>>27745730An Air Force is only a force-multiplier. Without ground or naval forces to take advantage of the situation created by an Air Force's operations, the Air Force is doing nothing but stroking their dicks.
The perfect example is the campaign against ISIS, the coalition airstrikes do fuckall strategically to ISIS unless they're directly supporting forces on the ground (Kurds, Iraqi Army, Shia militias etc).
Bomb a bridge they're using to move forces around, but there aren't any friendly ground units within hundreds of miles? You've just mildly inconvenienced them.
Take out a Command & Control center directing attacks that expand the groups territory? Without a ground force coordinating with you, there is nobody to take advantage of their lack of proper command. Their operations are simply put on hold for a short time.
This is why the Russian's mission is so much more effective, they're directly supporting the SAA operations in the area who can take advantage of the situations created by the Russian Air Force.
Not that interdiction and deep-strikes into enemy positions far behind the front lines isn't valuable, you just need a fighting force on the ground to take advantage of the situations caused by air superiority.
Vietnam is another good example, the bombing campaigns of North Vietnam did fuckall to the war effort other than piss off North Vietnamese civilians (it's funny how strategic bombing makes civilians even more resilient and support the war effort, but the USAF will never admit that).
