The combat capability of attack aviation is usually measured by dispatch capability, activity radius, penetration capability and assault capability. The exertion of these abilities depends on the quality of pilots and the level of organization and command of commanders.
Combat dispatch ability is the premise of attacking aviation, which depends on whether the attacking aviation can take off and land after receiving the task, and is also related to the minimum meteorological conditions, aircraft attendance rate and combat dispatch intensity.
Because the attack aircraft mainly attacks the ground targets, the combat activities are affected by the weather.
The climate has a great influence. When the aircraft lacks advanced pilots, detection and fire control equipment, combat activities can only be carried out in daytime, under clouds and in places with good visibility, but not in clouds, clouds and places with poor visibility; At night, we can only attack large-area targets by taking lighting measures or under moonlit conditions.
When the fighter has advanced cockpit equipment, it has improved its all-weather combat capability, but in order to prevent accidental injury to its own troops on the ground, it is still necessary to make final corrections to the target by visual inspection. Therefore, the attack cannot be completely free from meteorological constraints.
The aircraft attendance rate is the percentage of the number of dispatched aircraft to the total number of actual aircraft, and it is an important indicator to measure the combat capability of flying troops. The attendance rate of attack aviation aircraft is generally calculated at 85%. In local wars, the Israeli Air Force has the highest aircraft attendance rate of 99%, while the Egyptian Air Force has only 50%.
The intensity of combat dispatch is the number of air force dispatches per unit time, which is usually calculated by the number of times that each aircraft can be dispatched day and night.
At present, the daily dispatch capacity of general attack aviation is 2~4 times, and the highest can reach nearly 10 times. This intensity is mainly limited by the preparation time of the battle. On the first day of the Third Middle East War, Israel dispatched 10 times per aircraft on average, which was a high dispatch intensity and greatly improved the operational capability of the Israeli Air Force.
In this regard, the then Egyptian President Nasser spoke highly of it: "It is no exaggeration to say that the enemy's air force is three times its strength."
The operational radius is the farthest distance that an attacker can fly back and forth when performing a combat mission, which is related to whether he can reach the attacked target or not and whether he has a long time to leave blank. At present, the combat radius of foreign advanced attack aircraft is close to 1000 km.
In order to strive for a larger operational radius, the attacking aviation usually adopts the way of rapid assembly and sailing, chooses appropriate flight speed and navigation profile, avoids inappropriate tortuous routes, forms appropriate battle formation and controls the time of theater activities. However, the most important thing is to solve the problem of aerial refueling. The reason why the British Vulcan bomber can take off from Ascension Island and attack the island from a long distance depends on the aerial refueling of more than 600 tankers.
Breaking through the enemy's field air defense is the key to the task of attacking aviation. Therefore, studying practical defensive tactics and solving the problem of how to reach the target is an important task to improve the combat capability of attacking aviation.
At present, the basic tactics of attacking aviation penetration are: low altitude and high speed, multi-aircraft cooperation, multi-batch, multi-direction, multi-level, avoiding maneuver, fire suppression, feint and deception, etc. The experience of local wars shows that these methods are effective. If the armor-piercing projectile can flexibly use the above tactics, coupled with the development and application of new technologies such as stealth, the ability to cross enemy field air defense obstacles is likely to be further improved.
The assault capability of attacking aviation refers to the results that can be achieved by attacking various targets with killing and destroying weapons, and its important constraint is airborne weapons and ammunition. The bomb load is large, indicating that the assault power is great; There are many kinds of mounted weapons, showing strong task adaptability; Carrying guided weapons indicates high projection accuracy; Mounting a weapon with a long range means that it has a far-reaching effect.
If the attack aircraft meets one of the above conditions, the number of troops needed to be dispatched will be greatly reduced when performing the same tasks as in the past, which shows that the combat capability of the attacking aviation has been enhanced.
2. Tactical principles of attacking aviation.
In order to effectively complete the task, annihilate a large number of enemies and reduce combat losses, assault aviation must follow the following tactical principles.
(1) actively support. For the ground forces, the attack aviation is a visible and directly used arm. Since the advent of attack aviation, it has formed an indissoluble bond with the ground forces. In future wars, this relationship will be even closer. Judging from the composition of the army, the army will still exist as the main component, and the victory or defeat of campaigns and battles will ultimately be achieved through the ground army.
Therefore, the offensive aviation should establish the guiding ideology of actively supporting the ground forces, take the interests of the ground forces as its own responsibility, take the operational actions of the ground forces as the basic basis, and meet the requirements of the ground forces as much as possible. The enthusiasm of attacking aviation in high-altitude combat is as follows: shortening the preparation time of combat and exerting the rapid response ability; Strive to overcome various unfavorable factors; Make full use of the weakness of enemy air defense deployment and favorable natural conditions to act; If possible, try to increase the number of attacks; Pay attention to the targets that are not easy to attack by assault ground artillery; Accurate assault on targets close to the front line, so that the effect of the assault can be directly used by the aided troops; According to the actual situation on the ground, the target guidance group guides the attack aircraft to assault those targets that are most harmful to the ground troops; And deal with special situations quickly, adjust the battle sequence in time, and organize combat support in an orderly manner.
Of course, active support is not recklessness beyond objective possibilities. Which tasks can be performed and which tasks are difficult to perform, we should tell the troops being read realistically.
(2) Close cooperation. This is the key to obtain the supporting effect, and it is also an important link to prevent mutual injury. In the fourth Middle East War, 40 Egyptian Air Force planes were shot down by us, and 10% of the total losses of Israeli Air Force planes were also shot down by us. The reason is that the coordination between open spaces is not good. Because the attacking aviation directly provides the attack effect to the ground troops, it is very important to maintain close cooperation with the aided troops in firepower and maneuver.
In supporting combat, the main targets of attacking aviation cooperation are infantry, artillery, armored forces and naval ship formations; Within the aviation, it is also necessary to cooperate with professional aviation such as bombing aviation and annihilation aviation. The contents of coordination vary from task to task, but generally include sorties, batches, assault targets, assault time, land and air identification signals, communication methods, safe bombing distance, methods of indicating targets, flight routes and navigation profiles of targets, and disposal schemes for various special situations.
In order to do a good job of coordination, the attacking aviation units must strengthen the overall awareness, establish the overall concept, rationally combine and use their forces, and make their actions closely cooperate with the aided units; We should act accurately in strict accordance with the specified time, place, objectives and requirements, keep abreast of the intention of the commander of the synthetic army and the current situation of both sides on the ground, and be good at correcting our actions according to the changed situation. When the original coordination is out of balance or destroyed, we should quickly restore or establish a new coordination relationship. In order to improve the synergy effect, the attacking aviation units should be familiar with contract tactics, learn the basic knowledge of attack and defense of ground forces, and understand the characteristics, establishment and equipment of various services and arms.
(3) act quickly. Under modern conditions, the mobile speed of ground troops is accelerated, and the battlefield situation changes dramatically. The main target of the attack aircraft moving target is fleeting, and the favorable fighters are scarce and easy to lose.
All these situations require the attacking aviation to have rapid response ability, complete the preparation for dispatch in a short time, fly to the target quickly and carry out the attack. If the action is slow, it may lose the timeliness of support and even put the aided troops at a disadvantage. When the target of attacking air passengers is exposed, assembled or located in narrow roads or ferries, it can get twice the result with half the effort; And if you miss these opportunities, you may turn your goals into hard bones.
Because of this, the air forces of all countries are working hard on the word "fast". For example, on the battlefield in Vietnam, US Army attack force listened to the call and responded for 35-40 minutes. During the Falklands War, the response time of British carrier aircraft was 20-25 minutes. The measures for attacking aviation to achieve rapid action are: making full preparations for combat at ordinary times and making various emergency action plans; Strengthen the exercise of quick action and shorten the preparation time for dispatch; Under the condition of war, two waiting States are adopted: ground and air; Organize reliable communication and gradually realize command automation; Fully grasp the battlefield dynamics, constantly infer the enemy's intentions, predict the development trend of the battle, and make correct decisions in time; Take off, assemble and sail quickly.
(4) The attack is accurate. Accurate shooting, accurate bombing, first in first, first in first, are not only obvious signs of well-trained, but also the basic requirements of modern operations.
At the same time, if the accuracy is improved by 25%, the number of aircraft sorties can be reduced by 50%. Aviation fighters attack small moving targets in the battlefield, accounting for 50 ~ 60% of the total number of battlefield targets. This kind of target is small, so it is difficult to hit it directly with uncontrollable weapons, and it is even more difficult to strike it accurately. The effect of American attack aircraft in Vietnam is not obvious, and the average probability error reaches 225 meters, so that some targets fail to attack many times and pay a high price.
The main means of attacking aviation to achieve accurate strike are: using models, pictures and target data to study the identification characteristics and activity rules of various targets; Constructing a target model and carrying out simulation training; The target guidance group marks the direction of entering the target for the air formation with standard equipment, and specifically guides the air formation to attack the target; The air force combat team applies for ground artillery as the indication target of air formation according to the cooperative scheme; Air formations adopt effective search methods, choose favorable attack altitude and speed, and use attack means flexibly.
In addition, improving weapons and equipment is an important measure to improve the strike accuracy. For example, using large-scale killing weapons to expand the killing radius of warheads; Use smart weapons such as TV and laser to improve the hit accuracy.
(5) be brave and tenacious. Storm tactics are known as "the tactics of the brave". It is because the fight against aviation has undertaken the most dangerous and arduous task. Higher requirements are put forward for fighter pilots. In the future, the harsh battlefield environment, low-altitude and ultra-low-altitude combat activities and the fatigue of high-intensity deployment all require fighter pilots to have strong fighting will and fearless fighting style.
In addition, the war damage rate is higher than that of other combat aircraft, which will also cause heavy psychological load to fighter pilots. In the fourth Middle East War, Israel lost 105 aircraft, of which attack aircraft accounted for 49%. During the Falklands War, Argentina lost 109 aircraft, of which attack aircraft accounted for 52%, which was the most severe test for attacking aviation.
-Quoted from "World Military Encyclopedia Operational Strategy" by China Environmental Science Press.