SEAD FROM THE GROUND UP: SOF'S ROLE IN THE SUPPRESSION OF ENEMY AIR DEFENSES
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Authors
Toepher, John
Subjects
SEAD
SOF
Air Force
air power
IADS
SOF
Air Force
air power
IADS
Advisors
Sepp, Kalev I.
Date of Issue
2019-06
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The development and proliferation of new Integrated Air Defense System (IADS) components will challenge the U.S. military’s ability to achieve air superiority. Since at least 2001, the U.S. military has enjoyed complete freedom of maneuver in the air, resulting in a force that is conditioned to assume it will achieve air supremacy at the very beginning of a conflict. U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF), in particular, have benefited from air supremacy. Many U.S. military operations include Close Air Support (CAS), Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), casualty evacuation (CASEVAC), and rotary-wing supported Quick Reaction Forces (QRF). Without air superiority, access to these capabilities will be degraded. The U.S. military has few options to reliably and efficiently degrade modern IADS. U.S. SOF therefore has the imperative to analyze ways it can support the objective of air superiority through direct and indirect means.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Defense Analysis (DA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.