A USAF F-22 Raptor, a stealth fifth generation air superiority fighter.

Air supremacy is a position in war where a side holds complete control of air warfare and air power over opposing forces. It is defined by NATO and the United States Department of Defense as the "degree of air superiority wherein the opposing air force is incapable of effective interference."^[1][2][3]

Types[edit]

There are three levels of control of the air:

• Air supremacy is the highest level, where a side holds complete control of the skies.
• Air superiority is the second level, where a side is in a more favorable position than the opponent. It is defined in the NATO glossary as the "degree of dominance in [an] air battle ... that permits the conduct of operations by [one side] and its related land, sea and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by opposing air forces."^[2]
• Air parity is the lowest level of control, where a side only holds control of skies above friendly troop positions.

The degree of a force's air control is a zero-sum game with its opponent's; increasing control by one corresponds to decreasing control by the other. Air forces unable to contest for air superiority or air parity can strive for air denial, where they maintain an operations level conceding air superiority to the other side, but preventing it from achieving air supremacy.

Air power has increasingly become a powerful element of military campaigns; military planners view having an environment of at least air superiority as a necessity. Air supremacy allows increased bombing efforts, tactical air support for ground forces, paratroop assaults, airdrops and simple cargo plane transfers, which can move ground forces and supplies. Air power is a function of the degree of air superiority and numbers or types of aircraft, but it represents a situation that defies black-and-white characterization. NATO forces in air superiority over Kosovo lost a stealth strike aircraft to an "obsolete"^[4] Serbian air defense system, and primitive An-2 biplanes (less visible to radar than metal planes) were considered^{[according to whom?]} for some time a serious capability of the Korean People's Air Force in North Korea.^{[citation needed]}

During and between World Wars[edit]

World War I[edit]

During the First World War, air superiority on the Western Front changed hands between the Germans and the Allies several times. Periods of German air superiority included the Fokker Scourge of late 1915 to early 1916, and Bloody April (April 1917).^{[citation needed]}

The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare established air superiority over the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Aviation Troops at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (late October 1918). The defeat suffered by Austria-Hungary in the battle caused the dissolution of their empire.^[5]

Interwar period[edit]

In 1921, Italian aerial warfare theorist Giulio Douhet published The Command of the Air, a book positing that future wars would be decided in the skies. At the time, mainstream military theory did not see air power as a war-winning tactic. Douhet's idea that air power could be a decisive force and be used to avoid the long and costly War of Attrition (in World War I) was influential, although later events proved him wrong in many details.^{[citation needed]} In The War of 19, Douhet theorized that a future war between Germany and France would be settled in a matter of days, as the winner would be the one to gain air supremacy and destroy a few enemy cities with aerial bombs. (The targets would be announced ahead of time and all the population evacuated.) This would terrorize citizens into pressuring their government into immediate surrender. At the beginning of World War II, Douhet's ideas were dismissed by some,^[who?] but it became apparent that his theories on the importance of aircraft were supported by events as the war continued.^{[citation needed]}

In 1925, the Royal Air Force (RAF) tested the ability of air supremacy in isolation from other warfare forms during their first independent action in Waziristan. The operation, that later came to be known as Pink's War after Wing Commander Richard Pink in charge, used only air warfare in a combination of air attack and air blockade over 54 days to force militant tribes to surrender. The campaign was successful in defeating the tribes with two deaths for the RAF, but some people^[who?] were not entirely convinced of its use in isolation. Commander-in-Chief, India General Sir Claud Jacob stated "satisfactory ... the results of these operations have been, I am of [the] opinion that a combination of land and air action would have brought about the desired result in a shorter space of time, and next time action has to be taken, I trust that it will be possible to employ the two forces in combination."^[6]

American general Billy Mitchell was another influential air power theorist of the inter-war period. After World War I, Mitchell arranged live fire exercises which proved that aircraft could sink battleships (the largest and most heavily armed class of warships). His ideas were not popular, but would prove prescient.^{[citation needed]}

World War II[edit]

A Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire at the Battle of Britain.

At the beginning of World War II, the main sides took different views on the importance of air power. Adolf Hitler saw it as a helpful tool to support the German Army, in an approach dubbed "flying artillery". The Allies saw it, specifically long-range strategic bombing, as being a more important part of warfare which they believed capable of crippling Germany's industrial centers.

After the Battle of France, the German air force (Luftwaffe) achieved air supremacy over Western Europe. The Battle of Britain represented a concerted attempt by Germany to establish air superiority over Britain, which it never achieved. Through home-territory advantage and Germany's failure to push home its strategy of targeting Britain's air defenses, Britain was able to establish air superiority over the territory – superiority that it never lost. It denied the German military air superiority over the English Channel, making a seaborne invasion (planned as Operation Sea Lion) impossible in the face of Britain's naval power. Strategically, the overall situation at home and abroad at the end of the battle might be considered air parity between Britain and Germany. After the air battle, known as the Battle of Britain, the Germans switched to a strategy of night bombing raids, which Britain echoed with raids over Germany.

During Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe achieved air supremacy for some time^[quantify] over the Soviet Union. As the war dragged on, the USA joined the fight and the combined Allied air forces gained air superiority and eventually supremacy in the West. Russia did the same on the Eastern Front, meaning the Luftwaffe could not effectively interfere with Allied land operations. Achieving total air superiority allowed the Allies to carry out ever-greater strategic bombing raids on Germany's industrial and civilian centers (including the Ruhr and Dresden), and to prosecute the land war successfully on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Following the Big Week attacks in late February 1944, the new 8th Air Force commander Jimmy Doolittle permitted P-51 Mustangs to fly far ahead of the bomber formations instead of closely escorting them starting in March 1944. This commenced in March 1944 and was part of a massive "fighter sweep" tactic to clear German skies of Luftwaffe fighters. Allied planes went after the German fighters wherever they could be found, and substantially lowered bomber losses for their side for the rest of the war over western Europe.

361st Fighter Group P-51D Mustangs of the Eighth Air Force heading out on an air supremacy mission over Nazi Germany

The element of air superiority has been the driving force behind the development of aircraft carriers, which allow aircraft to operate in the absence of designated air bases. For example, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was carried out by aircraft operating from carriers thousands of miles away from the nearest Japanese air base.

Some fighter aircraft specialized in combating other fighters, while interceptors were originally designed to counter bombers. Germany's most important air superiority fighters were the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190, while the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane were the primary ones on the British side. Performance and range made the P-51 Mustang the outstanding escort fighter which permitted American bombers to operate over Germany during daylight hours. They shot down 5,954 aircraft, more than any other American fighter in Europe. In the Pacific Theater, the A6M Zero gave Japan air superiority for many of the early days of the war, but suffered against newer naval fighters such as the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair which exceeded the Zero in performance and durability. The Hellcat shot down 5,168 enemy aircraft (the second highest number), while the land-based Lockheed P-38 was third, shooting down 3,785 in all theaters.^[7]

After World War II[edit]

India and Pakistan fought wars in 1965 and 1971 during which air supremacy was challenged. Pakistan has flown American, British and Chinese frames, but Indians have generally used Soviet and Western designs.^{[citation needed]}

Israel-Arab Conflict and Wars[edit]

The Israeli Air Force formed in 1948 with the formation of the modern State of Israel, Israel was attacked by its neighbors immediately upon the end of the British administration and occupation. The air force initially consisted of mainly donated civil aircraft, variety of obsolete and surplus ex-World War II combat-aircraft were quickly sourced by various means to supplement this fleet. Creativity and resourcefulness were the early foundations of Israeli military success in the air, rather than technology which, at the inception of the IAF, was generally inferior to that used by Israel's adversaries. As the war progressed more and more Czech, US and British surplus WW-II aircraft were procured leading to a shift in the balance of power.

In 1956 Israel, France, and the UK invaded the Sinai after Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships in the Suez Crisis. Israel's new French-made Dassault Mystere IV jet fighters provided air cover for the paratroop transport aircraft. The Egyptian tactic was to use their new Soviet-made MiG-15 jets as fighter escorts, while their older jets conducted strikes against Israeli troops and vehicles.^[8] In air combat, Israeli aircraft shot down between seven and nine Egyptian jets^[8] with the loss of one plane,^[9] but Egyptian strikes against the ground forces continued through to 1 November.^[10] With the attack by the British and French air forces, President Nasser ordered his pilots to disengage to bases in Southern Egypt. The Israeli Air Force was then free to strike Egyptian ground forces at will.

Israeli Air Force officers next to a destroyed Egyptian MiG-21 at Bir Gifgafa.

In 1967 the Straits of Tiran were again closed by Egypt and international peacekeepers placed after the 1956 war in the Sinai were ejected by Egypt. Before the Arab attack could begin Israel initiated Operation Focus. Israel sent nearly every capable combat aircraft out holding only a handful for protection. Egyptian airfields were destroyed with Anti-runway penetration bombs and the aircraft were mostly destroyed on the ground, Syria and Jordan also had their air forces destroyed when they entered the conflict, this is one of the preeminent examples of air supremacy where Israel had complete control of the skies above the conflict area.

Following the Six Day War from 1967 to 1969 there were small scale incursions into the Israeli held Sinai desert as Egypt rearmed, large scale artillery and air incursions officially began in 1969 with Soviet Pilots and SAM crews arriving to assist in January 1970, the strategy was to engage Israeli aircraft in surprise fighter encounters and near the Suez Canal where Egyptian SAMs could be used to assist fighters, Syria and Cuban pilots assisting Syria also suffered losses in this period, in August 1970 a cease fire was agreed on.

The first few days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War saw major Arab ground breakthroughs, surprising Israel who after its lopsided 1967 victory considered its air supremacy sufficient to blunt or dissuade any conventional attack. Despite not taking away air supremacy Egypt and Syria were able to control losses and shoot down Israeli air support aircraft by employing mobile surface to air weaponry which traveled along with invading units. Most of Israel's air power in the first few days was directed to reinforce the badly mismatched garrison overlooking the besieged Golan Heights which was under attack by Syria. After weakening the Arab SAM cover with airstrikes, commando raids, and armored cavalry or Arab armored units outran their mobile SAM cover Israeli aircraft began to take greater control of Egyptian skies permitting Israeli landings and establishing a beachhead on the west bank of the Suez canal. When Egyptian fighter aircraft were sent into the area of the Israeli bridgehead SAM sites were offlined which allowed Israeli air power to more safely engage and destroy many Egyptian fighters though taking some losses.

The 1978 South Lebanon conflict was an invasion of Lebanon up to the Litani River, carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in 1978 in response to the Coastal Road massacre. Israel had complete air supremecy.

In the 1982 Lebanon War where Israel invaded up to Beirut, Syria intervened on the side of Lebanon and the PLO forces residing there. Israeli jets shot down between 82^[11] and 86 Syrian aircraft in aerial combat, without losses.^[12][13] A single Israeli A-4 Skyhawk and two helicopters were shot down by anti-aircraft fire and SAM missiles.^[11][12][13] This was the largest aerial combat battle of the jet age with over 150 fighters from both sides engaged. Syrian claims of aerial victories were met with skepticism even from their Soviet allies.^[14] The Soviets were so shaken by the staggering losses sustained by their allies that they dispatched the deputy head of their air defense force to Syria to examine how the Israelis had been so dominant.^[15]

The Israelis have upheld substantial air superiority for most of this time with Israel able to operate almost unopposed for air attacks against targets anywhere within range in the Middle East and North Africa until today. Israel started with British and French designs and began using American designs. The Arabs have commonly used Soviet designs.^{[citation needed]}

Korean and Vietnam Wars[edit]

A United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft

In the Korean War, the swept-wing jet-powered MiG-15 quickly outclassed initial superiority of United Nations forces. The United States introduced its own swept-wing F-86 Sabre, which claimed kill ratios as high as 10 to 1 against the MiGs.

In the 1950s, the United States Navy tasked the F-8 Crusader as their close-in air superiority fighter. This role would be taken over by the F-4 Phantom, which was designed as an interceptor. The USAF had developed the F-100 and F-104 as air superiority fighters, but these did not have the range or performance to counter the MiG threat over Vietnam.

In the 1960s, the limited agility of American fighters in dogfights over Vietnam led to a revival of dedicated Air superiority fighters, which led the development of the "Teen Series" F-14, F-15, F-16 and F/A-18. All of them made close-combat maneuverability a top priority, and were equipped with guns absent from early Phantoms.^[16] The heavy F-14 and F-15 were assigned the primary air superiority mission, because of their longer range radars and capability to carry more missiles of longer range than lightweight fighters.

1980s to present[edit]

An F-35 Lightning II, a stealth fifth generation fighter aircraft.

In the 1980s, the United States opted for a newer fighter capable of gaining air superiority without being detected by the opposing force. The Advanced Tactical Fighter program was held by the US government for the United States Air Force to receive new aircraft to replace their aging F-15 fleet. The YF-23 and the YF-22 were chosen as the finalists for the competition. The F-22 was the subsequent result of the program and has been dubbed the "fifth generation" of fighter aircraft.

In the Falklands War (2 April–20 June 1982),^[17][18] the British Harrier jet was employed as an air superiority fighter against Mach-capable Dassault Mirage IIIEA fighters and subsonic Douglas A-4 Skyhawk jets.^[19]

The Iraqi Air Force was almost completely obliterated in the opening stages of the Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991). It lost most of its aircraft, and command and control capability, to precise Coalition strikes and Iraqi troop desertion to Iran. The Iraqis shot down relatively small numbers of opposing American aircraft.^{[citation needed]}

Methods[edit]

Although the destruction of enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat is the most glamorous aspect of air superiority, this is not the only method of obtaining air superiority. Historically, the most effective method of gaining air superiority is the destruction of enemy aircraft on the ground and the destruction of the means and infrastructure by which an opponent may mount air operations (such as destroying fuel supplies, cratering runways with Anti-runway penetration bombs and the sowing of air-fields with area denial weapons). A historical example of this is Operation Focus, where the outnumbered Israeli Air Force dealt a crippling blow to the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian Air Forces and airfields at the start of the Six-Day War, achieving Israeli air supremacy.

Disruption can be carried out through ground and air attack. On 6 December 1944, the Imperial Japanese Raiding Group Teishin Shudan destroyed B-29 aircraft on Leyte. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union claimed it could achieve air superiority despite the inferiority of its fighters, by over-running NATO airfields and parking their tanks on the runways, similar to what they have done during Tatsinskaya Raid during the Battle of Stalingrad (note the Germans used parts of their Autobahn motorways as airfields during the last war). The Soviet Union planned to use its Spetsnaz special forces in attacks on NATO airfields in the event of conflict.

Attack by special forces is seen by some commanders as a way to level the playing field when faced by superior numbers or technology; attacking German aircraft and airfields was the main role which the British Special Air Service was formed for. Given the disparity in effectiveness between their own, and South Korean and US fighters, North Korea maintains a large force of infiltration troops. In the event of a war they would be tasked, amongst other missions, with attacking coalition air fields with mortar, machine gun and sniper fire, possibly after insertion by some 300 An-2 low radar-observable biplanes. Even in today's era of asymmetrical warfare, 15 Fedayeen destroyed or severely damaged 8 Marine Harrier jump jets in the September 2012 Camp Bastion raid, with pilots fighting as infantry for the first time in seventy years.^[20]

See also[edit]

• Air superiority fighter
• Canadian Forces aerospace doctrine
• Defense Technical Information Center
• SEAD, "Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses"
• Command of the sea
• No-fly zone
• Battleplan (documentary TV series)

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

• Franks, Norman; Guest, Russell; Alegi, Gregory. Above the War Fronts: The British Two-seater Bomber Pilot and Observer Aces, the British Two-seater Fighter Observer Aces, and the Belgian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian Fighter Aces, 1914–1918: Volume 4 of Fighting Airmen of WWI Series: Volume 4 of Air Aces of WWI. Grub Street, 1997. ISBN 1-898697-56-6, ISBN 978-1-898697-56-5.

External links[edit]

• Air Power In Peripheral Conflict: The cases of Korea and Vietnam
• Defense Technical Information Center
• Australian Department of Defence
• Col. John A. Warden III. The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat. June 2000.
• Encyclopædia Britannica
• Glossary of Nato Definitions
• The Luftwaffe and the battle for air superiority: Blueprint or warning
• RAND Study of U.S. Fighter Design