Air supremacy

Air supremacy is the highest level of control over the sky. It means one side has such strong air power that the other side cannot interfere with their missions. This is very different from air superiority, which just means one side has a better position. Military planners often see having this control as a necessity for winning. It allows for many important tasks like dropping supplies or paratroop assaults. It also helps move cargo and support soldiers on the ground.

Control of the air is often seen as a zero-sum game. This means if one side gains more control, the other side must lose it.

There are several ways to gain this level of control. Many people think only of fighting other planes in the sky. However, destroying enemy aircraft on the ground is often more effective. Forces might destroy fuel supplies or use bombs to ruin runways. This makes it very hard for the opponent to fly their planes. Some groups even use special raids to hit airfields directly.

In the past, the British Special Air Service was formed for this job. They conducted raids on German aircraft and airfields during the war. During operations in the Western Desert, they destroyed more than 400 enemy aircraft.

History shows us how much the importance of air power has changed. In 1921, an American named Billy Mitchell showed that planes were very powerful. He arranged exercises where bombers sank a large battleship named the SMS Ostfriesland. This proved that aircraft could defeat even the strongest ships. Later, an Italian thinker named Giulio Douhet wrote a famous book. He argued that future wars would be decided in the skies. He believed air power could be used to end wars quickly.

During the First World War, air combat was still very new. Pilots used new tools like machine guns to fight. One major event was the Fokker Scourge from late 1915 to early 1916. This was a time when German aircraft had great control. Later, in October 1918, the Italian military gained control at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. They used about 600 aircraft to win this final offensive. This victory helped cause the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Even with great power, air supremacy does not mean everything is safe. Hostile forces can still find ways to win using unexpected tactics. For example, NATO forces held air superiority over Kosovo but still lost a stealth aircraft. This happened because of a Serbian ground-based defense system. In the Iraq War, insurgents used mortars to hit planes on the ground. They even used photos from the internet to find their targets. This shows that even the strongest air forces must always stay careful.