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 magine
being in the Taliban army, knowing that soon bombs could be falling
right on you, and you can't do anything about it, except dig deeper.
Five-thousand-pound bombs dropped on troops sends a powerful message
to the rest of the force; it is in-your-face psychological warfare.
One can hope that the message also gets to the al Qaeda network
hiding in the caves.
Air superiority,
especially in the hands of a professional military, is an awe-inspiring
capability. Apparently, after only a few days of a very basic air
campaign, the U.S. has air superiority over Afghanistan. Generally,
that means the U.S. military and its coalition partners can fly
practically anywhere they want over Afghanistan, and the Taliban
cannot (even if they had the aircraft to do so). However, there
are some limits on this freedom.
The U.S. and
its coalition partners worked for the air advantage. They successfully
targeted Taliban aircraft, command and control centers, radar, and
SAMs (surface to air missiles). They will keep their eyes open for
surprises and traps. But U.S. pilots must understand that they now
enjoy air superiority, not air supremacy. Flying within range (at
lower altitudes) of the anti-aircraft guns and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft
missiles is still very dangerous. Known and discovered gun sites
will soon be targeted.
Given the technical
capabilities of U.S. aircraft and their highly trained crews, the
altitude restrictions should not pose immediate problems —
at least for the fixed-wing aircraft. Confident target identification
will be the greatest problem.
Military helicopters,
by the very nature of their missions, are more exposed to fire from
guns and shoulder-fired SAMs. They usually overcome these risks
through a combination of terrain masking, self-defense technologies,
offensive tactics, and maintaining situational awareness —
or — being alert. But it is a risky business.
What will the
U.S. likely do with this air superiority?
- Pursue more,
and safer, humanitarian airlift operations. Guns and missiles
are still a concern, but more air routes and drop areas can be
accessed.
- Increase
attacks on artillery, tanks, combat vehicles, convoys, and other
emerging targets.
- Attack troop
concentrations, supplies, and suspected enemy hiding locations.
- Bomb command
and leadership bunkers, military supply centers, and troop concentrations.
- Begin operations
designed to find, capture, and/or kill al Qaeda cells.
Close air support
for forces of the Northern Alliance will be a sticking point. This
support will include an extremely difficult set of military tasks
for a well-polished team that has trained together and who thoroughly
understand the military tactics, techniques, and procedures that
have evolved over time. If you don't do it right, the enemy gets
away — and the friendlies on the ground often catch the ordinance.
Instead of
this direct kind of support, we are more likely to see advanced,
pre-planned strike missions, but even that might come a bit slowly
at first. Both sides have to build trust and mutual knowledge of
procedures for this kind of operation to come together.
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