The Quest for Relevant Air Power

POST–COLD WAR CHALLENGES │ 61
Intratheatre airlift is also the domain of rotary-wing aircraft.
Various helicopters have been built in Europe. In an era of deployed
operations, an increasingly important role conducted by
medium-sized helicopters is CSAR. 296 European helicopters such
as the French Cougar have been specifically adapted for CSAR. 297
A further specific element of air mobility is AAR. Tanker aircraft
offer a deployed force not only extended range but also extended
endurance over the theatre of operations. Air policing over
Bosnia or Iraq in the 1990s, for instance, saw the extensive use of
tankers. 298 Tanker aircraft are either derived from civilian airliners
such as the DC-10 and the Airbus A310 or from military transport
aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules. Whereas the US Air
Force, Navy, and Marine Corps together operated more than 650
tanker aircraft of various types in 2006, the air forces of France,
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United
Kingdom could only muster approximately 70 aircraft, with the
UK and France providing the bulk of the European tanker fleet. 299
AAR is hence one of the major European shortcomings in deployed
operations.
C4ISTAR. Carrying a long-range surveillance radar, the E-3
AWACS aircraft is capable of providing a comprehensive, realtime
picture of air operations in a theatre. A British air power expert
singled it out as the linchpin of the coalition’s application of
air power in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. 300 Through the
NAEW&CF, European NATO members acquired this high-value
asset in a cooperative approach. The E-8 Joint Surveillance Target
Attack Radar System (JSTARS) is in effect an AWACS analogue
for ground surveillance and showed an outstanding performance
in Desert Storm. Capable of viewing the entire Kuwaiti theatre of
operation in a single orbit, the aircraft proved key in thwarting the
Iraqi attack against the Saudi coastal town of Al Khafji. 301 As was
mentioned, European NATO members are planning to acquire a
wide-area air-to-ground surveillance capability through the cooperative
AGS Core project.
Another air power innovation of the post–Cold War era is the
increasing use of remotely piloted aircraft. RPAs have proved to be
an efficient supplement to manned aircraft in the role of intelligence,
surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR),
where persistence over the battlespace is a key requirement. Only