![]() With Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs), one fighter could attack several targets in one mission, including dug-in tanks and artillery and intense air attacks could now obliterate entire armoured columns. Air strikes became unprecedentedly accurate. The resulting persistent air superiority offered a virtual sanctuary that could be exploited for various purposes, such as ISR, Interdiction, Close Air Support (CAS) and strategic attacks. ![]() Stealth fighters and bombers, persistent Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR), the proliferation of precision guided munitions, Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) and Electronic Warfare (EW) capability, networking of sensors, shooters and Command and Control (C2) nodes, all combined to make the offence superior to defence in air warfare. Indeed, a revolution in military affairs took place which was largely based on the rapid evolution in air power capabilities. Since Operation Desert Storm in 1991 the military and political utility of air power has vastly increased. The west has become addicted to its air power dominance. The real significance of the F35 is strategic and political in nature, and must be assessed from a European security perspective. But the F-35 means much more than the mere replacement of one fighter by another one. ![]() The introduction of F-35 fighters in European air forces marks a momentous transition from 4 th generation fighters to the 5 th generation. ![]() This essay is the reprint of an article published in October 2016 by the Norwegian Airforce Magazine ‘LUFTLED’. ![]()
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