Keeping Angels on Our Shoulders: The Army’s Contributions to Air Superiority
by Dan Sukman
Journal Article | March 11, 2017 - 9:25pm
Keeping Angels on Our Shoulders: The Army’s Contributions to Air Superiority
Dan Sukman
There are a few things Soldiers desire above all else in combat. Hot chow, quality leadership, and looking up to the sky with confidence that the aircraft above are friendly. Indeed, not since the Korean War has an enemy aircraft launched a successful attack on American ground forces.
As each of the services looks towards future force capabilities development, capabilities that contribute to gaining and maintaining air superiority should attain a position high on the list. More specifically, as the Army looks to develop concepts on fighting wars in all domains, contributing to what has historically been an Air Force mission is paramount to our success in future wars.
Current joint doctrine defines Air Superiority as “That degree of dominance in the air battle by one force that permits the conduct of its operations at a given time and place without prohibitive interference from air and missile threats.”[ii] It is understood that gaining air superiority is never an end in itself,[iii] but a condition necessary for forces in all domains to impose their will upon an adversary. As such, each service is a stakeholder in the battle for supremacy in the sky.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/keeping-angels-on-our-shoulders-the-army%E2%80%99s-contributions-to-air-superiority
