The Quest for Relevant Air Power

22 │ POST–COLD WAR CHALLENGES
Alliance Policy and Its Impact upon European Air Power
European alliance frameworks have either directly or indirectly
influenced cooperative ventures in the arena of air power. Cooperative
ventures have taken place in the context of the ESDP,
NATO, and bilateral or multilateral organisational relationships.
ESDP Context. In the domain of air power, the HHG conceived
the ability to deploy up to 400 combat aircraft for EU operations. 58
As mentioned, the HHG turned out to be too ambitious at the
time, and an approach of incremental improvements had to be
adopted. Analogous to the EU battle group concept, basically a
land-centric approach, consideration was given to developing a
rapidly deployable EU air component within the framework of
HG 2010. 59 Originally, the lead nation of each EU battle group was
responsible for providing a non-specified air component. Germany
and France took the view that a rapidly deployable common
air component would be necessary to strengthen the EU’s rapid
response capability. Thus, representatives of both countries’ air
forces drafted a food-for-thought paper, establishing the EU Rapid
Response Air Initiative (EU RRAI). At the Franco-German summit
on 14 March 2006, the defence ministers formalised this proposal,
which was subsequently submitted to the European Union
Military Committee. 60
The initiative came into effect as the EU Air Rapid Response
Concept (EU Air RRC), which the European Union Military
Committee agreed to on 21 December 2007. The concept has an
air database at its core, supporting the force generation process by
indicating potentially available air assets and capabilities for EU
operations. The database was established for the first time in October
2008. 61 Since the main challenge is not the availability of
combat aircraft but rather the scarce European logistics for deployed
operations, the deployable air base is at the core of the concept.
In particular, it is a matter of identifying modules that national
air forces can contribute to a multinational air base. 62
NATO Context. The NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control
Force (NAEW&CF), established in the early 1980s, represents
one of the most prominent and successful cooperative ventures in
the arena of European air power. It now consists of two operational
elements—a multinational NATO fleet and the UK’s air-