‘Modern wars cannot be won without air superiority.’ Assess this statement with clear historical examples.

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‘Modern wars cannot be won without air superiority.’ Assess this statement with clear historical examples.

Advantages

  • 6 Day War (1967) - Jordan, Syria & Egypt vs. Israel. Really effective air support in comparison to the other countries. Israel's refuel and flight time enabled them to wipe out Egypt's forces in a couple of hours. Destroyed Egypt's air force before it left the ground, next attacking Jordan and Syria's forces.
  • Dunkirk (1940) - Germany dominated the skies over Dunkirk and forced the British to retreat. British only had air support every few hours for short periods of time so never really stood a chance against that of the German air force.

Disadvantages

  • Arab Revolt (1916-1918) - Arabs carry out a guerrilla campaign with little to no air support against the Ottoman Empire (air support from British and Australians only came much later), blew up railroads, captured several towns and nearly beat the British to Damascus - all with barely any air support.

Evaluation

If fighting a small war/battle then air superiority is not necessary for a side to be victorious however if you're fighting a multilevel war (large scale) it is necessary to have air superiority in order to win.

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