The U.S. military issued a major report in 1994 on the effectiveness of attacks on enemy power plants and energy systems.

 

They tried to summarize the combat experience of the wars with Germany and Japan. As well as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and Operation Desert Storm. 

With a good quote from von Clausewitz: "'War is not a manifestation of the will directed toward inanimate matter...In war the will is directed toward an animate object that reacts.

Since few people read the big reports in English, I will go straight to the conclusions: trying to win a war by bombing power plants is like hammering nails with a microscope. 

And not even because a lot of energy facilities are easily defended by primitive means - installing protective walls, distributed electricity production, strengthening air defense around power plants, or putting important equipment underground. 

And there are a myriad of other ways to deal with power shortages, from austerity regimes to the massive purchase of generators or exporting power from neighboring countries. In addition, power systems always operate with a large reserve. In the U.S., for example, most power plants usually operate at 60 percent capacity.

But the point is also that in destroying a country's power system, the adversary usually plans to achieve four goals:

1. To affect the morale of the population

2. Influence the political leadership by forcing it to capitulate

3. Influence the combat effectiveness of the army

4. Influence the output of the military industry

Now, none of these goals can be achieved by bombing power plants. Moreover, the opposite effect is often achieved - the population rallies in the face of the aggressor. Political leaders refuse any negotiation with a country that destroys civilian infrastructure. The army always has its own backup power sources. And the bulk of military production is in the pre-war years. In the same case, when a country receives aid from outside, military production within the country is not decisive.

https://media.defense.gov/2017/Dec/29/2001861964/-1/-1/0/T_GRIFFITH_STRATEGIC_ATTACK.PDF

*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

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