Building an Air Force for a Long, Big War

Australia's 2024 National Defence Strategy warns of protracted major regional conflicts. Fighting such long, big wars requires modern air forces to have three important attributes that they do not currently possess. There are some alternatives to addressing the identified shortfalls but the preferred approach is adopting the heterogeneous air power model. This uses crewed aircraft, rockets, missiles and drones in coordinated, synchronised and collaborative ways to efficiently achieve operational objectives. To build such a new model air force will require changes in the Fundamental Inputs to Capability.