Editing Offensive counter air

{{Short description|Air warfare conducted to actively destroy enemy aircraft and ability to wage aerial warfare}}
'''Offensive counter-air''' '''(OCA)''' is a military term for the suppression of an enemy's [[military aircraft|military air power]], primarily through ground attacks targeting enemy air bases: disabling or destroying parked aircraft, [[runway]]s, [[fuel]] facilities, [[hangars]], [[air traffic control]] facilities and other aviation [[infrastructure]]. Ground munitions like bombs are typically less expensive than more sophisticated air-to-air munitions, and a single ground munition can destroy or disable multiple aircraft in a very short time whereas aircraft already flying must typically be shot down one at a time. Enemy aircraft already flying also represent an imminent threat as they can usually fire back, and therefore destroying them before they can take off minimizes the risk to friendly aircraft.

Air-to-air operations conducted by [[fighter aircraft]] with the objective of clearing an airspace of enemy fighters known as [[combat air patrol]]s can also be offensive counter-air missions, but they are seen as a comparatively slow and expensive way of achieving the final objective - [[air superiority]].<ref name="companion">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LenFBpKAvHcC&q=fighter%20%22superiority%20fighter%22%20multi-role%20attack%20bomber&pg=PA36|title=The Counterair Companion: A Short Guide to Air Superiority for Joint Force Commanders|author=James Michael Holmes|publisher=DIANE Publishing|year=1995|page=36|isbn=9781428992269|access-date=20 January 2011}}</ref> The opposite term is [[defensive counter air]], primarily referring to the protection of territory, men and/or materiel against incursion by enemy aircraft, usually with a combination of ground-based [[surface-to-air missile]]s and [[anti-aircraft artillery]] but also through defensive combat air patrols.

==History==
Offensive counter-air strikes have been used since [[World War I]].<ref name=fas>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/spp/aircraft/part07.htm|access-date=December 17, 2010|publisher=fas.org|title=VII - Mutual Vulnerability: Counter Air Operations}}</ref> The [[Teishin Shudan]] and [[Giretsu Kuteitai]] carried out two OCA raids in the Pacific theatre against B29s. In one measure the most successful single OCA mission to date was [[Operation Focus]], the [[Israel]]i offensive that opened the [[Six-Day War]] of 1967, when the [[Israeli Air Force|Heyl Ha'avir]] destroyed a large portion of the air power of [[Egypt]], [[Syria]], and [[Jordan]], mostly on the ground, totaling roughly 600 airframes destroyed by a force of 200 aircraft. However, in sheer number of planes destroyed, the opening two weeks of [[Operation Barbarossa]] saw some 3-4,000 Russian planes destroyed in total. Other successful attacks include US counter-air operations in Korea in 1950 and 1953, French and British attacks during the [[Suez Crisis]] and many others.<ref name=fas/> However, there have also been notable failures like [[Operation Chengiz Khan]] initiated by Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Iraqi attacks on Iran.<ref name=fas/>

Although OCA missions are often carried out via air strikes, they are not limited to aerial action. The [[Teishin Shudan]] and [[Giretsu Kuteitai]] commandos carried out two notable OCA raids during World War II, as did the British [[Long Range Desert Group]]. The Vietcong successfully destroyed a number of American aircraft with mortar fire during the Vietnam War, and more recently a [[September 2012 Camp Bastion raid|Taliban raid]] in Afghanistan destroyed eight [[McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II|AV-8B Harrier]]s.

The [[Swedish Air Force]] developed and used the [[Bas 60]] and [[Bas 90]] air base systems during the [[Cold War]], as a suite of defensive measures against offensive counter air operations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fht.nu/Dokument/Flygvapnet/flyg_publ_dok_flygbassystemet_bas_60.pdf|title=Flygbassystem 60|last=Rystedt|first=Jörgen|date=October 1, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fht.nu/Dokument/Flygvapnet/flyg_publ_dok_flygbassystem_90.pdf|title=Flygbassystem 90|last=Rystedt|first=Jörgen|date=April 25, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forsvarsmakten.se/siteassets/5-information-och-fakta/historia/vagbaserna/fortv-2007-1.pdf|title=Svenska militära flygbaser|last=Törnell|first=Bernt|date=February 5, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forsvarsmakten.se/siteassets/5-information-och-fakta/historia/vagbaserna/fortv_rapport_2006.1.pdf|title=Svenska reservvägbaser|last=Andersson|first=Lennart|date=November 23, 2006}}</ref>

===Weapons used===
During the 1950s, the Cold War strategy of both [[NATO]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]] called for OCA to be carried out with [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s, but by the mid-1960s, new policies of 'proportional response' brought about a return to conventional tactics. Beginning shortly before the [[Six-Day War]], specialized weapons were developed for disrupting runways, which were further developed into munitions such as the [[BLU-107 Durandal]] anti-runway bomb (carried by USAF [[F-111E]]s), and the [[JP233|Hunting JP233]] (carried by [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] [[Panavia Tornado]] aircraft), both used during the [[Gulf War|1991 Gulf War]].

After the UK signed [[Ottawa Treaty| an international accord]] in 1997, banning the production & use of anti-personnel mines, the JP233 was withdrawn from RAF service.<ref>[http://www.icbl.org/en-gb/the-treaty/treaty-status.aspx Treaty Status] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110040825/http://www.icbl.org/en-gb/the-treaty/treaty-status.aspx |date=10 November 2014 }}, ''[[International Campaign to Ban Landmines]]''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Hansard; Written Answers 3 March 2009, Tornado Aircraft: Weapons |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090303/text/90303w0014.htm#st_286 |website=parliament.uk |access-date=13 March 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Aerial warfare strategy]]
[[Category:Aerial warfare tactics]]