Beginnings The first large scale air raid occurred during
World War I in 1915, when
London was bombed by 15 German
Zeppelin 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 the
air raid siren.
World War II It was not until
World War II that the
Oxford English Dictionary first records usage of the term "air strike", which remained two separate words for some time thereafter. The
Second World War also saw the first development of
precision-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 a
strafing run or
area 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 the
Persian Gulf War, the
U.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, the
LANTIRN pod).
Paul Fussell noted in his seminal work
The 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.
After World War II In the
Malayan Emergency of the 1950s, British and Commonwealth
Avro 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.
A-26 Invader airstrike on warehouses in
Wonsan during the
Korean War During the Vietnam War, airstrikes and their doctrine were adjusted to fit the jets, like the
North American F-100 Super Sabre,
Republic F-105 Thunderchief,
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, and
McDonnell 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 the
F-4U Corsair and
North 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 the
Cessna A-37 Dragonfly,
LTV A-7 Corsair II, and
Lockheed AC-130 gunships. Today, airstrike terminology has extended to the concept of the
strike aircraft, what earlier generations of military aviators referred to as
light bombers or
attack 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 Iraqi
Osirak nuclear reactor, criticized by world opinion but not leading to a general outbreak of war. Such an example of the
preventive strike has created new questions for international law. Airstrikes, including airstrikes by drones, were extensively used during the
Gulf 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 the
Gaza war.
Non-combatant deaths ,
Ukraine after a Russian airstrike during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, March 2022 Airstrike campaigns often cause the deaths of
non-combatants, including civilians.
International law apply the principles of
military necessity,
distinction, and
proportionality. These principles emphasize that an attack must be directed towards a
legitimate military target and the harm caused to non-combatant targets must be proportional to the advantage gained by such attack. Many modern military aircraft carry
precision-guided munitions, which military sources promote as decreasing civilian deaths. ==See also==