Structuring air power

Combat power through organisation, Part I

Recent ‘On Target’ columns in Australian Aviation have focused on the aeroplane and its evolution from airborne platform to airborne weapons system, an evolution which has seen lessening incremental gains in platform performance but huge leaps in weapons system capability.

Unsurprisingly, these advances in the combat capability of airborne platforms have become the focus of much interest, and often debate. But there is much more to air combat power than just airborne platforms and systems, with even the seemingly mundane subject of organisation becoming a discriminating combat factor between air forces.