's
F-16 Fighting Falcon jet fighters on a runway Airpower can be considered a function of air supremacy and numbers. Roughly speaking, a combatant side that has 100% or near 100% control of the skies has air supremacy; an advantage of some 70–90% would indicate
air superiority. A 50/50 split is air parity; lower than this, one side may be said to be air denied or air incapable. Because aeroplanes generally take off from designed airfields on missions typically involving some hours of cruising, the precise state of air superiority is fluid and less defined vis-a-vis
land or
sea warfare. For example, a contested
airspace directly above a
battlespace bristling with
anti-aircraft weapons may be denied to the
air forces of both sides. Further, the completely different situations of a technologically advanced airforce with one flight of high-tech planes (air supremacy but low capacity) or a low-tech force of massive numbers of low-tech planes (e.g.,
An-2) resulting in high capacity but low long-term survivability demonstrate that 'air power' is multi-faceted and complex. Significant contributors to theorizing about air power have been
Giulio Douhet,
Billy Mitchell,
John Boyd and
John A. Warden III. At the start of World War I, opinions differed on the national air forces and the value of airships. Some early strategists/visionaries after
World War I imagined that airpower alone would suffice to bring nations to their knees. The
Bombing of Guernica was an early trial that revealed both capabilities and limitations. But yet another maxim, "no war was ever won solely by airpower" was challenged by the
NATO victory in
Kosovo. Airpower has been used to conduct lightning strategic strikes, to
complement land offensives, to
instill fear and lower morale similarly to a
fleet in being, and to
create broad-based destruction behind enemy lines. With airpower, supplies can be transported by
cargo planes, providing a decisive edge in mobility.
Military and
civilian aircraft interact in a number of complex ways, including
shootdowns of civilian planes, whether mistaken or not; military escorts of civilian planes; civilian planes being used for military transport,
espionage, or other purposes; and/or
no-fly zones being enforced to punish or sanction a target nation. Airpower also relates to space power, although
militarization of space remains regulated by international treaty.
Developed nations have enjoyed a consistent advantage in airpower since the beginning of mechanized flight. Airpower has been wielded mostly decisively in the last hundred years by
Nazi Germany, the
United Kingdom, the
United States, the
Soviet Union,
Japan,
Italy, and
France, with many
client nations using
aircraft developed by one or more of these nations. A mass technological base is considered necessary for the development of airpower. As early as 1921, air power doctrines were being actively debated in British India, with key arguments around flexibility, psychological impact, and deterrence being articulated by military theorists. These ideas, though born in the colonial era, later influenced independent air forces like the IAF. A retrospective analysis of these early insights and their enduring relevance has been published. ==See also==