Air Power 2017

THE PERSONNEL

126 AIR POWER 2017 21 ST CENTURY PARTNERSHIPS

decoys and countermeasures, aircraft are becoming

harder to target and destroy when operating in the air.

Both traditional and non-traditional adversaries have

long realised that, when overmatched in the air, the best

way to challenge for control of the air is on the ground.

LESSONS LEARNT

With hindsight, we have all realised that the peace

dividend heralded by the end of the Cold War never

fully materialised, as the UK’s armed forces have since

been consistently committed to operations around

the globe. However, many of the lessons learnt during

the Cold War in defending airfields, capabilities and

people were put in abeyance as the RAF became more

and more focused on expeditionary operations.

With the relatively low-tech ground-based threats

that the RAF faced in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need

to guard against complacency in the emerging era

is of the highest importance. The RAF’s capabilities,

including upgraded current airborne platforms, are

becoming increasingly sophisticated and will operate in

fundamentally different ways from their predecessors.

Ignoring the capital value of the new capabilities,

simply the number available means that each one has a

significant value to the defence of our country, and their

loss would be correspondingly damaging. Hence, to

continue to generate world-leading air power, the RAF’s

assets must be adequately protected on the ground.

A WHOLE-FORCE BUSINESS

The days of operating from ‘inside the wire’ and just

dominating the ground outside is becoming an

increasingly anachronistic model for protecting the

force. Force protection is now a whole-force business;

everyone in the RAF has a role to play. At the simplest

level, it means: keeping our secrets secret, both

physically and virtually; becoming more aware of our

operating environment; and challenging individuals

who don’t belong. This will go a long way to reducing

the threat posed by those who seek to gather

intelligence against us. Redeveloping an understanding

of how to fight and recover an air base – rather than

just operate from airfields both at home and away

• is a key building block in enabling the delivery of
  air power in a contested ground environment.
  Truly understanding the environment, including
  the platforms, the people, the capabilities, the critical
  enablers and the threats posed to them, both in the
  virtual and physical worlds, is fundamental to the
  defence of the RAF. Understanding and countering
  the threat – be it posed by near-peer enemies or
  low-technology adversaries who may use modern
  technology in innovative, offensive ways – is key
  to the RAF’s force protection. Having agile, well-
  trained and equipped forces who fully understand
  the air operating environment is the main building
  block upon which the RAF can rely in meeting
  the Service’s force protection requirements.
  The RAF’s FP Force, made up of the RAF Regiment,
  RAF Police and the Military Provost Guard Service, has
  been constantly adapting through the years, always
  working in harmony with the RAF’s way of fighting
  from an air power perspective and identifying and
  addressing the present and emerging threats to its
  operational success. The FP Force, ably supported by
  other elements of the RAF – including fire and rescue,
  bomb disposal and cyber specialists – creates the
  backbone of both active and passive defence
  required on operations, both at home and abroad.
  The FP Force may have a simple mission
  that dates to meeting the threat enshrined in
  Douhet’s lasting principle about nests and eggs,
  but as the threats become more sophisticated
  and the operating environment grows more
  complex, the mission requires a next-generation
  force aligned to next-generation aircraft.

The protection
of aircraft on the
ground is just
as important as
providing them
with the systems
that protect
them in the air
(PHOTO: SAC MARK DIXON
/ © CROWN COPYRIGHT)