If the media is using proper military terminology, always a questionable premise, there is a huge difference between "strikes"and "sorties". A sortie is one flight by one aircraft, and not necessarily an armed one--individual refuelers, observaton a/c, electronic warfare craft and even transports count as sorties. A strike is a discrete mission, which will in most cases consist of any number of sorties, both the aircraft carrying ordnance and all of the planes providing them with support. Most strikes contain far more support than ordnance delivery sorties.
As a former grunt, I'm sure that some of the aforementioned terminology is inexact/incorrect, but the principles are valid. My guess is that most of the bloggers we read on this and other sites have no idea about the difference between a strike and a sortie, and are just parroting what they have been told by official spokespersons or anonymous informants. It would be helpful if the military would be clear in their press briefings, but for operational security reasons I don't expect that to happen anytime soon.
If the media is using proper military terminology, always a questionable premise, there is a huge difference between "strikes"and "sorties". A sortie is one flight by one aircraft, and not necessarily an armed one--individual refuelers, observaton a/c, electronic warfare craft and even transports count as sorties. A strike is a discrete mission, which will in most cases consist of any number of sorties, both the aircraft carrying ordnance and all of the planes providing them with support. Most strikes contain far more support than ordnance delivery sorties.
As a former grunt, I'm sure that some of the aforementioned terminology is inexact/incorrect, but the principles are valid. My guess is that most of the bloggers we read on this and other sites have no idea about the difference between a strike and a sortie, and are just parroting what they have been told by official spokespersons or anonymous informants. It would be helpful if the military would be clear in their press briefings, but for operational security reasons I don't expect that to happen anytime soon.