Just read an interview by AFM (March 2010) with the commander of the Tornado GR force's second tour in Afghanistan, especially Helmand. If you kill 10, you're not down 10 enemies, but you create 100 more. He was quite pleased about the shift towards show of force / show of presence. Since they are flying under ISAF ROE they are not allowed to use their weapons offensively in support of OEF, but with these show of force / show of presence tactics they can still provide support for OEF operations. Having read this and other articles since this topic, I want to comment again.
Despite all concerns that the enemy has become familar with the tactics, it's still effective. Don't forget, bombs are still being dropped and howitzers are also still firing away, they can't do show of force or show of presence, the jets can. There's no garantee for them that bombs won't be falling down. Show of force / Show of presence is a good way of providing security for the troops on the ground. It's not about scaring the enemy, or having them throw down their weapons, it has become of way of denying them the fight. That's important, as more and more Taliban are not even Afghan.
Also, I'd like to say, that it's in most cases the JTAC or forward air controller on the ground who decides to call for a show of force or a bomb. In the media, it sometimes sounds as if the pilots can't use their weapons anymore. That may be true for some situations per the strict ISAF ROE, or the even stricter rules of for example yesteryear's German air, but often it's a case of units being in trouble, that is self-defence, allowing weapons to be fired. and US planes are still flying in support of OEF offenses I'd imagine. But the guy on the ground asks for a show of force or bomb.
We've had quite some blue-on-blue situations, including one where the JTAC passed on the coordinates of his unit instead of the enemy, because he was in-contact. We get to see quite some footage with the controller calmly talking the jets in and the troops enjoying the fireworks, but in other instances, you can hear the radiochatter being very distressed. If a show of force can defuse such situations instead of dropping a bomb and killing your own or innocent people, it really is a valid tactic.
"Let them go and fight another day", it may look like that, but it's never that simple. For example, the guys hit by the IED, how did you expect them to fight? The complexity of the war means you can't just level the surrounding villages. Show of force is a good tactic, as it allows the aircraft to even protect small units, who are on a different mission than fighting. "... two-ship Tornado flight to support French convoys ... spent an hour or so covering them... during the mission, call on 'Guard' informing him of a Troops in Contact situation about 30 miles away. ...got to the TiC in under three minutes, show of force/show of presence... After this situation had been settled and the troops were happy, both Tornados returned to their original task of supporting the French convoy, So the pair had only been off station for 20 minutes. " That's some fast and effective use of air power.
Somebody always mentions Vietnam when there's talk about hearts and minds. It's very simplistic to say it didn't work there, so it won't work here, because Vietnam was a very poorly executed hearts and minds campaign with very different circumstances. Sure, the fighters will with 99.9% probability not throw down their weapons, but you can fight them when the odds are not against you. Several days preparation, several trips to visit a village and talk to the people, then comes the day where you can deliver the waterpump, but there are Taliban in the village now. Drop a bomb on the village now? In other situations, it means you can carry out the operation and establish control over an important area, which can strategically be more than killing 10 Taliban. Even though they ran and can fight another day, they've lost the battle. This can be very important, especially if it concerns green zones where the Taliban makes their money.
Due to the examples I've given, it might seem I'm naive to the nature of the fighting going on. Don't worry, I'm also aware of the situations where both coalition troops and Taliban come out to fight, over some useless area, fire their guns, each side going 'home' when night falls, or running home when they get surprised by an IED or RPG attack, or the Taliban running home when a jet shows up. Frustrating as it is, this war in all its unconventionality, is often still fought in a very conventional way. If show of force allows the coalition to fight the war more unconventionally, and according to its rules, it's valid.
Some people here / or just reading this have been to Afghanistan, so this armchair major will shut up now, but this is how I see it.
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