Air Strike calculation - why doubled?

[Sir John Cope]

Probably a stupid question, but I have to ask:

The user manual says "the attack value of the air unit is doubled and then standard Combat Results are applied to the target unit"

Why?  Why not just double the values in the OOB?  

Or is it that this applies only in the specific condition with which the relevant paragraph begins: "If there is more than one target in the target hex"?

[Ricky B]

I don't know the why. But the same rule applies to ship fire. I believe one of the optional artillery/Indirect Fire rules also doubles the artillery fire value but then reduces the number of fires from 2 to 1. So I believe it is to keep the 3 types of units firing in sync for impact - ships and air only get one shot but are doubled, while artillery may be doubled and only get one shot depending on rules.

Rick

[Sir John Cope]

I don't know the why. But the same rule applies to ship fire. I believe one of the optional artillery/Indirect Fire rules also doubles the artillery fire value but then reduces the number of fires from 2 to 1. So I believe it is to keep the 3 types of units firing in sync for impact - ships and air only get one shot but are doubled, while artillery may be doubled and only get one shot depending on rules.

Rick

Thanks - good points, and probably the closest to an explanation I can reasonably hope for.