- 5th Generation Aviation
Combat Air
Combat Air (CA) is the heart of Joint Air Power. NATO’s ability to deter and defend relies on the freedom of manoeuvre throughout all domains. CA contributes to that freedom by providing Air Superiority, Suppression of Enemy Air Defences, Air Interdiction, Electromagnetic Operations, Close Air Support, Integrated Air and Missile Defence, NATO Ballistic Missile Defence, and Personnel Recovery. This Branch incorporates manned and unmanned platforms, with fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, and draws from all components within Alliance air and space forces.
Featured Publications
Adapting Air and Missile Defence Training and Doctrine for Hypersonics and Drones
Many Changes Are Needed to Defend NATO Against Emerging Threats
By Lt Col
Kim
Vogt
The rapidly evolving landscape of contemporary warfare has introduced new challenges to Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) and fundamentally altered the dynamics of defence and deterrence within NATO. Emerging threats, such as Unmanned Aircraft [...]
Navigating the Digital Battlefield
Understanding Cyber Electromagnetic Activities in Warfare
By Lt Col
Athanasios
Sdrakas
On the modern battlefield, military forces face a complex environment where success depends on controlling geographic domains such as land, air, sea, and space while exploiting non-physical operational areas like cyberspace, the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS), [...]
The Missing Pieces of NATO’s Autonomous Collaborative Platform Strategy
By Col
Kevin
Anderson
In May 2024, the Secretary of the US Air Force, Frank Kendall, took a groundbreaking flight aboard a modified F-16 (X-62A VISTA), while it was controlled exclusively by autonomous, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled software. As the [...]
