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Beware a well-intentioned effort to give irregular warfare a superior place in air-dominance planning. The Six Phases of Airpower By Rebecca Grant n recent years, the Pentagon has Things have changed. For one thing, Newly revised Joint Publication 3-0 focused more and more heavily on the doctrine writers have expanded the was where these phases were unveiled. irregular warfare and accorded it a number of war phases from four to six. A new one—Phase 0 shaping—opens far more prominent place in joint More importantly, doctrine now declares and closes any combat episode. Phase doctrine. The shift has forced to the that irregular warfare in the latter two 4 stability operations, while it already Isurface the question of what constitutes phases could require force commit- existed, underwent big changes. the right air dominance force. ments as great as or greater than those Another new one, Phase 5, calls for Today’s force was structured primarily for dominant maneuver. “enabling civil authority”—a clear reac- to mesh with an older concept of joint This marks a seismic shift in US tion to the US experience in Iraq. operations. This concept was based on thought—irregular war getting priority four notional phases of combat—deter, equal to dominant maneuver in force HOW AIRPOWER FITS seize the initiative, dominate, and sta- tasking. Air dominance turns out to be impor- bilize. USAF and other services have It is time for rethinking what air tant to all the phases and critical in most always viewed Phase 3—“dominant dominance really means and how the of them. Here are some examples: maneuver”—as the critical point of a Air Force should organize, train, and Phase 0 Shaping. Shaping means in- campaign. equip to provide it. fluencing the state of affairs in peacetime. 46 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2009 Phase 2 Seize Initiative. Actions EARLY PHASES OF WAR range from imposition of no-fly zones Given the size and strength of to limited strikes. Assuring access is today’s Air Force, what possible kinds key; airmen in the 1990s and early of threats could emerge in Phase 0, 1, 2000s flew thousands of sorties to hold or 2? While many might say “none,” the initiative over Iraq. Demands on that is not the case. Dangers already ISR collection increase, as does the are lapping ominously at the edges of USAF photo TSgt.by Justin Pyle D. need to prevent attacks on airpower our air dominance. bases. Russia appears to be signaling a Phase 3 Dominate. Air forces gain newfound willingness to challenge superiority with attacks on airfields, air American air dominance at the low lev- defenses, and aircraft. They perform els of shaping and deterrence—Phase close air support and interdiction deep 0 and Phase 1, respectively. in the battlespace and also attack of After a 15-year absence and in strategic targets. ISR forces fulfill de- response to an order issued by then- mands for overwatch and data on fixed, President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s mobile, and high-value targets. Air Force began sending Tu-95 Bear Phase 4 Stabilize. Surveillance bombers and Il-78 tankers on patrols and on-call fire support aircraft ex- in the Pacific, Atlantic, and near the pand operating areas of land units. Arctic Circle. An ISR-focused F-16 circling over a In other shaping and deterrence ground patrol is on a Phase 4 mission. moves, Moscow talks of deploying Combat patrols perform strafing and its bombers closer to US soil. The “presence” flights, plus direct support newspaper Izvestia said Russia would of troops. respond to US missile defense systems Phase 5 Enable Civil Authority. in Poland and the Czech Republic by Air forces provide armed overwatch, basing strategic bombers in Cuba. surveillance, and fire support. Build- It is hard to know how much impor- ing the capacity of the Iraqi air force tance to attach to this type of activ- is an air dominance mission in Phase ity. However, it represents a distinct 5, as is providing ISR to the Baghdad change in the environment, and one government. which shows how rapidly risk calcu- As is readily apparent, the need for lations even for Phase 0 and Phase 1 air dominance pops up everywhere in can fluctuate. the new phases of war. In February As a regional economic power, India 2008, doctrinal revisions beefed up the aspires to exert influence “from Socotra potential force commitments required to Sumatra,” as the phrase goes. Scholar for Phase 4 and Phase 5, where irregular Ashley J. Tellis has pointed out that the war is most prominent. task for India would involve focused Above: Condensation billows from the wings of a maneuvering F-22 Raptor as it performs at an air show in Point Mugu, Calif. Right: Marines help clear the city of Fallujah, Iraq, of insurgents and weapons caches in late 2004. Commanders establish and maintain access to operational areas, ensuring USMC photo by SSgt. Jonathan Knauth C. forward presence, basing, freedom of navigation, and cooperation with allies. Exercises such as Cope India and Red Flag are part of it. So is defense of US airspace. Phase 1 Deter. In this phase, a crisis is brewing. Deploying B-2 bombers to Guam creates a flexible deterrent option. So does the positioning of extra intelligence-surveillance-recon- naissance assets near a trouble spot. Today, the deployment of Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles would signal resolve. AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2009 47 place to air dominance concepts. China is an avid customer for air dominance technology in every form, from missiles to aircraft carriers. Beijing does not much worry about global power projection, stability opera- tions, or big land campaigns. China’s USAF photo by SSgt. Aaron Allmon battlespace is in and around China itself. Chinese doctrine focuses on cam- paigns—a series of battles for local objectives. Rapid defeat of the enemy is the main objective and the preferred method is to inflict strategic and opera- tional paralysis or even defeat the enemy with one strike. The air battle is absolutely central to China’s campaign plans. China experts note that People’s Liberation Army writings emphasize the supreme need to gain air superiority. In short, China plans to avoid land war in favor of air, space, and cyber combat. China is preparing to wage a vigor- A B-1B takes on fuel from a KC-10 Extender on a mission over Afghanistan. ous, defensive battle in its own airspace. It has bought advanced fighters such modernization and development of more port of ground forces would be a major as the Su-27 and is in the process of advanced capabilities to operate through- setback in campaign execution. acquiring more. The Chinese force is a out its “extended neighborhood.” lethal combination of advanced fighters A changing international airpower MAJOR COMBAT PHASE and highly effective long-range surface- equipment market has opened the door In its 2005 Quadrennial Defense to-air missiles and the surveillance for new challenges to air sovereignty Review, the Pentagon noted that “China and command and control needed to and to the need in Phase 2 to gain access has the greatest potential to compete integrate them all. and to seize the initiative. While the US militarily with the United States and China already has an air force for- has been fixated on irregular warfare, field disruptive military technologies midable in numbers. The Pentagon other nations have gone for air force that could over time offset traditional estimates that China has a total of 2,250 capabilities at the high end. US military advantages.” fighters, with 1,000 more older types Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, It might surprise many how much the for training. By packing large numbers Chief of Staff of the Indian Air Force, world’s most ancient state gives pride of of these fighters into so-called “active recently noted, “The air staff require- ments for the fifth generation fighters have been made,” and that this would take about a decade. Elsewhere, Russia and China in the last two years have announced or elabo- Photo via Piotr Butowski rated major programs that include devel- opment of fifth generation fighters and superior models of fourth generation fighters such as the Su-30. They seek a much higher degree of air capability than they possess today. What’s more, there is a growing regional buildup of cruise and ballistic missiles. Appearance of these weapons in the wrong place at the wrong time could raise true challenges to American shaping in Phase 0, deterrence in Phase 1, and even gaining access and seizing the initiative in Phase 2. Another potentially great challenge is a need to defend against short- and intermediate-range missiles targeted at cities or bases. Diversion of thousands A Russian Su-35 is shown during a recent test flight. Some nations have invested in of sorties from strategic targets or sup- capabilities at the high end of air warfare. 48 AIR FORCE Magazine / January 2009 defense of coastal waters” guarded by advanced SAMs, China produces an environment that poses great operational problems. If this is the near-peer battlespace, USAF air dominance will be put to a Norwegian Air Force photo stern test. USAF must be certain it can prevent Red Air and missile defenses from creating a lockout in the Taiwan Strait, for example. F-22s will have to hunt and kill SAMs. Tankers and vulnerable ISR support-aircraft orbits will have to be placed well back from the battle area or defended by dedicated combat air patrols. Russia is another player.

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