Close Air Support: Case Studies on the Integration of Air Power on the Battlefield

Drawing together original case studies this book explores air support for ground forces from the introduction of the aircraft to the battlefield, through to Close Air Support in contemporary conflicts.

Exploring the opportunities, challenges and realties, this book establishes how Close Air Support became an essential role of air power and a critical feature of modern warfare. Using historical and contemporary perspectives to understand the evolution of Close Air Support doctrine, concepts and capabilities each author’s contribution provides an enriched understanding of an Air Power capability whose application has often been contentious and fractious. The authors provide a range of perspectives on Close Air Support, from Air Power scholars and practitioners to Literature and Defence Studies analyses. In doing so, the book provides an in depth understanding of Close Air Support on the battlefield.

Harry Raffal is the Head of Collections and Research at the Royal Air Force Museum. He holds a doctorate from the University of Hull for his thesis on the operations of the RAF and Luftwaffe during the evacuation of Dunkirk. He is a Committee member of the RAF Historical Society and the British Commission for Military History, and is the Vice-Chair of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Aeronautical Heritage Group. He has previously published research on the RAF in the Battle of France, the Third Afghan War and the online development of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces.

John Alexander specialised in co-ordinating air/land operations as a Royal Air Force officer, in the Falklands, various Middle Eastern campaigns, and Afghanistan. A Chief of the Air Staff Fellow at Cambridge and Oxford Universities, he has conceptualised warfare for the RAF, UK MOD and NATO, and published award-winning research in the RUSI Journal, Air and Space Power Review, and Asian Affairs.