"In 2012 Dr Kainikara commenced a substantial research project examining the topic of air power strategies, or perhaps more accurately, an exposition of military strategies in which air power may play a significant part. Through his research Dr Kainikara has identified a number of more or less discrete strategies that cover the spectrum of military options available to a government; ranging from the most benign approach which aims to shape and influence an environment or adversary, through to a strategy of punishment and destruction. Each of these strategies affords a measure of utility to the military forces at a government's disposal, and each advances a means of applying force or the threat of force to influence the actions and possibly the thinking of an adversary or potential adversary. As the foregoing suggests, the range of strategies available to governments is broad and a comprehensive discussion of all of these would be far too large a work to include in one working paper. Consequently, Dr Kainikara has broken up his work into a series of essays, each covering a discrete strategy. This working paper treats the topic of air power and the strategy of punishment, and it does so in Dr Kainikara's typically methodical and meticulous manner. The strategy of punishment, as the name suggests, is an approach that incorporates, in its most strident form, the violent application of military force "to achieve laid down objectives". Although not all courses of action within the strategy of punishment include the offensive use of military power, they all aim to alter the behavior if not the cognition of an adversary. Such a strategy is quite clearly the most consequential and potentially lethal of all strategies available, and the use of air power in a strategy of punishment therefore, deserves close attention and serious consideration. Dr Kainikara treats this topic with just such attention as he lays out in detailed fashion the concept of punishment, its characteristics, indicative mechanisms and the implications for air power of all of this. Most importantly, Dr Kainikara clearly articulates the risks and limitations of strategies of punishment when he admonishes, with characteristically measured understatement; "Although most nations would have resorted to the strategy of punishment to ensure national security sometime during their history, there are also disadvantages to taking recourse to this strategy. Punishment is not always effective in influencing the behavior of the adversary in the desired manner and it can also have unpleasant consequences that may be inimical to one's own requirements." This working paper is an important work, connecting war fighting strategies at the conceptual level with air power doctrine. Although the material presented in this paper is quite complex and will require close reading, it provides an invaluable education in strategic thinking for airmen and women and those with a professional interest in air power matters."--Page iii.

"February 2013"

Introduction -- Understanding punishment: a military perspective -- Spectrum of the strategy of punishment -- Punishing with air power. Punitive actions -- Targeting the leadership -- Prevention -- Focused targeting -- Escalation -- Destruction -- Post-conflict actions -- Conclusion.