The American Way of Remote Air Warfare

Abstract

Abstract This analysis will assess the effects of the American way of Remote Air Warfare on the decision to wage war and the factors affecting the tactical conduct of war. This will be accomplished by determining how the Remote Air Warfare operational template influences the decision making process at the strategic level, by analyzing the political willingness to wage war, and at the tactical level, by assessing how the distance from the battlefield impacts warfighter’s proneness to use lethal force. This operational template translates the double moral implications of the increasing distance and removal of human risk from the duel. On the other hand, exposes a political maneuver’s expansion of freedom, increasing the propensity to wage war and changing the relationship between state and society. The research was guided by an inductive methodology of prospective nature, which analyses the past to inform present decisions, aiding to formulate future strategic actions. Thus, performing a critical analysis of the ideas underlying the employment of airpower, within an operational template of Remote Air Warfare, will facilitate the development of a comprehensive knowledge about its effects and a more effective adaptation to future war.