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How do fighters help a military gain control of the air?
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air warfare
Overview of aerial bombardment in Europe during World War II, with a detailed discussion of the Battle of Britain.
Fighter aircraft are designed primarily to secure control of essential airspace by destroying enemy aircraft in combat. To gain this control, military forces employ several key strategies:1
- Direct Combat: Fighters engage and destroy enemy aircraft in the air, whether they are opposing fighters or bombers. High-performance fighters are built to outfly and outmaneuver adversaries to achieve this dominance.1
- Suppression of Air Defenses: Modern air warfare often requires neutralizing ground-based threats, such as surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and radar-directed antiaircraft guns. This is frequently achieved through electronic warfare, where specialized aircraft jam enemy radars or use radar-homing missiles to destroy defensive sites, clearing the way for other operations.2
- Destruction on the Ground: Control of the air is gained by the progressive destruction of an enemy’s air force both in the air and on the ground, as well as by attacking the industrial base to eliminate the enemy's capacity to replace lost aircraft.3
- Strategic Offensive: By bombing sensitive targets, an air force can force the enemy to commit its own fighters to combat, where they can be engaged and neutralized.3
Achieving air supremacy—the state where an enemy's air force is effectively neutralized—is essential for the freedom of action of all land, sea, and air forces.3