Air power, controversy and colonial continuities. UK arms sales and the war in Yemen

What happens when an ostensibly politically and militarily junior partner uses the same practices as its arms supplier in ways that contradict the latter’s self-image? This article focuses on UK support for the Saudi-led coalition and the controversy over air strikes and civilian harm in Yemen to explore the colonial continuities in the arms trade. I argue that tension over air strikes emerges because Saudi conduct contradicts British self-image – although not historical practice. Historical recovery suggests that the practice of air strikes - historically developed by Europeans in the colonial encounter - is marked by a disregard for civilian harm, indeed a deliberate focus on civilian terror. Accordingly, the tension generated through the contemporary encounter has to be managed. I outline practices of military tutelage, orientalist political cover and legal deflection, through which the British state has tried to deflect criticism on to the Saudis as militarily inexperienced, politically immature subjects in contrast to their British patrons. Centring empire, the transnational constitution of force, and the terrorising strategy of air power and its associated legitimation, shed a different light on the use of air power in today’s war in Yemen.<p></p>