Contested Skies – Our uncertain air superiority future

Summary

The saying goes, it is better to want what you have, rather than have what you want. This was not said in the context of force structure reviews in responding to significant increases in global defence acquisitions, that’s for sure. However, Dr Peter Layton takes on the challenge to assess what Australia currently has and is forecast to purchase in the medium term. His grounded argument uses three strategies to meet the future air superiority operational environment and assesses Australia’s current global strategic positioning, from both offensive and defensive positions. Weighing the pro's and con's of concepts like ‘the combat cloud’, an Australian ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier' and a ‘joint anti-air-raid campaigns’, his conclusions draw upon varying degrees of burden-shifts between Australia and the US in meeting the resourcing requirements. How would you rethink air superiority in our region?

References

RAAF RUNWAY: RATIONALE, GUIDELINES, LEARNING OUTCOMES, ETC |