Strategic force projection and tactical force employment performed by Military Airlift Command (MAC) aircraft remain vital portions of our national military strategy. Survivability of airlift aircraft as they sustain ground forces therefore becomes a critical component of U.S. military capability. Future Army victory could depend upon support received from the air, and airlift must be survivable to perform the mission. Combat airlift aircraft will encounter significant hostile threats in future war scenarios. Even if MAC aircraft could avoid all enemy threats, a problem arises even in overflying friendly air defense forces--avoiding fratricide. Using the central European battlefield as its focus, this paper suggests that it is unlikely that enough MAC aircraft could penetrate the airspace over central Europe without loss to enemy or friendly fire to effectively resupply the Army. The paper proposes solutions to this problem including defensive avionics suites, improved aircrew knowledge of procedural and electronic methods of identification of friend or foe when over friendly forces, and tactics/methods to reduce the threat potential. Additionally, the paper reviews existing Air Force doctrine and suggests that updated doctrinal guidance is essential to clarify under what conditions and how combat airlift aircraft are to operate.
Combat Airlift: Can It Survive the Modern-Day Battlefield
1990
38 pages
Report
No indication
English
Logistics Military Facilities & Supplies , Military Operations, Strategy, & Tactics , Airlift operations , Military doctrine , Air defense , Air force , Air space , Aircraft , Avionics , Battlefields , Combat forces , Defense systems , Deployment , Electronics , Enemy , Fratricide , Infantry , Losses , Military aircraft , Military force levels , Military forces(United States) , Military strategy , Military tactics , Strategic warfare , Strategy , Survivability , Tactical warfare , Threats , Warfare , Transport aircraft , IFF Systems , Combat areas , Central Europe , Flight tactics , Aircraft defense systems
A Review of Methods of Battlefield Target Combat Intention Recognition
Springer Verlag | 2023
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