by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Matthew Gault and Jason Fields or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.

You can’t win a war with airpower alone, despite what the U.S. Air Force will tell you. For more than 100 years, the masters of the air have promised that military and political objectives can be achieved if you just let them drop enough bombs.


It’s a theory that’s been tested, and fallen short, many times. Operation Midnight Hammer, the Trump administration’s use of 14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators on Iranian nuclear sites, is just the latest test. The promise is that this has set back Iran’s nuclear program (it probably has) but Israel is hoping for much more—regime change in the Islamic Republic.


Time will tell, but I’m not betting on it.


On this episode of Angry Planet we zoom out and talk about the strategy behind airpower in the 21st century. Robert Farley, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Kentucky, is on the show today to give us his thoughts on the Iran strikes, airpower in general, and the lessons to be learned from watching the war in Ukraine.

  • Should we abolish the independent Air Force?
  • Was Israel’s war on Iran a success?
  • Has airpower ever forced regime change?
  • Curtis LeMay mentioned
  • Bombing doesn’t create revolutionary fervor
  • Airpower as theater
  • “Israel-splaining”
  • What’s a Golden Dome for anyway?
  • Are FPV drones part of the air force arsenal or infantry weapons?

Strikes on Iran Show the Force, and Limits, of Airpower


Robert on PBS in Kentucky


Buy Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force


The Five-Ring Circus: How Airpower Enthusiasts Forgot About Interdiction

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

473 episodes

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