<text id=00wf210a><title>War Fighting Roles: Sophistication and Co-operation</title>
<history>US Air Force: Briefing</history>
<article><hdr>War Fighting Roles—Sophistication and Co-operation</hdr><body>
<p>By introducing sophisticated attack aircraft with the potential for autonomous operations, the Air Force is reducing the need for the support aircraft, which can be turned to other tasks. A gradual shift to these 'smarter' types could result in a decrease in costs of keeping the service at the required level of capability by reducing the numbers of aircraft needed. Certainly the cost-effectiveness of precision-guided munitions launched from high-value strike aircraft was graphically illustrated in the Gulf War.
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<p>This is how the USAF would go to war in a major conflict. In such a scenario it would also have to work closely with not only other US services, but also with the air arms of allied nations. To this end the US Air Force regularly exercises with all friendly forces, and equipment standardization is widespread to ensure the minimum of confusion. Again, the Gulf War was a perfect example of how the operations of other services can be neatly grafted into the overall USAF master plan, thereby maximizing the potential of the new skills brought to the combined force by other air arms.
