Page 230 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, air 2007

to drop troops to penetrate enemy-occupied territory. On 105 and F-4 fighters. The surface-to-air missile (SAM)
D-Day, 6 June 1944, paratrooper forces dropped from antiaircraft weapon, equipped with laser-guided bombs,
airplanes led the Allied advance on Berlin to end the war. missile detection, and radar-jamming devices, posed a
Brave pilots in rugged machines proved that air warfare new threat to aerial reconnaissance and bombing. Better
dominated the outcome on the ground.A leap in aviation aerial refueling techniques extended the range of combat
history occurred with the first fighter jet, developed by aircraft.
Germany, the Messerschmitt ME 262. Other German
developments indicating the future were the V-1 pilotless Modern Air Warfare
jet-propelled rocket carrying nearly 2,000 kilograms of With the advent of computer technology, weapons sys-
explosives, and the V-2, the first guided missile capable of tems have become more and more sophisticated and
carrying 750 kilograms of explosives more than 300 kilo- “smart.” But the quest for height and the need to estab-
meters.These were launched against England in the sum- lish immediate air superiority remain primary battlefield
mer of 1944, but came too late to affect the final objectives for air warfare. The Persian Gulf War (1991)
outcome of the war. and current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq employ
Aircraft carriers were used effectively in the Pacific dur- the latest technology in the air to control the war on the
ing the Battle of Midway in June 1942, and B-29s over- ground. Stealth fighters like the F-117 Nighthawk with a
whelmed any Japanese home air defense. On 6 August range of 1,200 kilometers and carrying two laser-guided
1944, the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bombs, and the B-2 Heavy Bomber deliver surgical
bomb on Hiroshima, ending Japan’s war efforts without strikes on pinpointed targets. By deflecting radar, the
invasion, and epitomizing absolute air superiority. Stealth bomber appears invisible to enemy forces. Its four
engines hidden in the fuselage enable it to evade heat-
Post-World War II seeking missiles.
and Vietnam With such undetectable machines, and computer tech-
The development of the jet engine and surface-to-air and nology, pilot skills and aircraft speed are not issues.
air-to-air missiles changed the complexion of air warfare, Reconnaissance is still a predominant factor in air war-
but the piloted fighter jet played the major role in the fare. Unmanned predator spy planes are the ultimate
Korean War (1950–1953). U.S. single-seat jet fighters, the reconnaissance aircraft, guided by remote control from
F-80 and F-86, fought Soviet-built MiG-15s—both able ground stations and endangering no lives, to dispense
to reach the speed and height required for air fighting, but real-time information for directing troops and warplanes.
their supersonic speed made formation flying near impos- C-130 gunboats are essentially airborne artillery, echoing
sible. Once again, pilots fell back to the fighting unit the early days when biplanes were used in conjunction
introduced by Oswald Boelcke in 1916, the pair. The with artillery batteries.The Apache attack helicopter can
fighter was used for offensive and defensive day fighting, account for twenty tanks in one strike.
visual and photographic reconnaissance, and bombing
and strafing ground targets. The Future of
The Vietnam War (1957–1975) was largely a guerrilla Air Warfare
war fought in jungles. B-52 bombers were used for main The future battlefield promises to be dominated by air
air strikes against Communist targets, but helicopters superiority, with aircraft becoming more and more like
became an important aerial warfare technique because spacecraft. The latest U-2 spy plane flies at more than
they could easily strike targets in the jungles and moun- 25,000 meters, at the very edge of space.The Eurofighter
tains. Primarily the air war was between jet fighters, the is a state-of-the-art fighter plane. But the ultimate goal of
Russian MiG-17 and MiG-21 jets against American F- air warfare remains the same as that original concept one