Airforces

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #367 OCTOBER 2018 // 85

hen aircraft first made

an appearance over the

battlefield they were largely

immune from attack, even from

other aeroplanes. Indeed, it was

not unusual for opposing pilots to

wave cheerily to each other as they

passed. When it became clear that

aircraft were beginning to have a

real impact on the battlefield below

it wasn’t long before attempts

were made to shoot them down,

at first from the ground and then

increasingly from other aircraft.

Slowly but surely, methods

were tried and tested that

made the attacking of other

aircraft increasingly lethal. In

an extremely short space of

time, the war in the air became

as much about dominating the

opposing air forces as it did about

effect on the ground. Thus, the

concept of ‘control of the air’

or ‘air superiority’ was born.

Ever since, airmen have been

arguing for the concept of air

control and its importance as a

precursor to create the necessary

Air superiority

conditions to prosecute the

wider role and tasks of air power.

Insufficient investment or focus

on the air control mission prior to,

or at the outset of a conflict, will

usually end in catastrophe, as any

modern historical example of the

last century will demonstrate.

Quite simply, the concept of air

control is about the ability of an

air force to operate with relative

impunity and impose its own

will on the enemy. For the past

few decades, Western alliances

have been engaged in conflicts

where air superiority has either

been present from the outset

(eg Afghanistan) or established

extremely quickly (the 1991 and

2003 Iraq Wars are examples).

Air supremacy

threatened

However, you need only to cast

your mind back to 1982 and

the Falklands War to see the

cost of fighting in a situation

where air control is not assured.

Importantly, air control is not

just about air forces versus air

forces, as the Soviets found to

their cost in Afghanistan. Here,

Soviet helicopters’ vulnerability

to the Stinger surface-to-air

missile changed the balance

of power and ultimately the

outcome of that campaign.

There are degrees of air control

that refer to the relative level of

dominance: the transition through

the levels of disadvantage,

parity, dominance and superiority

should speak for themselves.

In a ‘traditional’ force-on-force

battle, these levels are achieved

by crushing the enemy capability

over time. However, these

situations in recent history are rare

and are often hugely attritional in

nature. Increasingly, air control

or dominance can be achieved

through policy decisions or even

on a temporal or geographical

basis. By temporal or geographical

control, I refer to the ability to

create the necessary conditions at

a time or place of your choosing,

by concentrating effort on a

W

Above: An Armée de l’Air Mirage 2000D strike fi ghter at Kandahar Airfi eld in

2010. In Afghanistan, the coalition has enjoyed air superiority from the outset
      of operations and fi ghters have been able to focus on the close air support
      mission. Crown Copyright Left: USAF Col Gary North goes through pre-fl ight
      checks in his F-16. The green star on the jet represents the Iraqi MiG-25 that
      he shot down after it violated the Iraqi southern no-fl y zone on December 29,


2011. The shootdown was the fi rst by a USAF Fighting Falcon and the fi rst
      combat kill using the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. USAF
      A Tornado F3 from No 111 Squadron
      RAF fi res defensive fl ares during
      Operation Telic. Tornado F3s from
      all four active UK squadrons were
      deployed during the 2003 Iraq War,
      where coalition air supremacy
      ensured much of the Iraqi Air Force
      remained effectively grounded.
      Crown Copyright

Left: How it all began: a Bristol Scout

of No 3 Squadron Royal Flying Corps

fi tted with a 0.303in Lee-Enfi eld rifl e

with the stock cut off, at Saint-Omer

in 1914. The aircraft also has a rack

alongside the cockpit to carry rifl e

grenades. Crown Copyright Main image:

The USAF’s ‘silver bullet’ F-22A is the

undisputed leader in terms of Western

air superiority assets. However, the

fi ghter has yet to achieve a kill in

aerial combat, a refl ection of changing

times in air warfare. Jamie Hunter

84-86 Bagwell AFM Oct2018.indd 85 9/7/2018 3:31:02 PM