Combat Airlift: Can It Survive the Modern-Day Battlefield
Combat Airlift: Can It Survive the Modern-Day Battlefield
- New search for: L. M. Chadwick
- New search for: L. M. Chadwick
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 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.
Document information
Combat Airlift: Can It Survive the Modern-Day Battlefield
1990
39 pages
Report
No indication
English
Logistics Military Facilities & Supplies , Military Operations, Strategy, & Tactics , Airlift operations , Military tactics , Air force , Air space , Aircraft , Avionics , Battlefields , Central Europe , Combat forces , Defense systems , Deployment , Electronics , Enemy , Infantry , Losses , Military aircraft , Military doctrine , Military forces(United states) , Military strategy , Scenarios , Strategic warfare , Strategy , Survivability , Tactical warfare , Threats , Warfare , Air logistics support , Military Airlift Command , Europe , Air Force doctrine