AIR FORCE COMMANDER ----

Air Force Commander is a sophisticated simulation of strategic air combat 
command.  Complete with this game is the first Combat Module--consisting of 
over twenty scenarios set in the Middle East in the modern day.  A second 
Combat Module featuring more scenarios from World War II (in particular the 
Battle of Britain) is available direct from Impressions. 

The objective of the game is to defeat your opponent--to do which you will 
need to first secure your own defenses, and then launch attacks against 
enemy targets.  Once you have wiped out the enemy's offensive capability, 
or done so much damage that they surrender, you have won. It is not quite 
as simple, however, as that might seem.  You can only attack targets you 
know about from your radar coverage (you can in fact make blind attacks, 
but that is a poor use of your resources)--so you need to make good use of 
mobile radar units. 







Resources will also limit what you can do--you have a set number of bombers, 
interceptors, etc., and each will require an amount of resources to run.  
The more units you use, the quicker your resources will run out--which 
would then leave you open to attack. While playing, it is easy to become 
too bogged down with intercepting specific enemy attacks; we suggest that 
you try to avoid this--and keep an eye on your resource usage, as well as 
political and media opinion. Air Force Commander is far more than just a 
combat simulation--you ignore the resource management and civil issues only 
at your peril!


GAME OBJECTIVE

Your selected engagement can be won or lost according to various criteria 
depending on the scenario you have selected.  There are three conditions for 
victory or defeat: Population Demoralization; Media Opinion; Air Supremacy.  
Whenever any one of these conditions is met--the game is over.






Population demoralization 

When 40% of a country's population becomes ungovernable, overthrow of the 
government is assumed and the game is up.  Only the populations based in 
towns and cities are influential and their mood depends on the state of the 
city and its vital services.  Food, power, water, damage to the city and the 
presence of working hospitals all contribute to the general mood of a city, 
which is in turn transmitted to the country as a whole.  The state of your 
country's morale can be monitored on the Intelligence Briefing Screen 

In addition, a message will be posted at the top of your screen 
if and when the discontent of your population reaches certain points 
(e.g., 10% unrest, 20% unrest, etc.) Please note, however, that it is only 
the morale of your own country's population that can lose you a game, and not 
that of one of your allies.  If the population of an ally reaches "breaking 
point," they will withdraw their support and their forces will disappear from 
the map. You will be free to continue with whatever forces you have left.






Media opinion

Sometimes one side may face increasing international and domestic pressure 
which will mount over the length of a prolonged campaign.  Eventually this 
could result in withdrawal from the conflict becoming political necessity.  
Whether this happens sooner or later in the conflict depends upon the way it 
is fought--i.e., whether you have concentrated on destroying enemy units or 
have kept a close eye on your domestic situation.  You can check on the state 
of world opinion with the International Media Opinion Screen. 

Air supremacy & Air superiority

Since this game is about the part of a war fought in the skies (i.e., it does 
not cover the ground and sea arenas at all), when you have won the air war, 
you have won the game; this is clearly a far more realistic situation now 
than it used to be, as shown by the war in the Persian Gulf in 1991.  If 
after a certain time period the enemy has failed to put a plane in the air, 
you will be informed that air superiority is established.  If after a further 
period the skies are still clear, air supremacy is declared and the battle 
for air operations is won.



SCENARIOS

There are 28 different scenarios included in this "Middle East" version of 
Air Force Commander and they vary tremendously in both difficulty and 
complexity.  Some are based on recent historical conflicts such as the 
Persian Gulf War, the Iran/Iraq War or the 1973 Yom Kippur War, while others 
are based more along "what if..." lines.  They range from the local bickering 
of small oil-rich states up to the Anarchy Scenario when the whole region 
explodes. The possible scenarios are as follows.  Each may be reversed and 
played from the opposing perspective.

FIRST SIDE              AGAINST

Kuwait                  United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)

Lebanon                 Jordan

Qatar                   U.A.E (with British support from Bahrain)

Egypt                   Sudan

Israel                  Syria

Iran                    Iraq

Egypt                   Israel

Iraq                    Saudi Arabia with support from U.S.A. (Southern 
			Command)

Iran                    Kuwait, Qatar, U.A.E., and Bahrain

Israel                  Jordan and Lebanon

Iraq                    Syria, Jordan and Lebanon

Israel                  Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt with support from 
			U.S.A. (Northern Command)

Iraq                    Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Kuwait with support 
			from U.S.A. (Northern & Southern Commands)

Iran, Iraq, Syria       Saudi Arabia, Qatar and U.A.E. with support from 
Jordan and Sudan        U.S.A. (Northern & Southern Commands)


The complexity and difficulty of each scenario is graded from zero to nine.
Obviously, the speed at which battle is joined in any one scenario can depend 
on a number of different factors. For example, Israel and Syria, being 
relatively small countries and very close neighbors, are quickly into each 
other's airspace.  In contrast, it takes a while for Egyptian planes to reach 
targets in Sudan, and thus the game is played with more of a time lapse.

In addition, please note that you can play the game in either FAST mode, or 
normal mode.  To toggle between these two game speed modes, use the command 
on the Disk Access command screen.

THE MAIN DISPLAY & CONTROLS

Help command                     Question mark icon at the top of the panel

Disk Access & game options       Disk Drive icon next to the help icon

Map of radar coverage            Radar Dish icon (near the top of the icon 
				 panel, on the left)

Map of unit concentrations    Single Plane icon (next to the radar dish icon)

Communications screen            Telephone icon (underneath radar dish icon)

International media opinion      TV icon (next to the telephone icon)

Resource management              Bar Chart icon (below Telephone icon)

National Boundary Map            "i" icon next to the bar chart icon

Map scrolling & homing icons
Select airbase as curent unit
Select squadron as current unit
Select civil current unit
Select next unit
Select previous unit

We have kept the number of icons to an absolute minimum in an attempt to make 
the game as accessible and intuitive as possible.  There are really just a 
few key icons you will use regularly--and there is also a HELP facility 
designed to asist learning.  We know that the faster you learn how to play, 
the faster you will start to get enjoyment and value from this product. 
All the command icons are located in one panel--so you won't need to 
constantly move your mouse from one end of the screen to the other! 


This panel is located at the right side of your chart display. There is 
also a tutorial and screen layout chart included with this package to help 
you get up and running without having to rely on this manual all the time. 
Beneath these icons are the direction arrow icons (used for scrolling around 
the maps); beneath them are three unit-type icons.  Clicking on these 
switches between the three unit types:  Air-Bases, Military Units, and 
Civil Units.  The units have been divided in such a way as to make 
game-play as easy as possible. 
The icon on the left represents Air Bases, the middle one Military Units, and 
the one on the right Civil Units. Underneath these three icons are two 
direction arrows; these scroll through the units of whichever of the three 
categories is on display, allowing you to quickly change the Current Unit.
Across the bottom of the screen there are three data windows, and a small 
map.  The small data window on the left displays the day and the time (the 
game starts at the beginning of day 0).  The long window next to this 
displays data about the Current Unit (see below); the third window displays 
important resource information:  the amount of resources you are using up 
each hour, and the time it will take to run out completely.  the map in the 
bottom right corner is an overall map of the Middle East Arena. If you click 
on the HELP icon, a window appears explaining the function of the area of the 
screen under the mouse-pointer; to find out what each icon does, simply move 
the pointer over it while in HELP mode; to exit HELP mode, click on the right 
mouse button.

MAP AND CHART COMMANDS

You can see both friendly and hostile radar coverage and unit density charts; 
to toggle between the two, simply click the left mouse button.  To exit these 
charts, press the right mouse button. The main viewing area on the screen is 
surrounded by the sand-colored panel.  This shows either the radar map, the 
satellite map, or an information window.  Most of the time, and to start off 
with, this screen shows the radar map. You can scroll around the radar map 
(or the satellite map) using the direction arrow icons on the panel.  To home 
right in on the current unit (as shown in the display underneath the radar 
map), click on the circle in the middle of the direction arrows. There is a 
miniature map of the whole theater at the bottom right hand corner of the 
display panel; a white outline rectangle shows the area currently in view.  
You can move around the theater fast by clicking on the area you want to move 
to within this overall map.







The three maps

Play takes place over three maps; the strategic map, the radar map and the 
satellite map, each of which is a magnification of the previous one.  
Clicking the left button will zoom to the next most detailed map while 
clicking the right button will take you out again to a wider view.  When over 
any of these maps, the mouse pointer changes to a "target box;" this shows 
you the area you will zoom in on, if you go to the next closer-in map.  On 
the radar map the target box also shows you two numbers--x and y 
coordinates--which help you find your position; position 0,0 is at the top 
left hand corner of the strategic map.

The strategic map

This is a geographical map of the whole region.  There is a grid on the 
strategic map which is used on the Communications window to give you a 
reference for each engagement recorded. From this map you can zoom in on a 
certain region by moving the target box over the desired area and clicking 
this takes you to...




The radar map

This gives a view of the tactical arena with coastlines, rivers, towns and 
cities shown, along with national boundaries (dotted yellow lines) and major 
roads (green lines). The current active units in the area are displayed on 
this map.  Ground units are shown as colored dots:

white dot       =       airbase
orange dot      =       military installation
blue dot        =       civil installation
green dot       =       ground unit
green circle    =       city or town

An air unit is shown as a dotted marker, the height of which corresponds to 
the unit's altitude--taller markets represent planes flying at higher 
altitudes.  For the purposes of aiming and locating on the satellite map, the 
plane is actually situated at the botom of this marker.  The units are color 
coded according to type.  However, since you obviously have less information 
about an enemy plane than you do about one of your own, all enemy planes are 
the same color (red & white).



The dotted markers are as follows:

red and white           =       enemy plane
black and white         =       missile of either side (tell whether friendly 
				or hostile by the direction it is heading)
red and yellow          =       interceptors
blue and white          =       strike aircraft
green and yellow        =       ground attack aircraft
red and green           =       helicopters
red and blue            =       long-range bombers
blue and green          =       AWACS

You should note that the area shown in the radar picture is completely 
dependent upon your radar coverage over varying ranges.  If you have no units 
with radar functions operations, you wil see nothing but green interference 
patterns.  Certains units--air bases, radar stations, etc.--give varying 
radar coverage and your total radar picture will depend on how many you have 
working and where they are.  If, for example, the only such unit you have 
working is a E3 AWAC plane the area visible to you on this map will vary as 
the plane moves along its flight path. Finally, you can zoom in still further 
by placing the Target Box over a region you wish to examine and clicking.  
This takes you to....

The satellite map

This gives a more detailed image of a much smaller area and is available for 
the whole play area--it is not limited by radar coverage like the radar map.  
In practice, you will need to find units on the radar map and then focus down 
onto them.  You would be very lucky to stumble upon anything useful simply by 
scrolling the satellite map at random. Using this map you can identify the 
images that represent the individual units and thereby get information about 
unknown/enemy units.  Your target box now has a "SATellite ENHance" facility.  
By moving the box over a particular unit and clicking, you make that unit the 
Current Unit and so you can check on the identity, origin, current 
operational capacity, etc., of both your units and the enemy's. The only 
slight exception to this are cities.  In the middle of most areas of 
black/green roads and buildings will be a building with a kidney-shaped lake 
next to it.  This is the City Administration Building and you will need to 
click on it to select the city as the Current Unit. Some units (fighters, 
missiles, etc.) travel quite quickly across this screen and unit 
identification can be quite hard.  Therefore we have included a slow search 
mode.  If you click on the map and are not over a unit, the slow search mode 
is entered (indicated by a flashing target box).  This makes the planes or 
missiles move more slowly, enabling you to catch them with your target box.  
Clicking again will resume normal search mode.

UNIT TYPES

BASE            =airbase
MIL             =permanent military installations
GROUND          =mobile ground units
CITIES          =cities
SQDN            =squadrons
IND             =civil installations
AIR             =all units in the air, including enemy units

For more information on the plane types, see details towards the end of this 
manual.

Commanding units

Units under your control include airplane squadrons and missile launchers.  
You are also in charge of (but cannot control directly) units such as air 
bases, munitions dumps, power plants, cities. You can only give orders to the 
unit which is currently displayed on your screen--this unit is known as the 
Current Unit. Data about the Current Unit is shown in the long display window 
underneath the radar map.  


Data shown includes: the name of the unit; which country it belongs to; 
its efficiency status; its ammunition supply; its current fuel supply--and 
its current status. To change the Current Unit to a different unit, use 
the two direction arrows underneath the unit-type icons on the control panel.  
These arrows scroll through all the units of the current category that you 
have left under your command. To change the catogory of the Current Unit 
(from Air Bases to either Civil or Military Units, for example), simply 
click on the appropriate icon. To command the Current Unit, click on the 
left mouse button while the mouse pointer is anywhere in the Current Unit 
data window.  A new screen showing the different commands available for this 
type of unit will then appear.  

Simply select the command you want by clicking on it; the comand currently 
selected is highlighted in red. All units except air bases start off 
mothballed.  They have to be activated before you can use them for anything.  
Activated units use up precious resources, though, so you need to think 
carefully about which ones to activate and when.  If you give a command to 
a mothballed unit, the computer will automatically activate it for you and 
give it your order. 




The other basic command you can give to units is to Repair them--this will 
use up double the normal amount of resources, but will gradually restore 
the unit to 100% efficiency. You can only give other commands to military 
units such as Plane squadrons.  Typical commands might be Ground Strike, 
Armor Strike, Patrol, Intercept, etc.  To help you decide which units to 
give which missions to, you can click on the DATA option at the right of 
the plane command panel.  This shows you the following data:

--current efficiency (0-100)
--the unit's resource cost 
--high-level bombing rating (0-10)
--ground strike rating (0-10)
--armor strike rating (e.g., anti-aircraft units) (0-10)
--air combat rating (0-10)
--operational ceiling altitude

Depending on the unit type, there will be an auto launch on/off switch (click 
the mouse button to toggle), which should be engaged only after the aircraft 
has been given an order; when ON, this means that on completion of a mission, 
the unit will return to base, refuel, and then take off again; there will be 
a slight pause between landing and taking off again, while the plane refuels.


Most of the orders are fairly self-explanatory and the computer will respond 
appropriately to any illogical or disallowed requests.  There is a wide 
variety of possible commands--but most only apply to certain types of unit.  
Note that you need to decide which plane is suitable for what type of 
missions.  You can send planes on missions for which they are completely 
unsuitable--but we don't recommend it!

activation         Toggles between Activated and Mothballed

repair             Puts a unit into repair mode, gradually increasing the 
		   unit's efficiency, but at a cost in resources

circular sweep     Puts an A.W.A.C. plane into a wide circular flight path 
		   around its airbase

flight path        Allows you to set a specific route for the plane.  This 
		   command uses the Extended Radar Coverage Map.  This uses 
		   the whole screen, in radar mode, to enable you to position 
		   (or elsewhere target) units more effectively.  You can 
		   move the map by taking the pointer to the edge of the 
		   screen in the direction of the desired map movement.
		   You can set the flight path by using the left mouse button 
		   to select up to six target points.  
		   
flight path        The unit will then take off, fly to each of the points in 
(cont'd)           the order you have set, and then return and land.  
		   To finish setting a route before your six points, simply 
		   click on the right mouse button.

abort mission      Does just that, ending any mission and returning the unit 
		   to base.  Ground-based forces require an abort mission to 
		   re-fuel at base before they can be repositioned.

patrol             Sets up a tight circular patrol around the base, mainly 
		   for air defense purposes.  The patrol will continue until 
		   the fuel runs out and the aircraft may be redirected in 
		   flight.

air cover          When you order a plane to go on air cover, you will be 
		   given data on all units currently at the home airbase so 
		   that you can click on the unit that you want to support.  
		   Both units must be from the same airbase for this option.  
		   The aircraft providing cover will then shadow the other 
		   unit on its mission, providing air defense--automatically 
		   diverting to intercept enemy aircraft which come too 
		   close!

intercept          This launches a unit to close on and attack an incoming 
		   unit, providing it is able to reach the required altitude.  
		   The extended map is again used to select a target; the 
		   sights will turn red when a unit is targeted; to lock in 
		   on this target, click the left mouse-button.  Once it has 
		   destroyed its target, the interceptor will search for any 
		   other enemy aircraft in the vicinity and divert to 
		   intercept them as well.  Please note that it is perfectly 
		   possible to issue commands to intercept a friendly unit 
		   (or indeed to bomb friendly installations): Be careful!
		   You can instruct an airplane already on a mission to 
		   change plans and intercept an enemy plane using this 
		   command.

pick squadron      This selects a unit from an airbase.

altitude drop      This sets a high-level bombing mission (out of 
		   anti-aircraft range)--again, you can use the target sight 
		   to select a target--although this is not actually 
		   necessary and bombs can be dropped anywhere.


transfer base      Allows you to move a squadron to a new base, either out of 
		   harm's way or else into the combat zone.  This also uses 
		   the extended radar coverage map.  Once you have given the 
		   order to transfer, the airbase closest to the current 
		   pointer position is displayed at the top of the screen.  
		   The squadron will transfer to that airbase if you click on 
		   the left mouse button.  You can select a new airbase by 
		   moving the pointer close to it.  For the purposes of 
		   airbase transfer (and air cover--see later), the planes 
		   are considered to be flying with refuel support planes 
		   allowing them to fly greater distances than normal.

ground strike      This sets up a low-level strike against buildings or 
		   ground installations, but not armored units.

armor strike       This sets up a low-level strike against armored units, 
		   S.A.M. units and so on.

import ordinance   This allows you to import ammunition (at expensive rates) 
		   if your own ammunitions network is failing.

import fuel        As above but for fuel

transit            Moves a ground unit (by helicopter) to a selected land 
		   position where it makes itself operational

launch missile     Targets and launches a missile.  Note, however, that a 
		   certain time gap must be left after launch before another 
		   missile will be ready for firing.

















BOMBING & MISSILE ATTACKS AND COMBAT RESOLUTION

When targeting, whether it be missile, bomber or interceptor, once you have 
clicked on the red target, your unit is locked on and the outcome of the 
encounter will be decided automatically.  The success of a mission does not 
depend upon how accurately you line up the red locked-on box.  Furthermore, 
you can lock on to a target that you cannot see on your radar picture because 
it is hidden by green interference--your computers know the location of such 
units from your satellite maps.  

If you think you know where a target is, you can move the aimer approximately 
over the area and it will turn red if you find the right spot. Combat between 
airplanes is resolved automatically by the computer based upon the air combat 
rating of the planes involved, and on their respective efficiency ratings, 
together with a small random element. You can watch combat between the two 
planes on the satelite map if you wish to--but prolonged dogfights are not 
supported--all combat is resolved immediately on contact between the two 
planes. Please note that airplanes are grouped into squadrons; you can select 
a squadron for a particular mission--but in fact only one plane from that 
squadron will carry out your mission.  This means that even if your plane 
is destroyed, it may well still be available for future orders--it will 
merely contain one less airplane.  

Once the squadron has no airplanes left, it will disappear and you will 
clearly no longer be able to command it.

UNIT DATA

Your Current Unit display will show certain indicators, depending on the type 
of unit monitored.
x, y    --unit coordinates
e       --unit efficiency (%)
f       --unit's fuel
p       --how many planes there are remaining in a squadron (please note that 
	  different types of planes have different numbers per squadron to 
	  begin with)
a       --unit's ammunition
1234    --squadron number

If the unit is a city, however, a different set of indicators are used:
P       --shows the % of the city supplied with power
W       --shows the % of the city supplied with water
F       --shows the % of the city supplied with food
D       --shows structural damage to the city
	
	(with 0=none to 100=complete destruction)



The efficiency of a unit is critical as it affects its ability to perform its 
duty, whether that is supplying water to a city or air combat.  In the case 
of ground units it is affected by bomb damage and when the efficiency drops 
to zero the unit is destroyed.  For mobile units, efficiency is also 
dependent on the rest period in between missions, although a mobile unit is 
only destroyed when the number of planes in the squadron falls to zero.  (The 
number of planes in a squadron at the start of each game varies depending 
upon the aircraft type).  You should aim to try to give your squadrons 
regular relief from combat missions in order to maintain them at their 
maximum efficiency. You can watch your unit efficiency in two ways.  On the 
one hand, by making a unit your Current Unit you can see exactly what state 
it is in.  However, to go round each unit in this way would obviously take 
far too long--and time is limited enough already.  On the other hand, you can 
keep a general idea of what damage may have been inflicted on various units 
by monitoring your Communications Window, which will tell you when and where 
an attack took place and who was damaged or lost a plane.  When an 
installation is totally destroyed or a squadron is wiped out, the message 
will appear in inverse text.


RESOURCES

Air Force Commander is as much about careful use of limited resources as it 
is about planning offensive missions.  You may have devised a totally 
brilliant, comprehensive campaign which will gradually wipe out the enemy 
defenses and force them to surrender--but if you run out of resources, fuel 
or ammunition before you have completed your campaign, you could be left wide 
open to a severe and possibly fatal counter-offensive.

The supply of fuel and amunition to an airbase is important, as a plane will 
not be able to refuel or re-arm at an airbase that has an insufficient 
supply.  The amount of fuel taken on by a plane is determined by its range, 
and governs the distance it can fly.  When fuel drops to zero the plane will 
switch to its rescue tanks and return to its base, aborting any missions or, 
in the case of a missile, just packing up.

Each city will, periodically, take a look at the best available source of 
food, water and power (e.g., a food warehouse).  This is determined by a 
source's efficiency rating and its distance from the city.  This process is 
automatic and thus the supply of facilities to a city depends entirely on 
your success in protecting and maintaining the various sources.


Similarly, every twelve hours an airbase will take new supplies of fuel and 
ammunition from the best source (i.e., from a 100% efficient unit close by in 
preference to one further off working at 50%).  All excess fuel and 
ammunition produced by factories will be transported to dumps, the amount 
again depending on the dump's efficiency. While you do not directly control 
the distribution of supplies, you do need to manage the resources from which 
those supplies are taken.  

The amount of resources available to you at the beginning of the game and the 
rate at which more become available are fixed by the country you are playing.  
For example, Saudi Arabia has more resources than Lebanon and will replenish 
itself at a faster rate.  Thus, on the Resource Management window, "resources 
in"  is the fixed amount that your country has coming in each hour.  You 
cannot affect this number. However, you can control the "resources out."  
This refers to the resource cost of all your active units for the previous 
hour.  It therefore depends on how many units you have active, which type 
of unit they are in (i.e., an ammunition factory will soak up more resources 
than a helicopter squadron), and what they are doing (i.e., a unit under 
repair will use double the resources of one operating normally).  You must 
therefore be aware of the relative resource costs of the different units--and 
be quick to shut down units that are out of the combat zone or are 
duplicated. Your "resources" as shown on the Resource Management window is 
the amount of spare or "banked" resource.  

When this drops to zero, ground installations will automatically start to 
close down.  This will in turn lead to airbases and their aircraft being 
taken out of the game--and thus lead almost certainly to your defeat.

MOBILE UNITS INCLUDED IN AIR FORCE COMMANDER

Here is a brief list of the various mobile unit types and a brief description 
of each.  Please note that not every single unit features in every single 
scenario.  Clearly, the more complex the scenario, the more likely the 
scenario is to have a wider variety of unit types.

E3 A.W.A.C.S.           Long-range, high-flying radar coverage plane

B52                     Very long-range strategic bomber

TU16                    Long-range Soviet strategic bomber

F117--Stealth           Invisible to enemy radar--uses high precision, 
			laser-guided bombs--very effective in ground attacks

F111                    Long-range modern tactical strike aircraft

Phantom                 Medium-range strike aircraft

F15                     Modern medium-range strike aircraft with air-to-air 
			combat role

F16--Falcon             High-performance air interceptor

F14                     Short-range fighter

Harrier                 Limited-range armor strike aircraft with uses in air 
			defense

Tornado GRI             Good short-range strike aircraft

Tornado F1              Excellent air defense interceptor

Jaguar                  Versatile aircraft with ground strike and combat 
			abilities

Mirage F-1              Air defense plane with good range and a ground strike 
			ability


A-10                    Very limited-range attack plane with excellent strike 
			rate against armor

Mig 29                  Superb Soviet-built air combat plane

Mig 25                  Air defense plane with ability to intercept even 
			highest-flying craft

Mig 21                  A robust fighter with strike ability

Su 7                    Short-range Soviet strike plane

Tu 22                   Medium-range Soviet bomber

Apache                  Very effective armor-strike helicopter

Hind                    Soviet-built armor-attack helicopter

Lynx                    Short-range attack helicopter

UH-1 Huey               Old limited armor strike helicopter

Mobile Scud             Medium-range surface-to-surface missile launcher unit

Mobile radar            Provides medium-range radar unit coverage

Patriot S.A.M.          Excellent air defense missile unit

Mobile Exocet           Land-based variant of effective missile launcher

SA8 S.A.M.              Soviet-made surface-to-air missile unit


STRATEGY NOTES AND TIPS

One of the most important aspects of the game is radar coverage--not just 
yours, but the enemy's as well.  Try to maintain radar coverage over your own 
airspace and then try to encroach on your adversary's to see what he's doing 
and to allow you to target his units effectively. You can see your enemy's 
radar cover using the relevant chart and it is a good tactic to try and 
damage his radar units--if the enemy cannot see what you are doing, it makes 
it very hard for him to launch missions against you.  There will be a radar 
unit at the center of each square radar area in the Radar Coverage Map.



Your city's population must be kept happy.  Basically, this is done by 
protecting the supply of power, food and water and the presence of working 
hospitals. Watch your resources expenditure extremely carefully--do not keep 
unnecessary installations going in non-combat zones, although it can be very 
detrimental to close down public unitilities, especially if they are the only 
ones in the area. If the right number of aircraft are kept on auto-launch and 
are rotated regularly to give each a rest period, you can maintain good 
coverage of your airspace.  It is also thereby possible to mount a sustained 
bombing attack on a particular target (such as an airbase or a radar 
installation) in order to take it out of the conflict. However, be careful 
about putting squadrons on continuous auto launch.  They will soon become 
tired and in need of maintenance and their efficiency will drop 
accordingly--making them lose effectiveness in air combat or strike missions. 










Good air defense cover is vital in most scenarios and you will often 
need to think about this aspect before deciding on strike missions.  
Air-to-air combat is decided chiefly by a plane's ability and efficiency, 
although luck also plays a part:  things can go wrong and even a lowly 
helicopter could get a lucky strike on your nice new Mig 29! It is very 
tempting to send specific aircraft on missions to intercept specific enemy 
aircraft.  While this can be a good move at times, remember that Air Force 
Commander is above all a strategy game, less concerned with individual 
dogfights than with the overall war.  You should try to secure defense of 
your installations using regular patrols of interceptor-class aircraft, 
rather than commanding planes separately every time an enemy aircraft is on 
an offensive raid. Watch your opponent's strategy carefully and try to 
observe a pattern.  Respond accordingly--in most cases a headlong charge into 
enemy territory with all guns blazing is disastrous.  You might shoot down a 
lot of aircraft only to run out of resources and lose a war that you thought 
you had almost won. Watch the situation in your own country most carefully 
(as opposed to your allies').  If your allies' population fails, you lose 
only support--but if your own population revolts, you lose the game.





AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST

THE ROOTS OF ISLAM

The Middle East is a good place to set a war game.  There are few areas of 
the world across which so many wars have been fought.  Since Biblical times, 
the armies of empire after empire have swept in from east, west or north.  
From the Hittites and the Persians, through the Greeks and the Romans, and 
the Christian Crusaders and the Ottomans to the British, Russians, Germans 
and Americans, all have sought control of a region which is, after all, 
mostly desert,  But why? As with most questions about the region, the answer 
is complex.  Part of the reason is its global setting.  Sitting as it does at 
the junction of Europe, Asia and Africa, it is one of the main routes along 
which traders traded and armies invaded.  Goods from the Orient destined for 
European custom passed Turkish armies on their way to invade North Africa.  
Any empire with aspirations for world domination needed control of the Middle 
East.  As the twentieth century wore on and the importance of land trade 
routes dwindled, oil was discovered and the empires came scrambling back to 
control the supply of this increasingly vital global resource. However, 
underpinning politics and economics there are, of course, religious reasons 
for such intense interest in the Middle East.  


In Mecca, it contains the heart of Islam, a religion which can boast 500 
million adherents worldwide. With a controlling interest in countries from 
the west coast of Africa to the far east and Indonesia and with influential 
minorities in most of the major cities of the world, Islam cannot be ignored. 
In most people's minds, of course, Islam is identified with the people of the 
Middle East, the Arabs.  

This is, however, a little misleading.  It is estimated that there are 200 
million Arabs living in 20 countries across the world.  It thus only take a 
simple calculation to realize that the majority of Muslims are, in fact, not 
Arabs.  Furthermore, it may be surprising to learn that the African countries 
of Mauritania and Somalia are members of the 22-strong Arab League, and that 
Iran is not. Nevertheless, Arabs are and always have been the driving force 
behind world Islam.  

From the 7th century and the birth of Islam in the Arabian Desert around 
Mecca and Medina, Arab armies moved out across the world, conquering and 
converting Persians, Egyptians and Berbers in North Africa.  The influence 
they have had on the culture, thought and language of Europe is immense.  
It is easy to forget that Spain was a modlem country for 700 years. However, 
Islam is not the only religion to have its cradle in the Middle East.  All 
three of the great monotheistic world religions, Judaism, Christianity and 
Islam, are rooted there.  For all, Jerusalem is a Holy City.  

Solomon built his great temple there, Christ was crucified there and there is 
situated the third most sacred site in Islam, the Al-Aqsa mosque.  If we in 
the West despair of Arab-Israeli conflicts, it is well to remember that 
Christendom fought bitter and bloody crusades to remove the "infidel" from 
the Holy Land. In fact, all three religions have a common root.  Just as 
Christianity incorporates the Jewish Torah into its Bible, so Islam perceives 
Mohammed  as the seal of a line of prophets that includes Adam, Abraham, 
Moses and Jesus.  

Many of the Old Testament stories are replicated in the Koran and much of 
the teaching is similar.  Mohammad spoke against what he considered to be 
the corruptions of the true faith that Judaism and Christianity had come to 
represent. "Islam" in Arabic means "submission" to the will of God and the 
practice of it is woven into everyday life.  Apart from anything else, a 
Muslim has a duty to face towards Mecca, kneel down and pray five times a 
day.  The only regular, and not even compulsory, ritual of Christianity is 
a church service on Sunday mornings.  It is much easier to forget a religion 
which impinges once a week than one which does so five times a day.  




Consequently, Islam has much more of a bearing on Middle Eastern politics 
than modern Christianity does on the West. Very early in its history, Islam
split over the method of choosing the Caliph, or religious head of the 
community, and the division has never healed.  The Sunni faction, who today 
represent 90% of world Muslims and can thus be regarded as orthodox, held 
that the Caliphate should be an elected post.  The Shiites, on the other 
hand, thought that the Caliphate should be inherited by Mohammed's own 
nephew and thus that the Prophet's son-in-law, Ali, was the true Caliph.

While both remained true to the core of Islam, each group developed its own 
set of traditions and the split survives to this day.  Shiite Muslims make up 
most of Iran, over half of Iraq, and are the largest single religious group 
in Lebanon.  It is extraordinary to consider that, ostensibly, wars are being 
fought today over an argument that took place more than a thousand years ago.









THE COLONIAL INFLUENCE

From the 16th century onwards, most of the Middle East and North Africa was 
ruled by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.  At the turn of the present century, the 
two powers in the region were the Ottomans and  Persia, both of which had 
formed the rudiments of parliamentary states under the influence of the 
Europeans.  By the outbreak of the Great War of 1914, most of North Africa 
was controlled by France, except Libya, which was Italian. Britain ruled 
Egypt, and through her the Sudan, as well as having great influence in some 
of the Gulf states, including Kuwait and Bahrain.  

In addition, the port of Aden, which is now in South Yemen, was an important 
British base dominating the approach to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.  
Moreover, Britain and Russia were constantly squabbling over Persia, Russia 
to protect the borders of its empire and Britain to maintain the route to 
India. Germany had a lot of influence with the Ottomans, which proved to be 
the undoing of Turkish rule in the region.  






Drawn into the war on what turned out to be the losing side, the Ottoman 
Empire finally collapsed into what is now the Republic of Turkey and the 
Versailles Peace Conference distributed the territory between Britain and 
France. The rather high-handed, albeit necessary re-drawing of much of the 
map of the world that went on at Versailles with the German, Austro-Hungarian 
and Ottoman Empires being "reassigned" may be identified as a root cause in 
many of Europe's subsequent problems including the current Yugoslavian unrest 
and even the Second World War. Certainly, seeds were sown in the Middle East 
that are still bearing unpleasant and destructive fruit today. In actual 
fact, much of the blame lies simply with Britain and France.  

During 1916-17, Britain made at least three contradictory promises to 
different groups.  In order to incite the Arabs to revolt against Turkey 
(which they did famously with Laurence of Arabia), she promised them 
independence.  At the same time the Balfour Declaration of 1917 was promising 
a homeland for the Jews in Palestine.  Meanwhile, the Sykes-Picot Agreement 
of 1916 had already divided the Ottoman Empire between France and Britain.






Much of the history of the Middle East over the next thirty years is about 
Britain and France trying to clear up the mess they created for themselves at 
the end of the Great War. Syria and Lebanon were French mandates and finally 
achieved independence after the Second World War, as did the rather 
strangely-named Transjordan which was a British mandate.  The British mandate 
of Iraq ended in 1932, and after a while the country became a military 
republic.  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was being formed by the conquests of King 
Ibn Saud and was recognized by Britain in 1927.  Egypt also remained under 
British control until after the Second World War, during which time it was 
the base for British activity across North Africa. The British mandate of 
Palestine was, however, the real problem.  In 1922 the British government 
issued a White Paper that tried to explain that the Balfour Declaration had 
only promised a home for the Jews "within" Palestine rather than Palestine 
actually becoming a Jewish state.  But the damage had been done and both 
sides felt betrayed.  The story of Palestine between the wars is one of Arab 
rioting attempting to stop Jewish immigration.  This became more and more of 
a vain attempt as the rise of the Nazis drove Jews out of Europe.






A NEW NATION:  ISRAEL

After the war, the British effectively gave up and left them to it.  
Officially, they briefly handed the area over to the United Nations who, not 
surprisingly, had no more success in pacifying things than Britain had.  The 
British were now too busy dismantling their Empire to want to have Palestine 
on their hands and they finally left in 1948.  The Jews at once declared the 
state of Israel, which was immediately attacked by al the neighboring Arab 
countries. Israel having increased her territory somewhat, an uneasy 
armistice was signed, probably simply so that both sides could prepare 
properly for a war.  

In the process, Transjordan had absorbed the area west of the Jordan River, 
which is now known as the West Bank, and renamed herself Jordan.  Jerusalem 
was split between the two.  Many Palestinians left Israel and set up camps 
in Jordan and Lebanon while they waited for the Arab armies to give them 
back their homeland. The cat was firmly among the pigeons.  The state of 
Israel represented the ultimate betrayal of the Arabs by the West, and 
neither Jew nor Arab was in a mood for compromise.  The Arab League, 
which had been set up in 1945 among Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi 
Arabia, Jordan and Yemen now really had something upon which to focus.  With 
the rise to power of President Nasser of Egypt in 1952, Pan-Arab Nationalism 
soon had both a purpose and a figurehead. 

The Suez Crisis of 1956, during which Nasser was seen to face down the 
combined forces of Israel, Britain and France, confirmed the Egyptian 
President's standing in the Arab world.  It also seemed to confirm that 
the West was squarely on the Israeli side.  The Muslim states of North Africa 
were receiving their independence at this time and swung in behind the Arabs. 
The prospect of a united Arab world was exciting many in the region.  

In 1958, Egypt and Syria, in federation with Yemen, declared the United Arab 
Republic.  In the same year, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia formed the Arab 
Union.  However, the inter-Arab jealousies and ambitions were too great, 
and both of these had a short life span.  As if to confirm the problems of 
unified action, civil war broke out in Lebanon. In 1964, the Palestine 
Liberation Organization was formed, and within a few years a militant wing 
under Yasir Arafat was raiding into Israel from camps in Jordan.  This was 
to reveal further splits among the Arab states.  While the Palestinians were 
supported in their desire for a homeland, their real value to the Arabs was 
as a symbolic tool in the battle against Israel. Many considered that rather 
pathetic refugees presented a better image to the outside world than armed 
terrorists.



A SERIES OF WARS

Then, in 1967, Israel completely shattered the confidence of Arab Nationalism 
with a stunning surprise attack on three fronts.  She swept across the Sinai 
desert into Egypt as far as the Suez Canal, absorbing the Gaza Strip as she 
went.  She cut the useful part of Jordan in half, taking possession of the 
West Bank and East Jerusalem, and she took the strategically vital Golan 
Heights from Syria. Within a matter of days, Israel more than doubled her 
size (mainly by the absorption of the Sinai desert), taking vast areas of 
land both for strategic reasons and so as to have maximum bargaining power.  

In the process, she destroyed two-thirds of the 400-strong Egyptian Air Force 
and 80% of the Egyptian military equipment.  Jordan lost one-quarter of its 
fertile land, half its industry and most of its army. There was a partial 
redress in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when the Arabs counter-attacked, but the 
effect of this was more psychological than territorial.  In any case, the 
point had been made in 1967 that the re-conquering of Palestine by the Arab 
armies was not going to be just a matter of time.  While the Arabs certainly 
outnumbered the Israelis, they were not acting in concert and the Israeli 
army was well-equipped, well-trained and extremely effective. The Yom Kippur 
War revealed the pattern of Arab-Israeli politics over the last decade or so.  


Between 1967 and 1973, both sides had franticaly re-armed; Israel by the 
United States and the Arabs by the Soviet Union.  As soon as the battle was 
joined, the United Nations leapt into the middle in an only partially 
successful attempt to set up buffer zones. The four main issues were and 
still are:  the right of Israel to exist; the rights of the Palestinians; 
secure frontiers for the state of Israel; and Jerusalem itself.  When in 1979 
President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Begin of Israel signed a peace 
treaty at Camp David in America, the rest of the Arab world felt betrayed, 
and Egypt was ostracized for a while.  The point was that not only had Egypt 
guaranteed a border with Israel but, by signing a treaty, she had also in 
effect recognized the existence of the Jewish state. Meanwhile, the terrorist 
activities of the P.L.O. were becoming more of a nuisance to its fellow 
Arabs.  In particular, since they were based in Jordan, Israel considered it 
necessary and reasonable to counter-attack into Jordanian territory; and it 
was not just the Palestinians who lost lives and property.  








When in 1974 the P.L.O. was recognized by the Arab League as the sole 
representative of the Palestinian people, King Hussein of Jordan was not 
best pleased.  There were even clashes between the P.L.O. and the Jordanian 
army and the P.L.O. was forced to decamp to Lebanon. Of course, the situation 
in Lebanon was not good to start with.  Being a fairly artificial 
construction at independence in 1946, with a population which was half Muslim 
and half Christian, Lebanon had done remarkably well to keep the peace for as 
long as it had.  Indeed, for a long time Beirut was regarded as the Monte 
Carlo of the Middle East, the playground of the rich where foreign 
journalists went to recuperate from the strain of working elsewhere in the 
region. Nevertheless, when it finally caught fire, it really went up in 
flames.  

With three different Christian groups (Maronite, Catholic and Greek Orthodox) 
and at least three different Muslim groups (Shiite, Sunni and Druze, the 
latter being a mystical branch of Shia Islam), the potential for conflict was 
frightening.  The situation was not helped by the arrival of P.L.O. 
terrorists. The Israelis attacked and so the Syrians joined in.  The United 
States, France, Britain and the United Nations all sent forces and then 
withdrew them with their tails between their legs.  Today, there can be few 
countries in the world in such an unholy mess as Lebanon.


IRAN

The 1979 Iranian Revolution brought to a head the other great threat to the 
stability of the Middle East:  resurgent militant Islam, and especially 
Shiite Islam. Persians had always been separated from Arabs by mountains, 
language (they spoke Farsi, or Persian) and religion (they were mostly 
Shiite).  The Persian monarchy could claim to be the oldest in the world, and 
had celebrated its 2,500th anniversary in 1971.  

Nevertheless, for a long time the Shah had been slowly transforming Iran 
into a modern western-style country, thereby generating a good deal of 
religious tension among those who saw the developments as being anti-Koranic 
Law. As so often happens with a strong ruler, the Shah became very unpopular 
as he started to relax his grip on society, and he was ousted by a 
fundamentalist backlash which focused on the exiled and aging personage of 
Ayatolah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had been an activist in the early 1960s.  

Under his leadership, Iran maintained a fanatical and aggressive stance which 
has calmed down a little since his death under the Presidency of Hojatolislam 
Hashemi Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. The threat in 1979, as perceived by the Arab 
states, was not so much that an Iranian army would invade Arabia as that the 
Shiite populations within their own countries would at best look to Tehran 
for their leadership and at worst be encouraged into revolution themselves.  

The Shiites are a majority grouping in Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain, and there 
are strong pockets of them all along the west coast of the Persian Gulf. 
Furthermore, since the Iranian state was now a fervent if not fanatical 
Islamic Republic it would claim to represent a deeper commitment to the 
ideals of Islam than the more westernized Arab states.  It could thus inspire 
revolution even among Sunni populations.  Particularly within the poorer 
classes of society, the notion of rebellion in the name of Islam against 
their now fantastically rich rulers which might given them a piece of the oil 
revenues was certainly attractive.

Iraq, being Iran's most immediate neighbor and with a population that was 
more than half Shiite, very quickly turned a dispute over a border agreement 
that had been made between Persia and the Ottoman Empire in 1913 into an 
excuse for a major war.  This conflict raged destructively but to no 
territorial effect throughout the 1980s.  By portraying the war as a battle 
between Arab and Persian and between Sunnis and heretical Shiites, Iraq was 
able to generate a lot of support and financial aid from the rest of the Arab 
League. In 1981, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman 
formed themselves around Saudi Arabia into the Gulf Cooperation Council as a 
direct response to the Iranian threat.  There was an uneasy rapprochement 
during the mid-80's in order to oppose Israel which was spoiled by 
Iranian-inspired riots during the 1987 Haj (or pilgrimage) in Mecca. 

During this time, Iran had a working relationship with Turkey and maintained 
relations with Syria, President Assad being no friend of President Saddam 
Hussein of Iraq.  She was also friendly with the more radical Arab states, 
South Yemen, Algeria and particularly Colonel Qadafi's Libya.  Moreover, she 
had influence in Lebanon through the Hezbollah movement and found herself 
bonded to Pakistan by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

THE MIDDLE EAST TODAY

At the risk of being absurdly simplistic, then, the states of the Middle East 
fall into the following categories.  On either side are the two problems or 
threats:  Israel and Iran.  Israel, with very powerful armed forces (probably 
with a nuclear capability) and strong connections with the United States is 
universally hated.  Iran is probably more feared than hated and has a strong 
influence with religious and terrorist groups throughout the region. Between 
these two are the two rival military dictatorships of Iraq and Syria.  Both 
are held together with an iron fist and neither has a good human rights 
record.  Their armies, which are both very powerful (Iraq a little less so at 
the moment), are seen by the Arab world as vital parts of the fight against 
Israel.  


Nevertheless, the egos of the two Presidents make them implacable 
enemies and difficult "allies" for the rest of the Arabs.  It is like having 
two rival militia groups constituting a vital part of your armed forces.
South of them and both seeing themselves as the leader of the Arab world are 
Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  Both want a stable, Arab Middle East and try to 
maneuver the rest behind them.  Egypt is by far the largest Arab state, with 
a population of 46 million, and is the bustling, forward-looking heart and 
humor of the Arab world.  Saudi Arabia, containing the holy cities of Mecca 
and Medina, is the spiritual heart of Islam.  With the Koran as the basis for 
its constitution, it is extremely traditional and conservative and, more 
recently, very rich. 

Caught up between all this are the two whipping boys, Jordan and Lebanon.  
Neither are big or powerful and are simply walked over (or flown over) by 
forces greater than themselves.  Lebanon, of course, has been torn apart 
both from within and from without.  Jordan has been kept together only by 
the personality and diplomacy of King Hussein, twisting and turning for 40 
years and maintaining a voice and self-respect for his tiny country. Then 
there are the two peoples without a home, the Kurds and the Palestinians.  




The Kurds have never actually had their own country and are 
therefore more easily forgotten.  Nevertheless, they make up a quarter of 
both Iran and Iraq and have substantial populations in Turkey, Syria and 
Soviet Azerbaijan.  The plight of the Palestinians, of whom 2 million out of 
a total registered population of 4 million are registered refugees, is all 
too familiar to a world audience. Finally, there are the two fringe groups, 
the Maghreb and the Gulf States.  The North African countries have fingers in 
many pies.  They are African nations, many with strong trading links across 
the Mediterranean with Europe, who are members of the Arab League.  The Gulf 
States are too small, however rich some of them are while the oil lasts, to 
have much of an identity separate from Saudi Arabia.  That is not to say that 
they are all identical, any more than the African states are.

Two features of the Middle East have not been mentioned in any great detail 
and they are linked.  The first is the involvement of the two superpowers, 
the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. over the last forty years.  On the one hand, 
their activities have been so secretive and complicated that it is hard to 
identify much coherence.  On the other hand, their involvement has been 
almost entirely selfish and therefore contributes less than one might imagine 
to an understanding of the region itself.  



They have been fighting their own Cold War on whatever front they could find, 
including the Middle East. Since neither side, and particularly the 
Americans, are officially popular in the area, the tactics seem to have been 
largely a question of selling arms to whomever will buy them, in order to 
curry as much favor and influence as possible.  The Arab states in their turn 
were only to willing to spend their newfound wealth on building ever larger 
and more powerful armed forces, ostensibly so as to protect themselves from 
Zionist aggression.

DESERT STORM
This is where the link comes in between superpower influence and the other 
major omission of the account so far:  the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the 
most recent "Gulf War."  As long as armed forces were being built up in order 
to oppose Israel, the other Arab states were quite happy.  A war with Shiite 
Iran was also acceptable, but as soon as the might of Iraq was turned against 
other Arabs, pandemonium broke loose.  In the eyes of the other Arab states, 
that was not at all what the Iraqi Army was intended for and they weren't 
sure quite what to do.  They didn't want to destroy Iraq because it was a 
vital part of their own master plan, but they didn't want the threat to 
remain that they could be attacked themselves. Their solution was typically 
bizarre.  They paid for American and British forces to come and win half a 
war before rushing them off home again; imperialist Christian armies briefly 
and unofficially defending Mecca from Muslims. 

Equally from the superpowers' perspective, as long as weaponry was being 
used for stalemale confrontations and boastful March Pasts, they were happy 
supplying it.  As soon as it was used to disrupt the region, they wished they 
hadn't.  Nevertheless, it is surely not surprising that if you give an 
arrogant, bloodthirsty tyrant an army he will use it as he sees fit rather 
than as you hoped he might.  

Certainly, Sassam hates Israel as much as any Arab, but that does not mean 
that he will only use his power against Jews and Persians. There was a lot of 
emotional rhetoric whistling around the West during Operation Desert Storm 
about human rights and the dangers of letting the strong get away with 
bullying the weak.  Yet bullies get away with human rights violations all 
the time all over the world.  We know about it and pass resolutions 
condemning it at the United Nations, but we don't charge off with our armies 
to stop it.  This time we did.  Saddam Hussein was not the only one to be 
surprised by the scale and speed of deployment of the forces against him.






The strategic importance of Arabia is, of course, greatly diminished.  Modern 
superpower warfare is performed very largely with long-range guided missiles.  
However, the control of oil is perhaps more vital than ever before and it is 
surely this that has drawn the world into Middle Eastern difficulties.  Civil 
wars rage all over the planet, mostly with out-of-date weaponry, and nobody 
seems too keen to intervene.  In the Middle East, wars are fought with the 
latest technology and the world on tenterhooks. During the recent war, Middle 
East experts tried to explain to us quite what had happened and why, but 
inevitably failed.  In one sense, it was the last thing that anyone expected, 
in another it was totally inevitable.  They told us that it might lead to 
greater peace in the region, but it might lead to even more war.  It is in 
the hands of the Gods. 

The whole episode merely showed the extraordinary way in which passionate 
and deep-seated alliances can dissolve and switch violently within days.  
Nothing is ever solved and every conflict is a Jihad (Holy War).  One just 
waits for the next one and despairs of being able to foresee it.  Saddam 
Hussein is the villain of the Middle East at the moment, but he may not be 
in a few years' time.  It is a foolhardy comentator who predicts the new dawn 
in Arabia. The Middle East has been described, not wrongly, as "the cockpit 
of the world."  There three continents come together and three great 
religions lock horns.  There live the Arabs, a proud, generous and warlike 
people who have spent too much of their history fighting battles.

AIR WAR TACTICS

THE CHANGING ROLE OF AIRCRAFT

Air warfare is a relatively new phenomenon.  Land battles, of course, have 
been only too common since time immemorial, and sea battles were well under 
way by Greek and Roman times.  However, it was not until the Great War of 
1914 that the technology existed for humans to attempt to kill each other 
from and in the air. It is probably true to say that the simply spectacular 
technological developments that have taken place during the last 80 years 
have progresively changed aerial warfare more than any other theater of 
conflict.  

Naturally, land and sea tactics were already fairly well developed, and to 
a large extent the new technology simply refined and drastically improved 
the capacity of armies and navies sucessfully to employ tried and tested 
tactics. Air war tactics, on the other hand, have changed constantly.  





There ware two main reasons for this.  First, it has taken many years and 
many conflicts for military planners to fully realize and accept that an air 
force is a vital and equal part of the military.  During the Gulf 
War, while allied forces were delivering more explosive power than the 
Hiroshima bomb, the planners were still telling us that "the real war hasn't 
started yet."  The second reason why air tactics have changed is that the 
advancing technology has constantly opened up possibilities that simply were 
not there before.  Large bombers could carry heavier payloads much further 
than flimsy biplanes; jet planes could suddenly fly dramatically faster and 
higher than anything to date; helicopters could do things which World War 
Two pilots could only dream of; guided missiles then removed the need for a 
pilot altogether. Thus is would be more accurate to say that the tactics of 
air warfare expanded rather than changed.  

The Red Baron and his adversaries in their Sopwith Camels no doubt employed 
many similar tactics to modern "Top Gun" pilots, albeit at a dramatically 
reduced velocity.  The "tactics" of the B-52s during the Gulf War were not 
that different from the "Flying Fortresses" of the Second World War. It is 
interesting to note that the tactics employed by "Operation Desert Storm" 
against the Iraqi Air Force were similar to those of the Luftwaffe during 
the Battle of Britain.  For both, the aim was to neutralize the enemy air 
force by attacking the airfields and destroying the aircraft on the ground 
without giving them the chance to take off and engage.  
In many ways, the Battle of Britain was won because the RAF largely succeeded 
in taking off or "scrambling," the Iraqis lost the air war simply because 
they failed to get a single plane into combat. Nevertheless, tactics do 
change.  It is quite possible that the lumbering heavy bombers such as the 
B-52 and Flying Fortress have had their day, except as mobile strategic 
missile launchers.  Weapons are now so precise and accurate that there is 
little or no need for saturation bombing to make sure a target is hit. 
Nowadays one simply has to point a laser beam at a target and let the bomb 
do the rest.  Increasingly, speedy aircraft such as the F-117 "Stealth" and 
the Tornado, much more akin to the Mosquito fighter bomber of World War Two, 
will perform the tasks traditionally undertaken by the rumbling giants. 

During the First World War, airplanes were used almost entirely for ground 
attack troop support.  The generals could see no use for them except as an 
aid to whatever it was the ground forces were doing.  Indeed, as the 
fledgling British air force, the Royal Air Corps was technically part of the 
army.  In many ways, the planes were little more than glorified and expensive 
artillery, and regarded as such by many a crusty old brigadier. They might 
be able to deliver high explosive more accurately than a field gun by 
throwing (as they did) bombs out of their cockpits, but it was by no means 
certain.  As such, they were rather like early and not very accurate guided 
missiles.  As long as airplanes were regarded merely as an extension of the 
artillery they were never likely to show what they could do.

Nevertheless, since both sides had airplanes operating on the same front, 
they were bound to meet each other in the air and the "dogfight" was born.  
From the Red Baron through Douglas Bader to Tom Cruise, the glamor of the 
fighter "Ace" is irresistible.  The modern aerial dogfight is like karate 
with a rocket strapped to your back and missile launchers in either hand.  
Coming out of the sun with guns blazing, throwing the plane into screeching 
turns and closing in for the kill; win, lose or draw, a fighter pilot always 
gets the girl.

WORLD WAR TWO

By the Second World War, the Air Force had become a separate wing of the 
military and new uses had been found for aerial warfare.  Furthermore, the 
different tasks were now performed by specialized airdraft.  There were the 
"pure" fighters, such as the Spitefire and the Messerschmitt 109E, whose 
sole task was to intercept and destroy other aircraft.  There were fighter 
bombers such as the Hurricane and the Mosquito, who combined the fighter 
role with a capacity for low-level ground strikes.  There were straight 
ground attack aircraft such as the German Stuka. There were unarmed 
reconnaissance aircraft reporting back daily on enemy positions, troop 
movements and the success of yesterday's attack.  

Transporters carried equipment and personnel further and quicker than ever 
before.  Generals and special forces were able to jump all over the theater 
of operations and thus be continually active over a far greater area than 
was previously possible. The army had realized that it would be very useful 
to be able to land troops behind enemy lines and the paratrooper came onto 
the scene, as did gliders to land their heavy equipment.  Spies and 
commandos were dropped off and collected.  There were "flying boats" like 
the Sunderland providing sea reconnaissance and planes like the biplane 
Swordfish operating from aircraft carriers. Then there were the heavy bombers 
like the Lancaster and the Flying Fortress, delivering quantities of high 
explosive never dreamed possible by previous generations.  Under the 
protection of fighter cover they droned across Europe for five years 
bringing war to the ordinary citizen for the first time.  Of course, the 
Great War saw Zeppelin Airships attempting a similar role, but they 
threatened more than they achieved.  The huge, slow-moving balloons of 
inflammable gas presented too easy a target and the range was far too great 
for fighter cover.






The level of material destruction meted out by heavy bombers between 1940 
and 1945 was unprecedented and is unsurpassed.  This was the great and 
terrible innovation of the Second World War and entirely the product of 
developing air warfare.  Never again would wars be fought by distant armies 
on foreign soil.  Any citizen or soldier could become the latest casualty of 
war and both the heart and fabric of homes were destroyed. This points to 
what has become an important part of what an airforce can contribute to an 
overall war effort; it can have great psychological effect.  A tank 
commander knows that he is safe from submarine attack; a sailor in the 
mid-Atlantic knows he will not be hit by a bullet from an infantryman's 
rifle.  Neither are safe from air attack and neither can be sure that their 
families at home are not being bombed.

Moreover, the sound and feel of death from the sky is unique.  The nagging 
drone of the heavy bomber or the V1 "Doodlebug," the ghastly whistling of a 
free-falling bomb, the whine of a diving Stuka or the roar of a Tornado are 
coupled with a feeling of helplessness.  The B-52s were too far away for the 
Iraqi soldiers to shoot at and the Tornados had gone before they could aim 
their weapons, like an angry wasp that you know is there but which could 
just as well be behind your ear as under your chair.  



Of course, since no soldier or civilian is safe, neither is any factory, 
communication post or military base.  Air warfare provided the armed forces 
with the possibility of knocking out units and weapons before they were even 
brought into the front line.  Saboteurs can be a nuisance but an air force 
can turn an entire war around.  Every installation and major city now has 
to be defended against air attack if it is to play a part in the war.

THE MODERN AIR FORCE
The end of the Second World Wa saw the advent of the first jet-propelled 
combat aircraft, the Gloster Meteor and the Messerschmitt Me-262 and the 
first guided missile, the German V-2.  Neither arrived in time to affect 
the outcome of the war but the technology was soon catapulted into the Cold 
War and the arms race.  The U.S. F-100 Super Sabre and the Soviet Mig-19, 
the first two supersonic jet fighters, came into service almost 
simultaneously, a pattern to be repeated as each desperately struggled 
to develop technology at a slightly faster rate than the other.
The Vietnam War was the first proper test of the new jet fighters and 
indicated that the Soviets had made a better guess as to how supersonic 
combat might happen.  The Americans had asumed that sheer speed and 
performance were the key and that the idea was to sweep in and destroy an 
enemy aircraft before it had time to maneuver in a single high-speed strike 
using guided missiles.  As such, the F-100 was more heavily armed and far 
less agile than its rival.

The Soviets had rightly assumed that the tactic would be to dodge the first 
enemy salvo, forcing him to lose speed in order to maneuver and then to 
close in for the kill with cannon fire.  The validity of this assessment is 
borne out by the fact that while the F-100 is no longer in service, the 
Mig-19 is still being produced in China as the Shengyang J-9.

At first it was assumed that sheer speed would be an advantage to both 
fighter and bomber aircraft, but as surface-to-air missiles became more and 
more accurate, it soon became apparent that low-level flight and 
maneuverability were to be more useful qualities, so as to be able to 
penetrate enemy airspace below the radar horizon.

In addition, the advantages of standoff weapons that could be fired at a 
target without having to close with it became increasingly apparent.
The Americans led the world in developing both battlefield and strategic 
weapons with a mind of their own, apparently seeking out their targets for 
themselves.  It was not long before the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile 
reared its frighteningly powerful head.




Traditionally, the air force has been the "junior" service; very useful, 
but a little overglamorized.  In the Gulf War, while the allied air forces 
were slowly destroying the Iraqi war machine, we were being told that, 
"however much success an air war might have, airplanes cannot capture 
territory.  For that, you need an an army."

In the event, by the time the aerial bombardment phase of "Desert Storm" 
had come to an end, most of the Iraqis were simply waiting for someone to 
surrender to.  Most would probably have surrendered to a troop of brownies 
and certainly to an unarmed United Nations force.  There is even a report 
that a group of Iraqis tried to surrender to a robot reconnaissance plane.
While the Gulf War was undoubtedly an unusually one-sided and thus atypical 
conflict, it is not wrong to say that it was won by the air forces.  Indeed, 
the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff claimed that it was "the first war when 
air power inflicted a decisive defeat on a field army."

Since the Second World War, it has been recognized that a land offensive 
cannot successfully be carried through without air superiority (where you 
are decisively winning the air war) or even air supremacy (where the air war 
has been won).  An army without air cover will almost certainly lose a 
battle.  Thus, in many ways a modern war is fought and won in the air, even 
if it is technically true that the land forces plant flags and accept 
surrenders.

The Gulf War showed the world, if it did not know already, just how accurate 
and clinical modern air warfare has become and can become in the future.  
If a missile can be fired from nearly a thousand miles away and fly through 
a window, what is the point of ever exposing a human pilot to enemy fire.  
Indeed, it is arguable that computers can now fly an aircraft and fire its 
weaponry more effectively than a human pilot.

The time will surely come, if it has not arrived already, when the chances 
of human eror are so much greater than those of computer error that wars 
will be safer fought by computers and guided missiles.  Perhaps we will 
simply sit in control rooms and say what we would like destroyed. It is not 
as much of a science fiction as it once was to envisage a time when 
computers will be able to tell us, before any weapons are fired, what the 
outcome of a particular war will be.  We could then decide whether a 
military conflict was going to be worth it or not, without having to kill 
or destroy anything.  Perhaps large-scale wars will become obsolete.  And 
perhaps not. Here is a brief outline of some of the aircraft and missiles 
which might be used in a modern air war.




AIRCRAFT

The BOEING E-3 SENTRY AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System) is exactly 
what its name suggests.  Carrying a team of air controllers, it has the 
capacity to monitor hundreds of enemy aircraft and to "see" deep into enemy 
territory.  Thus it is able to control air operations over an area covering 
several hundred miles.

The BOEING B-52 STRATOFORTRESS has been the mainstay of the U.S. heavy 
bomber fleet since 1952 and is now beginning to be replaced by the Rockwell 
B-1B.  While the last was delivered in October 1962, the model is expected 
to see service with the U.S. Air Force until the year 2000.  With a wingspan 
as wide as an 18-story building, it is a heavy bomber in every sense of the 
word, although it is very adaptable and has even been used for low-level 
bombing.  Perhaps not surprisingly, it has a long-range (the B-52s used in 
the Gulf War flew from Britain and Diego Garcia) and can deliver a range of 
weapons from a high altitude, including gravity bombs, SRAM (Short-range 
Attack Missiles) and ALCM (Air Launched Cruise Missiles).





The LOCKHEED F-117 STEALTH BOMBER, painted black and shaped like a saucer, 
projects a rather "space- age" impression.  In actual fact, it is designed 
as it is precisely so as not to project any impresion at all to enemy radar.  
It neither radiates nor reflects any electromagnetic or thermal energy, 
which is what a radar is designed to pick up, and thus is largely invisible 
to a conventional air defense system.  As such, it may almost be classed as 
a "standoff weapon"--fired at the enemy without having to expose the firer 
to the enemy's defenses.  The Stealth Bomber flies in at high speed having 
given no warning of its arrival and delivers its payload quite literally 
before the enemy knows what has hit him.

The GENERAL DYNAMICS F-16 FIGHTING FALCON is an extremely agile air-combat 
and technical fighter which, along with the F-15, make up an important part 
of the United States fighter wing.  It has the capacity to carry an 
impressive array of weapons which are carried externally.  The F-16 Falcon 
benefits from a very advanced electronic flight control system referred to 
as "fly-by-wire."  What this means is that a computer automatically 
translates the movements which the pilot may make to his control column 
into the best configuration of the aircraft's control surfaces.  Thus the 
pilot does not have to concentrate so much on how to make the plane do what 
he wants it to do and is thereby freed, by and large, to focus his attentions 
elsewhere, such as onto the aiming and firing of his weapons system.

The BAe HARRIER "JUMP JET" was the world's first operational vertical 
take-off aircraft.  This capability is achieved by directing jet nozzles 
directly down, lifting the plane from the ground, and then gradually 
rotating them so as to produce a forward acceleration until sufficient 
aerodynamic lift to support the aircraft is produced on the wings.  This 
has obvious advantages, such as service from airdraft carriers.  However, 
there is a limit to the payload that can be lifted vertically and the 
Harrier usually employs a short take-off.  This entails accelerating along 
the runway for 250-300 yards before turning the nozzles sharply down, 
throwing the aircraft into the air.  The take-off lift is thus produced by 
a combination of aerodynamic lift and direct thrust; the heavier the 
payload, the longer the take-off.  The basic Harrier design has been 
developed into many forms including the Sea Harrior, the RAF Harrier GR.Mk5 
and the U.S. AV-8B Harrier II.









The PANAVIA TORNADO is a multi-role, high-performance interdictor capable of 
carrying over 90 different types of ordinance and possessing a variable 
geometry or "swing-wing" facility.  This means that the wings can be held 
close to the body of the aircraft for maximum control and lift during 
take-off, cruising flight and landing, and then extended for minimum drag 
and thus greater speed for attack or pursuit.  It can operate off a short 
take-off, fly long distances with a heavy payload and travel at supersonic 
speeds.  It has a very advanced navigation and attack system and is thus 
able to make extremely accurate single-pass strikes.  During the Gulf War, 
the RAF used the Tornado, equipped with the JP-233 Airfield Busting Bomb, 
for high-speed, low-level strikes at Iraqi airfields.  The JP-233 delivers 
a shower of bomblets which crater the runway and leave anti-personnel mines 
buried in the rubble which make any repairs, hazardous to say the least.  
The Tornado is widely used throughout the world and undoubtedly has a 
development potential well into the next century.

The SEPECAT JAGUAR was designed by an Anglo-French cooperation as an 
advanced trainer.  In the event, however, it was found to possess sufficient 
maneuverability, low-level flight and payload potential to become a useful 
attack and strike aircraft.  It is used mainly by the French and British, 
though the British version has more power and is fitted with more 
sophisticated electronics, making it an altogether more effective combat 
aircraft.

The DASSAULT-BREGUET MIRAGE F1 is a French-designed dual role fighter and 
ground-attack aircraft.  First flown in 1966, it has proved to be very agile 
at both subsonic and supersonic speeds and is still competitive in a purely 
interceptor role.  It is in service with many of the countries of the Middle 
East, including Iraq, Qatar, Libya, Morocco and Jordan.

The MIKIYAN-GURYEVICH Mig-21, originally intended by the Soviets as a clear 
weather interceptor, is a very agile and maneuverable aircraft.  First flown 
in 1956, it is still in service over 30 years later.  Many different 
multi-role varieties have been produced and later versions have a ground 
attack capability.  It has been sold all over the Warsaw Pact and beyond, 
notably India, China, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and South Yemen.

The SUKHOI SU-24 is a two-seater long-range fighter bomber equivalent to the 
Tornado, capable of all-weather low-altitude attack.

HELICOPTERS
The MCDONNELL DOUGLAS AH-64 APACHE is probably the world's best and most 
advanced battlefield helicopter.  It can climb at 3,240 ft. per minute, 
fly at 200 m.p.h. only a few feet from the ground and has excellent night 
vision equipment.  It can carry up to 16 Hellfire laser-guided anti-tank 
missiles, armor-piercing cannon and 70mm Hydra air-to-ground rockets.

The BOEING VERTOL CH-47 CHINOOK is a 2-rotor transport helicopter capable 
of carrying extremely large payloads either internally or suspended beneath 
it.

The WESTLAND LYNX was designed by Westland and produced jointly by the 
British and the French, serving in both country's armed forces.  It can be 
equipped for a number of different uses, ranging from anti-submarine to 
army utility versions and can carry anti-tank missiles, cannons or rocket 
pods.  It has the distinction of being the first British helicopter to be 
able to roll in flight.

The MIL MI-24 HIND D is the standard Soviet assault helicopter and carries 
its armory suspended beneath the small "wings" towards the center of the 
craft.  It is able to carry up to 10 fully equipped troops in addition to 
its regular payload.  Its usual modus operandi is to fly in at a low level 
before jumping up in order to attack.  It saw a good deal of service in 
Afghanistan.





MISSILES

The SCUD is a single-stage supersonic missile capable of being launched 
from fixed sites or mobile launchers.  The range varies from model to model 
from 90 to 300 miles but the Iraqis showed during the Gulf War that 
modifications to even the earlier models can give them a range capable of 
hitting Tel Aviv and Riyadh from within Iraq.  The Scud is unguided and 
thus not a very accurate weapon by modern standards, although its range can 
be controlled crudely by a radio-controlled engine cut-off.  While it can 
be fitted with conventional high-explosive warheads, its primary role was 
intended to be for chemical or nuclear warheads.  Since such weapons can 
"take out" a target provided they land within a few miles of it, the Scud 
did not need to be very accurate.  As such, its effectiveness with 
conventional explosive warheads is limited; as was shown during the Gulf War 
where they were more alarming to the general population than militarily 
dangerous.

The PATRIOT is a medium- and high-altitude air defense system; an 
anti-missile missile.  Developed by the U.S. to replace the Hawk and 
Nike-Hercules teams, it flys at Mach 3, its guided by radar and knocks out 
its target in a burst of shrapnel.  Its effectiveness was demonstrated 
during the Gulf War, when Patriots succeeded in destroying 49 out of the 
50 Scud missiles they attacked.

The AEROSPATIALE AM.39 EXOCET is a French-produced anti-ship missile with a 
range of 50-70 kilometers and a radar homing facility.  It can be fired from 
a ship or from an aircraft, including the Mirage F1 used by Iraq.  The AM.39 
can be fired from French or Argentinian Super Entendards and achieved 
notoriety during the 1982 Falklands War by sinking H.M.S. Sheffield.

The CRUISE MISSILE was designed to carry nuclear warheads, although a 
non-nuclear version was used to great effect during the Gulf War.  It 
possess a very sophisticated guidance system and can fly at low level for 
up to 70 miles and through a particular doorway.  It monitors the terrain 
over which it is flying and guides itself by comparing it with a computer 
image of what it expects to see.  It therefore actually knows where it is 
and where it is going and can quite literally fly to a particular house and 
then turn left.

The HARM is a supersonic anti-radiation missile which is fired from an 
aircraft.  It puts out air defense sytems by sensing a radar beam and flying 
down it.

The SLAM (Standoff Land Attack Missile) is guided initially by navigational 
satellites and then by a controlling aircraft via an infra-red camera, which 
it switches on when it nears its target.

PAVEWAY is a laser-guided system which is attached to the control fins of 
an ordinary bomb.  The bomb then flies down a laser beam to an exact spot, 
which can be controlled by either the aircraft which dropped it, another 
aircraft, or even an infantryman on the ground.

The GBU is similar to Paveway, but is guided by a television camera rather 
than a laser beam.  The pilot simply tells it which spot on an image it is 
to strike.

The MAVERICK is a missile and thus travels under its own propulsion rather 
than simply falling under the influence of gravity.  It is dropped by 
low-flying aircraft and seeks out warm objects such as vehicles and even 
human bodies with an infra-red sensor.

