Iraq & Air Power The Commentator’s View

Iraq & Air Power The Commentator’s View

Sir Timothy GardenCentre for Defence Studies

King’s College London

Key IssuesKey Issues

• Nature of Media Coverage

• Personal Assessment of the Campaign

• Questions to Answer

Public Information SourcesPublic Information Sources

• Television• Terrestrial News rise of 84% to 315 min/w• Cable/Sat News rise of 145% to 289 min/w

• Radio - only 8% increase

• Newspapers - no change

• Internet - only 6% rise

TV & Air CampaignTV & Air Campaign

Although television cameras captured the dramatic bombardment of downtown Baghdad, Moseley's aggressive prosecution of the broader air war -- a campaign that dropped 29,000 bombs and missiles on thousands of targets in Iraq -- played out largely behind the scenes. There were several reasons for this: Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations playing host to U.S. air crews refused to accept embedded reporters, who might have conveyed a greater sense of the air strategy to American audiences; many targets were out of sight of journalists on the battlefield; and senior military officials did not discuss their strategy in public.

An Air War of Might, Co-ordination and RisksWashington Post 26 April 2003

Personal Information Sourcesin order of usefulness

Personal Information Sourcesin order of usefulness

• Embedded TV reporters

• Newspaper reporters

• Internet sources

• Pentagon Briefs

• CENTCOM briefs

• UK Government briefs

Points from the Air CampaignPoints from the Air Campaign

• Where was Shock and Awe?

• Lack of Iraqi air defences

• Flexibility & the ATO

• Precision weapons

• Key targets

• Close Air Support

• Under assessment of importance?

IntelligenceIntelligence

• Strategic failings

• Tactical assessments

• Air Contribution• 1000 sorties

• 42,000 images

• 2400 hours of SigInt flying

WMDWMD

• Declared war aim• “Attacks centred on Command & Control”• Apparent low priority:

• Only 10.7% of air targets• NBC protection shortfalls

PSY-OpsPSY-Ops

• 158 missions

• 31,800,000 leaflets (120,254 TREs)

• Radio & TV broadcasts

• Effectiveness assessment?

CasualtiesCasualties

• 20 a/c lost - 7 to enemy action

• Friendly fire reporting

• Lack of Iraqi casualty numbers

• Cluster munition usage - Air or artillery

• Precision weapons effects

TechnologyTechnology

• Pre war hype

• JDAMs v Storm Shadow & TLAM

• UAVs

• Network Enabled Capability

• Sensor to Shooter times

Ten QuestionsTen Questions

• Has the nature of warfare changed?• Does technology replace troops?• Can air power now destroy defending armies? • Are logistics the constraining factor?• What changes to weapon/platform balance?• Are Special Forces more important?• Was the media strategy right?• Was the intelligence right?• How important are allies?

• Should nation-building shape the combat phase?

Better Air Power Media Relations

Better Air Power Media Relations

• Prepare before operation

• Embed reporters with squadrons

• Give operators a freer hand

• Own up to mistakes

• Produce quick deep honest post conflict reports

• Carry out a full post op air power survey