An Apache attack helicopter provides close air support to United States Army soldiers patrolling the Tigris River southeast of Baghdad, Iraq during the Iraq War. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout An attack helicopter, also known as a Helicopter Gunship, is a Military helicopter armed for attacking targets on the ground The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern Baghdad (بغداد) is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, the Occupation of Iraq, or the War in Iraq, is an ongoing Military campaign

In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action by fixed or rotary winged aircraft against hostile targets that are in close proximity to friendly forces, and which requires detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement of these forces. Military tactics ( Greek: Taktikē, the art of organizing an army are the techniques for using weapons or military units in combination for engaging and defeating ^[1]

The determining factor for CAS is detailed integration, not proximity. CAS may need to be conducted not in close proximity to friendly forces, if the mission requires detailed integration with the fire and movement of these forces. A closely related subset of air interdiction, battlefield air interdiction denotes interdiction against units with near-term effects on friendly units, but which does not require integration with friendly troop movements. Air interdiction (AI is the use of aircraft to attack tactical ground targets that are not in close proximity to friendly ground forces The term "battlefield air interdiction" is not currently used in US joint doctrine.

Close air support requires excellent coordination with ground forces. In advanced modern militaries, this coordination is typically handled by specialists such as Joint Fires Observers, Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, and airborne Forward Air Controllers (FAC). An artillery observer is a soldier responsible for directing Artillery fire and Close air support (ground attack by aircraft onto enemy positions A Joint terminal attack controller is a qualified (certified Military service member who from a forward position directs the action of Combat aircraft engaged in A forward air controller (FAC is a qualified individual who from a forward position on the ground or in the air directs the action of Military aircraft engaged

History

World War I

The use of aircraft in the close air support of ground forces dates back to World War I, the first significant use of aerial units in warfare^[2]. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Air warfare, and indeed aviation itself, was still in its infancy - and the direct effect of rifle calibre machine guns and light bombs of WW1 aircraft was very limited compared with the power of (for instance) a WW2 fighter bomber, but close support aircraft still had a powerful psychological impact. The aircraft was a visible and personal enemy - unlike artillery - presenting a personal threat to enemy troops, while providing friendly forces assurance that their superiors were concerned about their situation. Most successful attacks of 1917 - 1918 included planning for coordination between aerial and ground units, although it was very hard at this early date to coordinate these attacks due to the primitive nature of air-to-ground radio communication. Though most airpower proponents sought independence from ground commanders and hence pushed the importance of interdiction and strategic bombing, they nonetheless recognized the need for close air support. ^[3]

The British Royal Flying Corps and the U.S. Army Air Service saw "trench strafing" (as CAS was known) as another task for ordinary pursuit or fighter aircraft, such as the DH.5 and Sopwith Camel, and did not seek out specialized units or equipment until the late months of the war. The Royal Flying Corps (RFC was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. The United States Army Air Service was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. The Airco DH5 was a British First World War single-seat Fighter aircraft specifically designed to replace the obsolete Airco DH WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The first British specialised CAS aircraft, the Sopwith Salamander, was too late to see action. The Sopwith TF2 Salamander was a British World War I Ground attack aircraft which first flew in April 1918 Since pilots lacked specific training, and their aircraft were both slow and fragile, they suffered heavy casualties while flying low over enemy positions. For example, No. 80 Squadron RAF averaged 75% losses for the last 10 months of the war. The Germans and French, however, developed tactics, training, and formations for ground support. Germany also built specialist CAS aircraft, culminating in the well armoured Junkers J.I. The Junkers JI (manufacturer's designation J4, not to be confused with the earlier pioneering Junkers J 1 all-metal monoplane of 1915/16 was a German By spring 1918, Germany had thirty-eight Schlachtstaffeln (battle squadrons) trained to bomb and strafe below 200 feet in support of ground forces. ^[3]

Inter-War Period - Framing the Debate

During the inter-war period, airpower advocates crystallized their views on the role of airpower in warfare. Aviators and ground officers developed largely opposing views on the importance of CAS, views that would frame institutional battles for CAS in the 20th century. The inter-war period also saw the use of CAS in a number of conflicts, principally Spain and China and the Banana Wars. For the 1974-1975 Banana war against US monopolies and Central American countries see Union of Banana Exporting Countries. Observers and participants from the major parties of World War II would base their CAS strategies on experience and observation from these conflicts. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

The development of the close air support came in between the World Wars, mostly through the adaptation of fighters or light bombers. A fighter aircraft is a Military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other Aircraft, as opposed to a Bomber, which is designed Light bomber is a relatively small and fast class of Military Bomber aircraft which was employed mainly before the 1950s Following the end of World War I, the United States embraced its role of global power and the United States Marine Corps became the preferred force for military intervention and where the Marines went so went Marine aviation. While other nations have Marines who are aviators only the United States Marine Corps has its own dedicated Aviation arm It was while fighting bandits and insurgents in places such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua that Marine Aviators would begin to experiment with air-ground tactics making the support of their fellow Marines on the ground their primary mission. Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America It was in Haiti that Marines began to develop the tactic of dive bombing and in Nicaraugua where they began to perfect it. A dive bomber is a Bomber aircraft that Dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy and limit the exposure to and effectiveness of While other nations and services had tried variations of this technique, Marine aviators were the first to embrace it and make it part of their tactical doctrine^[4]

Aviators, who wanted institutional independence from the Army, pushed for a view of airpower centered around interdiction, which would relieve them of the necessity of integrating with ground forces and allow them to operate as an independent military arm. They saw close air support as both the most difficult and most inefficient use of aerial assets. Close air support was the most difficult mission, requiring identifying and distinguishing between friendly and hostile units. At the same time, targets engaged in combat are dispersed and concealed, reducing the effectiveness of air attacks. They also argued that the CAS mission merely duplicated the abilities of artillery, whereas interdiction provided a unique capability.

Ground officers contended there was rarely sufficient artillery available, and the flexibility of aircraft would be ideal for massing firepower at critical points, while producing a greater psychological effect on friendly and hostile forces alike. Moreover, unlike massive, indiscriminate artillery strikes, small aerial bombs wouldn't render ground untrafficable, slowing attacking friendly forces^[3].

World War II

World War II marked the universal acceptance of the integration of air power into combined arms warfare as close air support. Although the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe led the way, all the major combatants had developed effective air-ground coordination techniques by the war's end, see Cab rank. Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. A cab rank or taxi rank is a primarily British English term for the United States English term " taxi stand " that being a queueing

Western Front

Luftwaffe

The Ju-87 Stuka provided close air support to the Wehrmacht during World War II and was an important part of the German Blitzkrieg doctrine

As a continental power intent on offensive operations, Germany could not ignore the need for aerial support of ground operations. The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Stu rz' ka' mpfflugzeug, " Dive bomber " was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner Wehrmacht (literally "defense force" was the name of the unified Armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945 World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Though the Luftwaffe, like its counterparts, tended to focus on strategic bombing, the Luftwaffe was unique in its willingness to commit forces to CAS. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. In joint exercises with Sweden in 1934, the Germans were first exposed to dive-bombing, which permitted greater accuracy while making attack aircraft more difficult to track by antiaircraft gunners. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. As a result, Ernst Udet, chief of the Luftwaffe's development, initiated procurement of close support dive-bombers on the model of the U. Colonel General Ernst Udet ( April 26 1896 – November 17 1941) was the second-highest scoring German Flying S. Navy's Curtiss Helldiver, resulting in the famous JU-87 Stuka. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Stu rz' ka' mpfflugzeug, " Dive bomber " was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner Experience in the Spanish Civil War lead to the creation of five ground-attack groups in 1938, four of which would be equipped with Stukas. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of The Luftwaffe matched its material acquisitions with advances in the air-ground coordination. General Wolfram von Richthofen organized a limited number of air liaison detachments that were attached to ground units of the main effort. These detachments existed to pass requests from the ground to the air, and receive reconnaissance reports, but they were not trained to guide aircraft onto targets.

These preparations did not prove fruitful in the invasion of Poland, where the Luftwaffe focused on interdiction and dedicated few assets to close air support. The Invasion of Poland (1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small German-allied But the value of CAS was demonstrated at the crossing of the Meuse River during the invasion of France in 1940. The Meuse (in Dutch and in German: "Maas" in Latin: "Mosa" in Celtic:"Mus" (the rootword presumingly In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries General Heinz Guderian, one of the creators of the combined-arms tactical doctrine commonly known as blitzkrieg, believed the best way to provide cover for the crossing would be a continuous stream of ground attack aircraft on French defenders. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian ( 17 June, 1888 – 14 May, 1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German Blitzkrieg (German for "lightning war" is a popular name for an Offensive operational-level Military doctrine which involves an initial Though few guns were hit, the attacks kept the French under cover and prevented them from manning their guns. Aided by the sirens attached to Stukas, the psychological impact was disproportional to the destructive power of close air support. In addition, the reliance on air support over artillery reduced the demand for logistical support through the Ardennes. Though there were difficulties in coordinating air support with the rapid advance, the Germans demonstrated consistently superior CAS tactics to those of the British and French defenders. Later, on the Eastern front, the Germans would devise visual ground signals to mark friendly units and to indicate direction and distance to enemy emplacements.

Despite these accomplishments, German CAS was not perfect and suffered from the same misunderstanding and interservice rivalry that plagued other nation's air arms, and friendly fire was not uncommon. Interservice rivalry is a Military term referring to rivalries that can arise between different branches of a country's Armed forces, such as between a nation's For example, on the eve of the Meuse offensive, Guderian's superior cancelled his CAS plans and called for high-altitude strikes from medium bombers, which would have required halting the offensive until the air strikes were complete. Fortunately for the Germans, his order was issued too late to be implemented, and the Luftwaffe commander followed the schedule he had previously worked out with Guderian. As late as November 1941, the Luftwaffe refused to provide Erwin Rommel with an air liaison officer for the Afrika Korps, because it "would be against the best use of the air force as a whole^[3]. Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (also known as the " Desert Fox " Wüstenfuchs The German Afrikakorps ( German: Deutsches Afrikakorps DAK) was the original German blocking force (Sperrverband = Armored Blocking Force in Libya "

Royal Air Force and U. S. Army Air Forces

The Americans and British entered the war woefully unprepared to provide CAS. In 1940, the Royal Air Force and Army headquarters in France were located at separate positions, resulting in unreliable communications. After the RAF was withdrawn in May, Army officers had to telephone the War Office in London to arrange for air support. The War Office was a former department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1963 when The stunning effectiveness of German air-ground coordination spurred change. On the basis of tests in Northern Ireland in August 1940, Group Captain A. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of Group Captain ( Gp Capt in the RAF and Indian Air Force, GPCAPT in the RNZAF and RAAF, G/C in the former H. Wann RAF and Colonel J. D. Woodall (British Army) issued the Wann-Woodall Report, recommending the creation of a distinct tactical air force and liaisons (known colloquially as "tentacles"), to accompany Army divisions and brigades. Their report spurred the RAF to create an Army Co-Operation Command and to develop tentacle equipment and procedures placing an Air Liaison Officer with each brigade. RAF Army Cooperation Command was a short-lived major command of the Royal Air Force during World War II, comprised of the army cooperation units

Charged with the principal mission of strategic bombing, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) operated independently of the rest of the Army. AAF doctrinal priorities for tactical aviation were, in order, air superiority, isolation of the battlefield via supply interdiction, and thirdly, close air support. However, in 1944, in response to the success of the Stuka and German CAS, AAF commander Lt. Gen. Henry ("Hap") Arnold acquired 2 groups of A-24 dive bombers, the army version of the Navy's SPD-2. Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold GCB ( June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was a five-star General officer WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Later, the AAF would develop a modification of the P-51 Mustang with dive brakes - the North American A-36. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout However, there was no training to match the purchases. Though Gen. Lesley McNair, commander of Army Ground Forces, pushed to change AAF priorities, the latter failed to provide aircraft for even major training exercises. Six months before the invasion of Normandy, 33 divisions had received no joint air-ground training. In 1943, the AAF changed their radios to a frequency incompatible with ground radios.

As a result, CAS was poorly executed, if at all, by the AAF in the North African campaign. So few aerial assets were assigned to U. S. troops that they fired on anything in the air. While the RAF sorted out its CAS doctrine in London, officers in North Africa improvised their own coordination techniques. In October 1941, Sir Arthur Tedder and Arthur Coningham, senior RAF commanders in North Africa, created joint RAF-Army Air Support Control staffs at each corps and armored division headquarters, and placed a Forward Air Support Link at each brigade to forward air support requests. Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder 1st Baron Tedder of Glenguin, GCB (11 July 1890–3 June 1967 was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham KCB KBE DSO MC DFC AFC RAF (19 January 1895 When trained tentacle teams arrived in 1942, they cut response time on support requests to thirty minutes. ^[3]. It was also in the North Africa desert that the cab rank strategy was developed. A cab rank or taxi rank is a primarily British English term for the United States English term " taxi stand " that being a queueing

The situation would improve during the Italian campaign, where American and British forces, working in close cooperation, exchanged CAS techniques and ideas. There, the AAF's XII Air Support Command and the Fifth U. S. Army shared headquarters, meeting every evening to plan strikes and devising a network of liaisons and radios for communications. However, friendly fire continued to be a concern - pilots did not know recognition signals and regularly bombed friendly units, until an A-36 was shot down in self-defense by Allied tanks. Friendly fire from the ground prompted the black and white stripes painted on all Allied aircraft after 1944.

The AAF would see the greatest innovations in 1944 under Gen. Elwood A. Quesada, commander of IX Tactical Air Command, supporting the First U. S. Army. He developed the "armored column cover", where on-call fighter-bombers maintained a high-level of availability for important tank advances, allowing armor units to maintain a high tempo of exploitation even when they outran their artillery assets. He also used a modified antiaircraft radar to track friendly attack aircraft to redirect them as necessary, and experimented with assigning fighter pilots to tours as forward air controllers to familiarize them with the ground perspective. In July 1944, Quesada provided VHF aircraft radios to tank crews in Normandy. When the armored units broke out of the Normandy beachhead, tank commanders were able to communicate directly with overhead fighter-bombers. However, despite the innovation, Quesada focused his aircraft on CAS only for major offensives. Typically, both British and American attack aircraft were tasked primarily to interdiction, even though later analysis showed them to be twice as dangerous as CAS.

Eastern Front

The Red Air Force was not slow to recognize the value of ground support aircraft. The Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation VVS, transliterated from Russian: ВВС, Военно-воздушные силы ( Voenno-Vozdushnye Even as far back as the Nomonhan incident, Russian aircraft were given the task of disrupting enemy ground operations. The Battle of Khalkhyn Gol (бои на реке Халхин-Гол Халхын голын байлдаан Japanese ノモンハン事件 Nomonhan jiken --i This use increased markedly after the German invasion. Purpose-built aircraft such as the Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik were highly effective in blunting the activity of the Panzers. Joseph Stalin paid the Il-2 a great tribute in his own inimitable manner: when a particular production factory fell behind on its deliveries, Stalin sent the following cable to the factory manager: "They are as essential to the Red Army as air and bread. "

German CAS reached its peak on the Eastern Front during the period 1941-1943. Their decline was caused by the growing strength of the Red Air Force and the redeployment of assets to defend against American and British strategic bombardment. The introduction of improved Soviet tanks, the T-34 and KV-1 reduced the effectiveness of close air support, even after the adoption of 30mm cannon and shaped-charge bombs. The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1941 to 1958 It is widely regarded as having been the world's best Tank when the Soviet Union The Kliment Voroshilov ( KV) Tanks were a series of Soviet Heavy tanks named after the Soviet defense commissar and politician Kliment Voroshilov While German procedures for CAS lead the way, their loss of air superiority and technological advantage, combined with a declining supply of aircraft and fuel, crippled their ability to provide CAS after 1943.

The Pacific Theater

The American Navy and Marine Corps would similarly use CAS in conjunction with or as a substitute for the lack of available artillery or naval gunfire. Marine Corsairs used a variety of ordnance such as conventional bombs, rockets and napalm to disloge or attack Japanese troops utilizing cave complexes in the latter part of WWII.

Korean War

F4U-5 Corsairs provide close air support to U. S marines fighting Chinese forces during the war in Korea, December 1950.

From Navy experiments with the KGW-1 Loon, the Navy designation for the German V-1 flying bomb, Marine Captain Marian Cranford Dalby developed the AN-MPQ-14, a system that enabled radar-guided bomb release at night or in poor weather^[5]. The Fieseler Fi 103, better known as V-1 (German Vergeltungswaffe 1 was an early Cruise missile used during World War Two

Though the Marine Corps continued its tradition of intimate air-ground cooperation, the newly created Air Force again moved away from CAS, now to strategic bombers and jet interceptors. Though eventually the Air Force supplied sufficient pilots and forward air controllers to provide battlefield support, coordination was still lacking. Since pilots operated under centralized control, ground controllers were never able to familiarize themselves with pilots, and requests were not processed quickly. Harold K. Johnson, then commander of 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (later Army Chief of Staff) commented regarding CAS: "If you want it, you can't get it. The 8th Cavalry Regiment was constituited July 28 1866 and organized as a regiment on September 21 1866 at Camp Reynolds, If you can get it, it can't find you. If it can find you, it can't identify the target. If it can identify the target, it can't hit it. But if it does hit the target, it doesn't do a a great deal of damage anyway. "^[6]

It's unsurprising, then, that MacArthur excluded USAF aircraft from the airspace over the Inchon Landing in September 1950, instead relying on Marine Aircraft Group 33 for CAS. General MacArthur redirects here for other meanings see General MacArthur (disambiguation. The Battle of Incheon (인천 상륙 작전 Incheon Sangryuk Jakjeon; Code name: Operation Chromite) was an amphibious invasion and battle of Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 33 (MATSG-33 is a United States Marine Corps Aviation training group that was originally established during In December 1951, Lt. Gen. James Van Fleet, commander of the Eighth U.S. Army, formally requested the United Nations Commander, Gen. James Alward Van Fleet ( March 19, 1892 - September 23, 1992) was a U Mark Clark, to permanently attach an attack squadron to each of the four army corps in Korea. Mark Clark or Clarke may refer to Mark A Clark (born 1967 Arizona state legislator Mark Wayne Clark (1896–1984 United Though the request was denied, Clark allocated much more Navy and Air Force aircraft to CAS. Despite the rocky start, the USAF would also work to improve its coordination efforts. It eventually required pilots to serve 80 days as forward air controllers (FACs), which gave them an understanding of the difficulties from the ground perspective and helped cooperation when they returned to the cockpit. A forward air controller (FAC is a qualified individual who from a forward position on the ground or in the air directs the action of Military aircraft engaged The USAF also provided airborne FAC's in critical locations. The Army also learned to assist, by suppressing anti-aircraft fire prior to air strikes.

The U.S. Army wanted a dedicated USAF presence on the battlefield to reduce fratricide, or the harm of friendly forces. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Fratricide (from the Latin word frater, meaning "brother" and cide meaning to kill is the act of a person Killing his or her The air liaison officer (ALO) was born. The ALO is an aeronautically rated officer that has spent a tour away from the cockpit, serving as the primary advisor to the ground commander on the capabilities and limitations of airpower. Air power redirects here for electrical and mechanical energy supplied by air movement see Wind power

Introduction of Helicopters

The 1960s and 1970s saw the adoption of attack helicopters in the CAS role. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. An attack helicopter, also known as a Helicopter Gunship, is a Military helicopter armed for attacking targets on the ground Though helicopters were initially armed merely as defensive measures to support the landing and extraction of troops, their value in this role lead to the modification of early helicopters as dedicated gunship platforms. Though not as fast as fixed-wing aircraft and consequently more vulnerable to anti-aircraft weaponry, helicopters could utilize terrain for cover, and more importantly, had much greater battlefield persistence owing to their low speeds. The latter made them a natural complement to ground forces in the CAS role. In addition, newly-developed Anti-tank guided missiles, demonstrated to great effectiveness in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, provided aircraft with an effective ranged anti-tank weapon. An anti-tank guided missile ( ATGM) or anti-tank guided weapon ( ATGW) is a guided Missile primarily designed to hit and destroy The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War (מלחמת יום הכיפורים transliterated: Milkhemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום These considerations motivated armies to promote the helicopter from a support role to a combat arm. Though the U. S. Army controlled rotary-wing assets, coordination continued to pose a problem. During wargames, field commanders tended to hold attack helicopters out of fear of air defenses, committing them too late to effectively support ground units. The earlier debate over control over CAS assets were reiterated between ground commanders and aviators.

In the mid 1970s, after Vietnam, the USAF decided to train an enlisted force to handle many of the tasks the ALO was saturated with, to include terminal attack control. An enlisted rank in the Military of the United States is any rank below a commissioned officer. A Joint terminal attack controller is a qualified (certified Military service member who from a forward position directs the action of Combat aircraft engaged in Now the ALO mainly serves in the liaison role, the intricate details of mission planning and attack guidance left to the enlisted members of the Tactical Air Control Party. A Tactical Air Control Party, commonly abbreviated TACP (pronounced TAC-P is usually a team of two or more United States Air Force

Aircraft

Various aircraft can fill close air support roles. Helicopters are often used for close air support and are so closely integrated with ground operations that in most countries they are operated by the army rather than the air force. History Since 400 AD Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys. Fighters and ground attack aircraft like the A-10 Thunderbolt II provide close air support using rockets, missiles, small bombs, and strafing runs. A fighter aircraft is a Military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other Aircraft, as opposed to a Bomber, which is designed Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft

In World War II, dive bombers and fighters were used in close air support. A dive bomber is a Bomber aircraft that Dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy and limit the exposure to and effectiveness of A fighter aircraft is a Military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other Aircraft, as opposed to a Bomber, which is designed Dive bombing permitted greater accuracy than level bombing runs, while the rapid altitude change made it more difficult for antiaircraft gunners to track. The Junkers Ju 87 is the best known example of a dive bomber designed for CAS. The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Stu rz' ka' mpfflugzeug, " Dive bomber " was a two-seat (pilot and rear gunner It was fitted with wind-blown whistles on its landing gear to enhance its psychological effect.

Other than the A-36, a P-51 modified with dive brakes, the Americans and British used no dedicated CAS aircraft in WWII, preferring fighters or fighter-bombers that could be pressed into CAS service. While some such as the Hawker Typhoon and the P-47 Thunderbolt, performed admirably in that role, there were a number of compromises that prevented most fighters from making effective CAS platforms. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Fighters were usually optimized for high-altitude operations without bombs or other external ordnance - flying at low level with bombs quickly expended fuel. Cannons had to be mounted differently for strafing - strafing required a further and lower convergence point than aerial combat did.

Of the World War II allies, the Soviet Union used specifically designed ground attack aircraft more than the UK and US. Such aircraft included the Ilyushin Il-2, the single most produced military aircraft design in all of aviation history.

In the Vietnam War, the United States introduced fixed-wing gunships, cargo aircraft refitted as gun platforms to serve as close air support and air interdiction aircraft. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The first of these was the AC-47 Spooky. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Later models include the AC-119 and the AC-130. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The Lockheed AC-130 Gunship is a heavily-armed ground attack airplane The AC-130 has been used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq during recent US operations there.

Today, close support is typically carried out by fighter-bombers or dedicated ground attack aircraft, such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog or Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot, but even large high-altitude bombers can occasionally fill close support roles thanks to precision guided munitions. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout During Operation Enduring Freedom, the lack of fighter aircraft forced military planners to rely heavily on US bombers, particularly the B-1 and B-52, to fill the CAS role. Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF is the official name used by the U WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Bomber CAS, relying mainly on GPS guided weapons, has evolved into a devastating tactical employment methodology and has changed US doctrinal thinking regarding CAS in general. Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth After the initial collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, airfields in Afghanistan became available for continuing operations against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The Taliban ( طالبان, also anglicised as Taleban; translation "students" is a Sunni Islamist, predominately Al-Qaeda, alternatively spelled al-Qaida, al-Qa`ida or al-Qa`idah, ( Arabic:; ar-Latn ''al-qāʿidah'' Translation: The This resulted in the majority CAS operations to be undertaken by aircraft from Belgium (F-16), Denmark (F-16), France (Mirage 2000D), the Netherlands (F-16), Norway (F-16), the United Kingdom (Harrier GR7s and GR9s) and the United States (A-10, AV-8B Harrier II, F/A-18). WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Technological enhancement

The use of information technology to direct and coordinate precision air support has increased the importance of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in utilizing CAS. Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Surveillance is the monitoring of Behavior. Systems surveillance is the process of monitoring the behavior of people objects or processes within systems for conformity Reconnaissance (also scouting) is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information Laser, GPS, and battlefield data transfer are routinely used to coordinate with a wide variety of air platforms able to provide CAS. A laser is a device that emits Light ( Electromagnetic radiation) through a process called Stimulated emission. Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth Recent doctrine^[7] reflects the increased use of electronic and optical technology to direct targeted fires for CAS. Air platforms communicating with ground forces can also provide additional aerial-to-ground visual search, ground-convoy escort, and enhancement of command and control (C2), assets which can be particularly important for low intensity conflict. Low intensity conflict (LIC is the use of Military forces applied selectively and with restraint to enforce compliance with the policies or objectives of the political ^[8]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Corum, James S. & Johnson, Wray R. (2003). Airpower in Small Wars - Fighting Insurgents and Terrorists. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 23. ISBN 0-70061-240-8.  
• Krulak, Victor H. (1984). Victor H Krulak (born January 7 1913 in Denver Colorado) was a decorated United States Marine Corps officer who saw action in World War II, Korea First To Fight: An Inside View of the U. S. Marine Corps. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-785-2.  

See also

• Cab rank Air-Ground liason
• Counter-insurgency aircraft, a specific type of CAS aircraft
• Ground-attack aircraft
• Tactical bombing, a general term for the type of bombing that includes CAS and air interdiction
• 15 Air Assault Close Support Squadron RLC

External links

• DOD dictionary definition of close air support
• The Forward Air Controller Association
• The ROMAD Locator The home of the current ground FAC
• Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team works with CAS and others. A cab rank or taxi rank is a primarily British English term for the United States English term " taxi stand " that being a queueing See also Insurgency In the context of an occupation or a Civil war, counter-insurgency (abbreviated COIN is a military term for the combat Ground-attack aircraft are military aircraft designed to attack targets on the ground and are often deployed as Close air support for and in proximity to their own ground forces Tactical bombing uses Aircraft to attack troops and military equipment in the battle zone Air interdiction (AI is the use of aircraft to attack tactical ground targets that are not in close proximity to friendly ground forces
• Operation Anaconda: An Airpower Perspective - Close air support during Operation Anaconda, United States Airforce, 2005. Operation Anaconda is the code name for an operation in early March 2002 in which the United States military, along with allied Afghan military forces attempted to