RAF CAS says 'Politicians make it up as they go.'

[Easy Street]

FODPlod,

I class the naval and army aircraft you list as having delivered air power, not maritime or land power, during the operation, and British Joint Doctrine agrees with me! The only example you quote where air and maritime power were integrated was NGS illumination, and in the context of the entire operation, that isn't a lot. I'm not suggesting that the other services shouldn't operate those aircraft or missiles, by the way, just that we should recognise when we're talking about air power as distinct from other forms. Describing ship-launched missions as 'maritime power' simply because they come from the sea is like describing a airfield-launched missions as 'land power'. It's where you operate and what you do that counts. You are guilty of making the knee-jerk defensive assumption that 'air power' = 'Air Force' and that's incorrect.


I stand by my earlier point that, NGS excepting, there was little need for integration of the environments (note: NOT services) in support of ops over Libya.