The Quest for Relevant Air Power

344 │ CONCLUSION
Unlike France, Germany has never had an ambition to supplant
NATO by an independent European approach. Nonetheless, it strives
to make the transatlantic partnership more equal, requiring the
buildup of genuine European capabilities. Given Germany’s close
embedment into alliance structures, efforts such as NATO’s Defence
Capabilities Initiative or the Helsinki Headline Goal—
launched in the same year—have considerably influenced force
transformation. Consequently, the GAF has developed into a
more balanced force. Moreover, Franco-German cooperation
might be gaining in importance. Their combined armed forces are
expected to cover a broad range of aerospace power capabilities in
the medium term—including airborne early warning, SEAD,
theatre ballistic missile defence, MALE/HALE RPAs, deployable
air operations centres, combat search and rescue, air-to-air refuelling,
and strategic airlift—without recourse to commonly owned
NATO assets. This leads to a further conclusion highlighting the
importance of European cooperation for generating relevant air
power. A Franco-German core of European aerospace power capabilities
will be coherent and will allow smaller European nations
to plug and play.
Courtesy German Air Force; photo by Ulrich Metternich
Airbus A310 MRTT refuelling GAF Tornado and Swiss Air Force F/A-18D
Hornet in midair