Ukraine war prompts new US air tactics in Europe
By Rachel S. Cohen
Friday, Aug 18
Nineteen months into Russia’s war on Ukraine, its lessons are shaping how the U.S. Air Force thinks about combat over Europe.
The conflict is pushing the Pentagon to focus on tactics instead of the strategic-level chess moves that have defined the U.S.-Russia military relationship in Europe since the end of the Cold War, Gen. James Hecker, the Air Force’s top officer in Europe, told Air Force Times in a recent interview.
No longer are allied air forces passively circling over Europe for the sake of visibility. U.S. pilots and their counterparts now use air policing missions to practice offensive and defensive maneuvers along NATO’s eastern border.
Struck by Russia’s inability to control Ukrainian airspace and Ukraine’s inability to fully secure it, NATO has begun working through the details of how it would maintain ownership of its own skies while breaking through enemy defenses to secure more airspace.
https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-air-force/2023/08/18/ukraine-war-prompts-new-us-air-tactics-in-europe/
