IntroductionIn modern traditional warfare, the use of non-traditional soldiers, weapons and tactics to counter the conventional military has become increasingly common. Unconventional and irregular methods of warfare may be employed by our adversaries to attack us. What is the role of air power in this new era of conflict? While the conventional air force is organised, equipped and trained to conduct conventional operations, we must ask whether it is structured to address irregular threats and what the challenges might be? This essay will first provide the definition of air power and its role. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The essay will then further define what irregular warfare (IW) is, the role played by airpower, how airpower has shaped operations operating under the IW, and the challenges that have been encountered. With the facts presented, the essay will conclude and present plausible recommendations in an effort to ensure that the military maintains a robust capability to conduct traditional warfare while maintaining a strong IW capability to flex its air power should these wars erupt. Air power in layman terms is simply the military strength of a nation's air force. Throughout history and the many horrific wars that have taken place since then, the definition of airpower has changed and evolved. A quick online search on air power would turn up quotes from Sir Winston Churchill such as “Air power can end war or civilization” and “Air power is the most difficult of all forms of military strength to measure, or even express in precise terms." In the years following World War II, the air force and military realized the importance of airpower and how it shaped their campaigns. The U.S. Air Force has defined airpower as “a nation's total ability to fly, to operate through airspace, to use controlled flight.” With these quotes defining how airpower has influenced the outcome of wars, we see the importance of airpower not simply as a measure of a nation's military ability to fight, but as a tool to display one's military dominance over adversaries to shape the outcome of wars. what then is the role of Airpower? General 'Hap' Arnold, commanding general of the US Army Air Forces during World War II, drew a parallel between the importance of air power and how the battlefield can be shaped when he stated: "The power Aircraft includes a nation's ability to transport cargo, people, destructive missiles, and weapons of war." creating potential through the air towards a desired destination to achieve a desired purpose. With AirPower, or more precisely with Air Supremacy, the highest level of air dominance, we will be able to determine the outcome of the war against our adversaries, exercise our will as we see fit, and achieve our campaign objectives within a span of time we choose. However, we also need to take a close look at what the objectives of our military campaign are before deciding what role airpower plays in these operations. We must take into account the state of the environment divided into three distinct phases. First, in a hot war environment, Airpower's goal would be to fight and win. In this case, the strike and kill element in Airpower would be the predominant role assumed. Then, there would be aconflict environment. The goal would therefore be to discourage war and resolve conflicts. Military operations would therefore imply a reduction in the attack component and the flying of fighter aircraft would be more of a deterrent factor than being launched as a targeting campaign. Last but not least, in a peacetime environment. Operations would include non-warfare operations (OOTW), peace stability operations (PSO), and peacekeeping missions such as those of the United Nations (UN). Airpower's role is therefore to promote peace by flying in a support role in initiatives such as air mobility, airlift and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR). In the early years the aircraft were mainly used for reconnaissance. Moving forward with today's operations, we are seeing modern F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters conduct strikes against Iranian targets in the Syrian capital of Damascus. How did we go from unarmed aircraft to modern strike-capable fighters? Men saw the need to evolve air power after World War I (WWI). It is necessary to dominate from above in order to carry out operations such as attack and reconnaissance. Air forces play a huge role in shaping wars. Seventy-three years later, after the first air combat of World War II, militaries around the world have developed and continue to invest heavily to ensure they have cutting-edge equipment. Furthermore, they spare no effort in training their personnel and operators so that, if called upon to war, they are assured that their air force will have an advantage over their adversaries. In the publications there are different definitions of irregular warfare or warfare. doctrines and dictionaries. What most would refer to would be the latest Joint Publication 1-02 from the United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) and it defines IW as: “Violent struggle between state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence on the relevant population (S)." The 2013 Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD) 3-2 explains the differences between traditional warfare and irregular warfare. It states that “Both irregular warfare and traditional warfare seek to resolve conflicts by forcing change in adversarial behavior. However, they differ significantly in both strategy and conduct. Traditional warfare focuses on domination over an adversary's ability to sustain its warfighting capability focused on the population that influence actors, behaviors, relationships and stability in the area or region of interest. Therefore, irregular warfare requires a different level of operationalization and understanding of the threat”. So, we are no longer simply lining up our armies on the battlefield to see who will have the last men standing, it is now a battle on both a strategic level and a social level, where our adversaries can exploit to win battles. men have seen the many forms of IW such as guerrilla warfare and small wars. These wars now operate under the umbrella of irregular warfare. According to the IW Joint Operational Concept, the following activities are included in the scope of operations considered part of the IW; Counter-Terrorism (CT), Unconventional Warfare (UW), Foreign Internal Defense (FID), Counter-insurgency (COIN) and Stability Operations. This list is not exhaustive but, in my opinion, covers the five main IW operations. This section of the paper aims to present summary accounts of these IW activities and how air power was employed in these wars. In both CT and COIN, the lethality of theAirpower attacks continues to be the key player in these operations. While air power can be employed to eliminate key installations and nodes of these non-state actors in the opening strike of the campaign, the following operations exemplify other roles of air power and how it can influence the outcome of the mission. First, the counterterrorism operation most often mentioned by many would be the raid to capture Osama bin Laden. This was the consequence of the devastating terrorist act against the United States on 9/11 and he was the identified perpetrator. This highly classified mission was carried out by Special Operations Forces (SF) using two Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks to perform helicopter airstrikes and for data collection before and during the raid. The role of Airpower in this case was mainly used for air mobility and ISR. How successful was this operation? To accomplish this mission, the helicopters used during the raid had to remain undetected and were heavily modified for quieter operations and employing stealth technology to reduce radar pickup.signatures. With these modifications, they were able to safely transport their troops in and out of the area of ​​operations (AO) without encountering any hostile resistance from adversaries. Airpower achieved its intent and was effective in its role of providing air mobility and ISR efforts. AND COIN? Excerpted from U.S. Department of Defense Joint Publications 3-24, COIN is the blend of global civilian and military efforts designed to simultaneously defeat and contain the insurgency and address its root causes. To illustrate COIN operations, I have extracted the key points of the victory of the US-led Coalition over Saddam's forces in 2003.9 There was dissent within Saddam's regime, people were oppressed and sought a change from Saddam's government . Based on the idea that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, the US military launched a campaign to "disarm" Iraq and free Saddam from his dictatorship. The challenge faced after the campaign was to return the regime to normality. The people6 were poor and with Operations Beyond War (OOTW) lasting more than a decade, there was a lot of resentment against this COIN operation. The role of the air force in this sense was linked to its attack capabilities and ability to identify specific targets for repression and destruction. However, a challenge in this aspect would be that insurgents are no longer identified simply as those wearing a military uniform and holding a weapon. Insurgency and terrorist acts can be carried out by a housewife or even a teenager involved in the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq. and Syria (ISIS). How effective will air power be in such situations? Proper identification and study of AO, along with timely and accurate intelligence from ISR efforts, are increasingly critical in both CT and COIN operations so as to minimize civilian casualties. The Department of Defense defines FID as the act of participation by civilian and military government agencies in any of the programs of actions undertaken by another government to liberate and protect its society from subversion, lawlessness, and insurrection. This definition illustrates the extent of how diverse these threats are and how they can undermine the internal stability of developing countries. The appropriate employment of air power is therefore critical to achieving FID objectives. One such example would be the deployment of Joint Task Force 510 (JTF-510) which was deployed to the Philippines operating under.