Could we be witnessing another Kosovo - where Air Power is decisive in changing the outcome?
Don't forget that Kosovo ended with the very real threat of ground force deployment... this time we have explicity said that we will not be occupying Libya (I accept that there is room for manoeuvre there, but I cannot see us sending even a short-term deployment of "green" army).
Air power... and sub launched TLAMs - but no boots and no expensive 'stay-cation' on foreign soil.
None of
our boots is the critical thing here. Some boots will be needed - hopefully Libyans themselves; if not, then hopefully some other regional powers can be persuaded to step in.
I agree with your overall thrust, though. If the use of air and sea power does the business unaided (from a NATO point of view) then it would be a major boost for those who have championed the role of the RAF throughout a decade where it has been consistently portrayed as a "supporting" service, both by the uneducated and the malicious.