The Relevance of Air Force Combat Support in Asymmetric Conflict

The military has a long history of involvement in asymmetric conflicts but has had only limited success in securing the overarching political goals that drove the conflict in the first place. These conflicts can be long-term events that become resource sinkholes - possibly for decades - and hamper the military's ability fight the next fight. Victory in asymmetric conflict is not kinetic destruction of the enemy, which puts the surrounding populace at risk of collateral damage. Furthermore, the enemy will adapt his mission in order to survive. Lastly, kinetic strikes cannot mitigate underlying disenfranchisement that is the center of gravity of terrorist and radical ideology. Victory is won through the hearts and minds of the enemy's popular support base. The Air Force (AF) can contribute to the fight by maximizing the utility of its Agile Combat Support (ACS) capability in direct tasks in support of the Joint Force Commander. ACS and its expeditionary subset - Expeditionary Combat Support (ECS) - are supporting such efforts in US Central Command.