National Experiences - British Commission for Military History

246 ai r p o w e r in 20 t H Ce n t u ry do C t r i n e s a n d em p l o y m e n t - nat i o n a l ex p e r i e n C e s
the logisticians and the administrative with the necessary skills to face the situation
in the overseas.
The operation and maintenance of aircraft required trained personnel to achieve
the objectives imposed by the war in acceptable levels of flight safety, and not being
very easy this was achieved in a satisfactory way, particularly in those units where it
was possible to maintain a good framing of its staff. The roughness of the operation
and maintenance required special care to avoid growing risk situations. As important
as the material conditions were the psychological conditions, the psychological
preparation of the combatants and the support of the Nation – the war had these two
fronts, equally important.
The guerrillas cannot dispose of air power, for reasons inherent in the nature of
war and because they are conspicuous, and this is one of the characteristics, among
many others, that distinguishes this type of war from the conventional war. Air power,
when used correctly, in this operational context, is a factor of imbalance because
it explores the third dimension in an engaging form, in terms of visibility, penalty
or flagellation, creating uncertainty and insecurity, and also in terms of support of
populations. Competition for security of the people was one of the objectives of both
parties in conflict.
The counter-guerrilla war cannot require highly sophisticated means, but most
important is to maintain presence, and create insecurity to the guerrillas and populations
supporting them, and at same time conquering populations through cooperative
actions allowing an improvement of living conditions – in this context, air assets
play an important role. It is normally said that the main objective of the guerrilla is to
wear out conventional forces which is true, but the fact remains that the guerrilla also
wears out if continued pressure on their forces is exerted and psychological action
influences the populations cutting off support to the guerrilla, if they have an alternate
way. It is also possible to degrade the will to fight on the guerrilla side, although
we have to recognize that this involves remarkable costs.
The counter guerrilla demands, in a strong way, the exploitation of the characteristic
of flexibility and versatility of the aerial means. For instance, in the Portuguese
case, aircraft designed for maritime patrol were used as a means of ground attack,
close support or medical evacuation and even transportation. Aircrafts for general
transportation was leveraged for attack and recognition. Airplanes of instruction
were adapted as ground attack aircraft – the T-6 was the close support airplane to the
ground forces most used in all theatres, with very positive results. The tactical mobility
of forces, which was achieved through helicopters, was crucial to the success of
many operations; the coordination of this manoeuvre with fire support provided by
conventional aircraft and jet fighters, reached levels of remarkable precision.
As demonstrated by the facts, Air Power is a factor of imbalance in guerrilla warfare,
by having access to all parts of the theatre, making the creation of sanctuaries,
which were indispensable to the guerrillas, very difficult, for the ability to observe,