F-35s, F-22s, and F/A-18 Super Hornets: How the U.S. Military Plans to Rule the Skies

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Key Points: Air superiority is vital for success in near-peer conflicts, as shown in Ukraine’s stagnant ground war due to contested skies. The U.S. military achieves air superiority by eliminating enemy aircraft and neutralizing air defense systems.

Tactical air forces, including fighters like the F-35, F-22, and F/A-18, play a crucial role in this strategy.

-Fifth-generation stealth aircraft spearhead operations, clearing the skies of advanced enemy fighters and paving the way for legacy platforms to suppress air defenses and strike ground and naval targets.

-By controlling the air, tactical forces enable close air support and broader operational dominance, crucial for victory.

Inside America’s Plan to Dominate the Skies in a Near-Peer War

Air superiority is probably the most important goal on a near-peer battlefield. The side that controls the air for some or most of the time, is increasingly more likely to prevail in the overall fight. 

We can witness a whiff of this in the ongoing fighting in Ukraine. Neither side has managed to achieve air superiority and control the skies, and the situation on the ground is largely stagnant. 

But how does one establish air superiority? How does an air force overcome its adversary to gain control of the skies? 

Mainly by doing two things: taking out the adversary’s air combat aircraft and pummeling into submission his air defense capabilities. Limited air superiority is possible if an air force manages only one of the above, but control of the skies isn’t possible without both. 

So, a conflict with a near-peer adversary starts tomorrow. What happens next? How does the U.S. military establish air superiority over its adversary? 

Well, if we first assume that the world as we know it doesn’t come to an end because of a nuclear conflict, the U.S. military would use strategic assets to take out adversary key functions. But then it would be the time for the direct fighting. And here, enter tactical air forces. 

Tactical Air Forces:  

Tactical air forces are key in a conflict and one of the main sources the U.S. military will try to achieve air superiority over the battlefield and advance its interests on the ground and sea. 

They don’t include ballistic missiles or strategic bombers that can target an adversary’s most important assets. No, tactical air forces are taking the fight to the enemy in a very close and personal manner. 

In the U.S. military, tactical air forces include the fixed-wing fighter and attack aircraft of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. These aircraft sport a combination of capabilities, including air-to-air, air-to-ground, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and electronic warfare.

In terms of aircraft, tactical air forces would include platforms like the F-35 Lightning II, F-22 Raptor, F-15E Strike Eagle, AV-8 Harrier, F-15EX Eagle II, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-16C/D Fighting Falcon, EA-18G Growler, A-10 Warthog, and even the E-3 Sentry.

 All in all, the U.S. military has thousands of such aircraft ready to get into the ring with an adversary and wrestle for air superiority. 

In the opening days of a conflict, tactical air forces go in and take on the adversary and his capabilities. 

Today, fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor would go in first and try to take out equivalent Chinese or Russian capabilities in the sky.

F-22 Raptor. Image Credit: U.S. Air Force.

 By doing so, these stealth aircraft would pave the way for older tactical aircraft to enter the fray and start pummeling adversary air defense and other air combat capabilities. 

Once the skies are clear from enemy aircraft and air defenses are suppressed, tactical air forces have free rein to pummel ground and naval targets and provide close air support to friendly ground units. 

In many ways, tactical air forces are the ingredient to winning a war.

About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou 

A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University, an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and is pursuing a J.D. at Boston College Law School. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.