Over the past decade the way we use aircraft over the skies of Afghanistan has changed dramatically. Civilian casualties caused by haywire strikes and the increasing use of aerial drones, which can watch over potential targets for extended periods with no risk to pilots or more expensive aircraft.
Jets with pilots still remain an important part of the war. They are menacing and versatile and because of the technology they carry.
Cmdr. Layne McDowell has been through the war since 2001 and has seen this change happen. In 2001 American aircraft often attacked in ways that maximized violence, including carpet bombing, dropping cluster munitions and conducting weeks of strikes with precision-guided munitions.
“Our culture is a fangs-out, kill-kill-kill culture,” he said. “That’s how we train. And back then, the mind-set was: maximum number of enemy killed, maximum number of bombs on deck, to achieve a maximum psychological effect.”
That kind of war is in the past. More than a decade later the most conman mission is “overwatch,” scanning the ground using inferred sensors and relaying that info to the troop on the ground.
So much has changed from when I was here the first time,” he said, looking down at Afghanistan on a six-hour flight early last week. “Now I prefer not dropping — if I can accomplish the mission other ways.”
By Ryan Bockmier
SourcNYTIMES
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