Combat Air Power: Joint Assessment of Air Superiority Can Be Improved.
Abstract
One of the primary objectives that U.S. combat air power is expected to achieve is air superiority. Achieving air superiority permits operations in the air and on land and sea without prohibitive interference from an enemy's air forces, cruise missiles, and theater ballistic missiles. The Persian Gulf War clearly demonstrated the superior U.S. and coalition forces' capability to quickly achieve air superiority by paralyzing Iraqi air defenses and dominating the air-to-air battle. The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to spend over $43 billion from fiscal year 1996 to fiscal year 2001 to acquire weapon systems to equip and modernize forces for the air superiority mission. Because of the large investment planned during the next several years and pursuant to its basic legislative authority, GAO evaluated the air superiority mission to (1) identify the overlap among the military services' planned capabilities and (2) determine whether the joint warfighting assessment process relating to air superiority was useful to assist in making program and budget decisions about these capabilities. This is an unclassified version of an earlier classified report on this subject.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA321879
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office