Rick W. Lester

Counterair: the Cutting Edge Rick W. Lester

This white paper examines the counterair mission in 2025--what it is, what the threats are, how we counter them. In the broadest sense, the counterair mission will not change in the next thirty years. The basic premise of air superiority--neutralizing or destroying an adversary's ability to control the skies--will remain intact. This paper examines the counterair mission by first performing an analysis of three different trajectories. The first is an evolutionary trajectory based on projections of current and programmed capability. The second and third trajectories represent extremes--"anything but" approaches for conducting the counterair mission. The second trajectory is "anything but" inhabited aircraft and the third is "anything but" aircraft at all--performing the counterair mission solely with surface and space-based systems. The results of this analysis will provide us with a basis of comparison for each. Common themes emerged from all three trajectories. The primary theme is a requirement for near-real-time collection, processing and distribution of information, or in some cases knowledge, to support the commander's assessment and reaction to a given situation. A comprehensive holographic display system is required to present the information to the commander.