Aviation Employment Considerations Flashcards
Offensive Air Support is defined as
“those air operations conducted against
enemy installations, facilities, and personnel to directly assist the attainment of
MAGTF objectives by the destruction of enemy resources or the isolation of his
military force.”
Destruction missions do what
destroy enemy forces, equipment, supplies, and installations.
Neutralization missions do what
render areas, weapons, or enemy forces ineffective for a specified time
2 Major OAS Categories are
CAS (Close Air Support) and DAS (Deep Air Support).
Deep air support can be conducted in the form of
air interdiction, armed reconnaissance, or strike coordination and reconnaissance (SCAR)
Air interdiction is defined as
“air operations conducted to destroy, neutralize, or delay the enemy’s military potential before it can be brought to bear effectively against friendly forces at such distance from friendly forces that detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of friendly forces is not required.”
Armed reconnaissance is defined as
“locating and attacking targets of opportunity, i.e., enemy material, personnel, and facilities, in assigned general areas or along assigned ground communication routes, and not for the purpose of attacking specific/located briefed targets.”
Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance. SCAR is defined as
“a mission flown for the purpose of acquiring and reporting deep air support targets and coordinating armed reconnaissance or air interdiction missions upon those targets.”
Close air support is defined as
“air action against hostile targets which are in close proximity to friendly forces and which require detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of those forces.”
Preplanned missions are either
scheduled or on-call
Immediate missions meet requests that arise during
battle, strike unanticipated targets, and are generally urgent in nature
Anti-air warfare (AAW) is the action that is required to
destroy or reduce to an acceptable level the enemy air and missile threat
two general types of AAW are
Offensive AAW (OAAW) and air defense.
OAAW objectives include
weakening the enemy’s offensive air capability to a manageable level, thereby gaining access to a zone of airspace for a specified timeframe to allow friendly air operations and local air superiority in conjunction with friendly operations
Preemptive measures can include:
i. Air strikes on enemy airfields to destroy or damage aircraft, facilities, and logistic support.
ii. Attacks on command and control facilities and surveillance systems.
iii. Air strikes on the enemy’s aircraft supply and support, such as railroads and convoys.
iv. Offensive air-to-air sweeps to search out and destroy enemy aircraft.
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). The objective of SEAD is
to gain access to a defined zone of airspace that will allow MAGTF operations to proceed
In conventional warfare, SEAD will include the following strategy mix:
i. Direct confrontation of the enemy’s air defense with ground forces.
ii. Direct confrontation of the enemy’s air defense with air forces.
iii. Direct confrontation of the enemy’s air defense with naval forces.
iv. Command and Control Warfare (C2W).
Local air superiority measures can include:
i. The use of offensive combat air patrols.
ii. Escort and self-escort tactics.
iii. The use of aircraft onboard countermeasures and maneuvers.
Air defense can be further broken down into two categories:
Active air defense
Passive air defense
Active air defense is
direct defensive action taken to destroy attacking enemy aircraft or missiles or to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of such an attack.
Passive air defense is
constitutes all measures, other than active air defense, taken to minimize the effects of hostile air action. These measures include the use of cover, concealment, camouflage, deception, dispersion, and protective construction.
The primary purpose of AAW is to gain and maintain
AIR SUPERIORITY
Air superiority is
“that degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force.”
Assault support provides the MAGTF commander the ability to
concentrate his strength against selected enemy weaknesses using speed and surprise
The MAGTF commander bases his decision about the extent and use of assault support on the following METT-TC considerations:
MAGTF’s mission and concept of operations.
The enemy’s capability to interrupt movement of assault support assets.
The effect of terrain and weather on assault support missions.
Aircraft availability and lift capability.
Time available for planning, rehearsal and briefing.