The Battle of Britain: The First Integrated Air Defense System
Abstract
The Battle for Britain is the only campaign to be fought and won solely by airpower. The research question explored in this monograph was: How did the British integrated air defense system prevent the Luftwaffe from setting the requirements for a German invasion of Great Britain? The British were victorious because their layered defense plan presented multiple simultaneous problems to the unescorted German bombers, preventing them from focusing on their assigned mission. The secret use of radar resulted in the British RAF being capable of predetermining a location of their time and choosing for the British fighter squadrons to engage the bombers. The ability of the British to understand the changes in the operational environment more swiftly than the Germans resulted in their ability to operate within Germany's decision-making cycle. The design of Col John Boyd's concept of OODA loop is to help better understand the continually changing environment faster than the enemy is to present multiple problems for them to solve, preventing them from achieving their mission. Significant to today's operational environment is how technology can help process the information at the faster speeds and speed up the process to understand the battlefield faster and to operate more quickly than the enemy is capable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 21, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1159878
Entities
People
- Gregory P. Shipper
Organizations
- School of Advanced Military Studies