Lockdown from the air

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The term interlocking from the air (English Air Interdiction , AI ) describes the use of aircraft in military aviation, in which targets on the ground are fought that are not in the immediate vicinity of one's own forces on the ground. One combat aircraft for a possible order is referred to as a sortie . A fighter aircraft can be used several times a day after refueling and re-arming as a sortie.

In contrast to the close air support (Close Air Support - CAS) therefore no immediate close coordination with is fire and movement of their own land forces required. However, air lockdown is not a completely independent type of air force operation.

The aim of isolation from the air is to delay enemy forces, resources or supplies on the way to the combat zone, to interrupt their connections or to destroy them or structures such as roads before they can be used against their own forces.

The common during the Cold War distinction between air interdiction beyond the fire support coordination line (FSCL) and Gefechtsfeldabriegelung (Battlefield Air Interdiction - BAI) was abandoned in the late 1990s. Before that it was still common for the aircraft to attack enemy targets at low altitude and thus fly into the trajectory of artillery shells. Distance weapons are mostly used today. The only criterion for categorization today is the required degree of coordination with the land forces.

Types of operations in air warfare until the late 1990s

AI BAI CAS.jpg

Types of operations in air warfare since then

  • Counter Air
  • Anti Surface Force Air Operations consisting primarily of
  • Supporting Air Operations (such as air transport)
  • Strategic Air Operations (earlier only atomic, now also conventional)

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