Which is the dominant form of combat today: air,ground,land?

[madetofly]

Having control of the air or water is considered very important if you want to have control over a certain area, but you can't really make any solid advancement without ground vehicles. The three can be considered fundamental, but if we faced a world war today, which category is considered the most important for power superiority purposes.

 

[Corzhens]

From what I see in threads in this site, I would bet on the air force for firepower. In the second world war, stories abound of the strafings by fighter planes that defeated the ground forces of the Japanese in Manila. With the advanced technology of the war aircraft, I don't think the army can have a way to defend against the bombs falling from the fighter planes. In fact, my vision of the 3rd world war is a fight on the air.

 

[explorerx7]

There is hardly ever any form of air combat nowadays.What prevails is mostly raids and strike against ground targets which may offer minimal resistance. Therefore, it's difficult to gauge air combat effectiveness. On the other we have seen a lot of ground combat activities in recent times in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, therefore, I would want to believe that ground combat is now the dominant form.

 

[fcuco]

In the second world war, stories abound of the strafings by fighter planes that defeated the ground forces of the Japanese in Manila

On the contrary, if anything, WWII served as a lesson: you can't bomb an enemy into submission, that was actually the prevalent mentality back then, that wars were simply going to be massive air engagements and bombings and that was proven to be false, you simply need boots on the ground to conquer or maintain any kind of position, unless you go nuclear of course.

 

[remnant]

The dominant form of combat today is ground close quarters warfare. Coventiontional warfare is on a downward trend as nations identify common interests and the grievous human and economic cost of war becoming a deterrent. With the rise of global terrorism, assymetrical warfare by jihadis and other groups is increasingly common. It is an increasing phenomenon to hear numerous reports of intense spasmodic wars in peaceful countries between the government forces and hijackers, hostage takers, sophisticated criminal and drug cartels as well as terrorists.

 

[xTinx]

There's no such thing as dominant form of combat these days. Current military strategies are geared towards "covering all areas." The more space you've covered, the higher your chances of winning. Deployment and element of surprise also matter. I've also noticed that governments utilize the media to intimidate and manipulate their enemies psychologically.

 

[djdefense]

I think Air power really tips the scales in any war. It's true, you need people on the ground, but ground forces can easily do their job if the air force destroys certain targets first. In urban warfare or in a jungle, a lot of times, you can't see the enemy, or know his exact position. Someone in the air can easily do that for you. Plus, if you want to carry out a surgical operation, which is something that is extremely important during a full-scale war, you need air power.

Basically, what they did to Bin Laden, is something that countries train their Elite forces to do, because that could actually change the course of a war faster than any other form of weapon.

 

[Susimi]

I would say ground combat is the dominant form in the wars of today. Battles and engagements may not be as large as they were during WWII for instance but they still have a very damaging effect.

Air combat, while not as dominant, also plays a large part today. With stuff like UAV's militaries can watch an enemies movements for hours at a time and with the guided weapons can deliver a devastating strike with amazing accuracy.

 

[djdefense]

The more we go towards unmanned aerial warfare, the more air forces are going to grow in significance. I think a time when robots would fight ground battles is really really far, but drones are basically making the work much much easier for most militaries.