NATO air forces need to focus on air superiority and ‘realistic’ training
European air forces ‘should not pretend to need to put money’ into all different types of air operations and capabilities. (Photo: UK MoD/Crown Copyright)
At the RUSI Combat Air Conference 2023, experts and senior air force personnel openly talked about the lessons air forces learned from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. NATO air arms must focus on SEAD/DEAD missions, stockpiling ammunition and air superiority.
Ukraine cannot be given Western fighter jets to use them as NATO forces do, Russia will not stop mobilisation, NATO air forces need to focus on suppression and destruction of enemy air defences (SEAD/DEAD) missions if they want to prevail in future conflicts, and the RAF will reach its ultimate size for the next decade by 2025.
These are just some of the main comments researchers, experts and senior air force leaders made at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Combat Air Conference 2023 at the end of March.
The war in Ukraine has provided air forces with a vast
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