Air Power Development Centre #14: Air Power and Special Forces: A Symbiotic Relationship (2004) By David Jeffcoat
 
It was General Douglas MacArthur who said, ‘New conditions require, for solution—and new weapons require, for maximum application—new and imaginative methods. Wars are never won in the past.’ Nowhere has this been better demonstrated than in the application of precision firepower by air power facilitated by Special Forces on the ground during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The elements of this combination that permits the lethal application of firepower points towards a symbiotic relationship between air power and Special Forces operations. Some of the characteristics of air power that enhance the application of firepower are concentration of force, precision, reach, responsiveness and versatility. In combination with the Special Forces characteristics of assimilation, jointness, lightness and persistence, these air power characteristics can be utilised with greater effect in the application of potent warfighting capabilities. This paper attempts to draw out the synergy between the characteristics of air power and Special Forces that come together so powerfully to make it a formidable combination, and describes its implications for the application of precision firepower. It suggests that the relationship between the two and the increased effectiveness that the combination brings to a battle should be optimised and further exploited. The development is indeed a groundbreaking development and merits further study by strategists and theorists as well as the practitioners of air power and joint warfare.
 
Soft Cover
37 Pages
In Fair to Good Condition