The Quest for Relevant Air Power

358 │ CONCLUSION
craft such as the Tornado were required for the all-weather attack
role. But the shift towards medium altitude combined with bolton
solutions, such as laser-designator pods or GPS devices, transformed
lighter fighters such as the F-16 into potent multirole aircraft.
The RNLAF F-16s are expected to remain in the front line
up to 2020. Through this extended life span, significant cost savings
can be achieved. Given the relatively permissive air environment
of the post–Cold War era, bolt-on solutions have also turned
less advanced aircraft into relevant attack aircraft. In Allied Force,
where no major air superiority battles had to be fought, French
Jaguars equipped with laser-designator pods made significant
contributions. The asymmetry between Western air power and
potential opponents in general led to a new emphasis upon the
air-to-ground role as opposed to the air-to-air role.
Technological advancements have also appreciably enhanced
precision and firepower. The Rafale, for instance, can release a
standard air-to-ground weapons load of four to six PGMs. In Allied
Force, advanced strike aircraft such as the Tornado, the Mirage
2000D, or the F-16 carried a standard weapons load of only two
LGBs. Such an increase in firepower puts a British commentator’s
argument, made in the wake of Kosovo—that Europe would have
to increase its 500 all-weather bombers by 50 per cent—into a different
perspective. 13 Moreover, the FAF and GAF have made
quantum leaps in the acquisition of cruise missiles. During Operation
Allied Force in 1999, when American and British forces
released a total of 329 cruise missiles, the Continental Europeans
were not poised to contribute to the cruise missile campaign.
Since then, the GAF and the FAF have together acquired over one
thousand missiles.
Several technological benchmarks have been established. Minimum
requirements have to be met to plug and play, particularly in
the areas of interoperable C2 and precision strike. These common
criteria no longer allow for autonomous approaches. In this regard,
the way that air power has been generated has become more
convergent. Advances in the technological dimension also helped
to computerise C2 functions and hence facilitated leaner overall
command structures. Only through these technological advances
could a long-held air power tenet—unity of command over all air
assets—be put into practice.