For example, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was carried out by aircraft operating from Japanese aircraft carriers miles away from the nearest Japanese air base.
The element of air superiority has also been the driving force behind the development of aircraft carriers, which allow aircraft to operate in the absences of designated airbases. Achieving total air superiority later allowed the Allies to carry out strategic bombing raids on Germany's industrial and civilian centers, most notably the Ruhr and Dresden. For example, Britain's successful air defence in the Battle of Britain during World War II denied the German military air superiority in the English Channel, making a seaborne invasion (planned as Operation Sealion) unlikely to succeed. At the beginning of World War II his ideas were dismissed by some, but as the war continued, it became apparent that his theories on the importance of aircraft were supported once the Allies attained air superiority.Īir power has since become an increasingly powerful element of military campaigns military planners view having at least an environment of air superiority as a necessity. In the early 1900s, Italian air-theorist Giulio Douhet wrote in The Command of the Air that future wars would be decided in the skies.
In addition, paratroop assaults and airdrops can move ground forces and supplies. It is defined in the NATO Glossary as "That degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another that 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." One should note that in military speak, air superiority is different from air supremacy.Īir superiority allows greatly increased bombing efforts as well as tactical air support for ground forces. Air superiority is the dominance in the air power of one side's air forces over the other side's during a military campaign.
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