Introduction: Precision Strike Warfare and International Intervention: Strategic, Ethico-Legal and Decisional Implications

Abstract

Since the end of the Cold War US technological superiority has led to a more proactive and, some would argue, aggressive, approach to international military intervention. New technologies, including the capacity to mount precision military strikes from high-level bombing campaigns – and more recently the selective targeting of individuals from armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – have facilitated air campaigns, supported by Special Operations Forces, without the commitment of large numbers of troops on the ground. Such campaigns include NATO’s high-level aerial bombardment of Milosevic’s forces in Kosovo in 1999 and of Gaddafi’s in Libya in 2011. The development of armed UAVs and electronic data intercept technologies has further expanded the potential scope of interventions against Islamic militants in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. In addition, the US has undertaken targeted manned operations involving Special Operations Forces against selected target such as Osama Bin Laden. The aim of this book is to explore whether – and if so how – new capabilities made possible by precision-strike technologies are reshaping approaches to international intervention. It will examine three key and interrelated dimensions of precision-strike capabilities: the strategic and foreign policy drivers and consequences; the ethical and legal implications of new capabilities and finally, the implications for decision-making at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.