Anairstrike,air strike, orair raid[1] is anoffensive operation againstground orsea surface targets carried out byaircraft, such asmilitary balloons,airships,attack aircraft,bombers,gunships,attack helicopters andattack drones. The official definition of an airstrike includes all sorts of targets, including low-altitude air targets, but in popular usage the term is usually narrowed to atactical (small-scale)strafing,missile strike ortactical bombing on a specificarmy,militia ornaval position, as opposed to a larger, more generalized and indiscriminate attack against an entire area such ascarpet bombing andstrategic bombing.
Weapons used in an airstrike can range fromaircraft-mounteddirect-firecannons andmachine guns,rockets andair-to-surface missiles, to various types ofaerial bombs (bothunguided andguided),glide bombs,air-launched cruise missiles, and evendirected-energy weapons such aslaser weapons.
Inclose air support, air strikes are usually controlled bytrained observers on the ground for coordination with ground troops and intelligence in a manner derived fromartillery tactics.
The first large scale air raid occurred duringWorld War I in 1915, whenLondon was bombed by 15 GermanZeppelin dirigibles at night. Since the residents of London, and many of its defenders, were asleep, a loud warning system for air raids made sense, leading to the creation of theair raid siren.[2]
It was not untilWorld War II that theOxford English Dictionary first records usage of the term "air strike",[3] which remained two separate words for some time thereafter. TheSecond World War also saw the first development ofprecision-guided munitions, which were fielded successfully by the Germans, and contributed to the modern sense of air "strike", a precision targeted attack as opposed to astrafing run orarea bombing.
The importance of precision targeting cannot be overstated: by some statistics, over a hundred raids were necessary to destroy a point target in World War 2; by thePersian Gulf War, theU.S. Air Force was able to release to media precise footage of television- or radar-guided bombs directly hitting the target without significant collateral damage (using, for example, theLANTIRN pod).Paul Fussell noted in his seminal workThe Great War and Modern Memory the popular 20th century tendency to assume an errant bomb hitting a church, for example, was completely deliberate and reflective of the inherent evil of the enemy; over time, expectations for reduced collateral damage have increased to the point that developed countries engaging in war against less technologically advanced countries approach near-zero in terms of such damage.
In theMalayan Emergency of the 1950s, British and CommonwealthAvro Lincoln heavy bombers,de Havilland Vampire fighter jets,Supermarine Spitfires,Bristol Brigands,de Havilland Mosquitos, and a host of other British aircraft were used in Malaya in operations against guerillas. However, the humid climate played havoc with the Mosquito's wooden airframe, and they were soon deployed elsewhere. This period also marked the last combat deployment of British Spitfires.
During the Vietnam War, airstrikes and their doctrine were adjusted to fit the jets, like theNorth American F-100 Super Sabre,Republic F-105 Thunderchief,Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, andMcDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which were entering the U.S.A.F. and U.S.N. inventory. These aircraft could fly faster, carry more ordnance, and defend themselves better than theF-4U Corsair andNorth American P-51 Mustang fighters that fought during the Korean War, albeit at the cost of the R&D of the aircraft itself, the weapons, and, most important to the man on the ground, fuel and loiter time, though this situation was slightly alleviated with the introduction of aircraft like theCessna A-37 Dragonfly,LTV A-7 Corsair II, andLockheed AC-130 gunships.
Today, airstrike terminology has extended to the concept of thestrike aircraft, what earlier generations of military aviators referred to aslight bombers orattack aircraft. With the near-complete air supremacy enjoyed by developed nations in undeveloped regions, fighter jets can often be modified to add strike capability in a manner less practicable in earlier generations.
Airstrikes can be carried out for strategic purposes outside of general warfare.Operation Opera was a single eight-ship Israeli airstrike against the IraqiOsirak nuclear reactor, criticized by world opinion but not leading to a general outbreak of war. Such an example of thepreventive strike has created new questions for international law.
Airstrikes, including airstrikes by drones, were extensively used during theGulf War,war on terror,War in Afghanistan,Iraq War,First Libyan Civil War,Syrian Civil War,Iraqi Civil War,Yemeni Civil War,2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and theGaza war.[4]
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Airstrike campaigns often cause the deaths ofnon-combatants, including civilians.[5][6]International law apply the principles ofmilitary necessity,distinction, andproportionality. These principles emphasize that an attack must be directed towards alegitimate military target and the harm caused to non-combatant targets must be proportional to the advantage gained by such attack.[7][8] Many modern military aircraft carryprecision-guided munitions, which military sources promote as decreasing civilian deaths.
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