Air-defence aircraft and patrolling frigates are compared to police on the beat. Their visible presence is intended to discourage trouble before intervention is necessary. Counting only incidents handled can miss that effect. The comparison also exposes a measurement problem: wars and crimes that never happen cannot readily be counted. Successful deterrence is therefore difficult to express in routine activity statistics.
Notable Point · 1:09:03-1:12:15
Naval presence and the difficulty of measuring deterrence
Patrolling frigates and air-defence aircraft illustrate why deterrence is difficult to measure through incidents handled.