I disagree that you have to have a huge ground force. Ground observers help, but the information you are referring to shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of the CIA, DIA, State, etc.
What you are talking about is definitely a part of Warden's 5 rings, and obviously the first step in just about any conflict - see the Libya thread for the most current example.Plus cannot believe that any CoG analysis would ignore the intrinsic value of attacking key targets of the adversary's military! In a China scenario, for instance, air-to-air becomes largely irrelevant if you succeed in repeatedly attacking runways and airbases killing the enemy's aircraft and related logistics on the ground rather than in the air. Isn't that a 5 rings approach, largely ignored in the emotional desire to fight the white scarf war? Plus those attacks of airfields do not have to occur using fighters or manned aircraft. The enemy obviously can use the same methodology to destroy our few land-based airfields for fighters in a place like the Pacific where they are far and few between and well within range of TBM and ASBM.
That said, it's tough to keep a runway out of commission permanently, and you can't be sure that the other guy doesn't have some aux fields you missed - hence why air to air is important even after you've killed the runways.
V/R,
Cliff
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