The Objective of Air Warfare

In this chapter three lectures are presented. Muir Fairchild, in “Air Power and Air Warfare,” emphasizes the need for an air force in being at the outset of war. In “Principles of War,” Donald Wilson argues that instead of seeking out immutable principles, the study of war should focus on linking the desired ends to the available means. The true objective of war is not the defeat of the enemy’s armed forces in battle but the overall defeat of the enemy nation such that it sues for peace on favorable terms. Air power is best suited for achieving this objective through massed offensive action. Haywood Hansell, in “The Aim in War,” reasons that war is the means for a nation to achieve its objectives by overcoming the will of the enemy nation’s population. The airplane, unlike surface forces, can directly strike the nation’s will without having to first defeat the enemy’s military forces.