Operational Art and Aircraft Runway Requirements

A commander exercises operational art to achieve strategic goals through his design, organization, and conduct of campaigns. In designing and organizing a campaign, a commander uses movement to provide his forces with the advantages needed to win battles and exploit the opportunities provided by these victories. A key aspect of operational art is the movement of air power so fighter/attack aircraft can fly enough effective sorties when and where they are needed to help win a campaign. The movement of air power depends on the availability and operability of air bases which, in turn, is largely determined by aircraft runway requirements. A review of World War II, Korea, and Southeast Asia shows how important air base availability and operability has been to the effectiveness of fighter/attack aircraft. This same review also shows how increasing aircraft runway requirements have made ensuring air base availability and operability more difficult. Looking to the future the threat posed by the Soviets promises to make air base availability and operability even more important to success. To make it easier to provide air bases, aircraft runway requirements must be reduced by focusing on the landing phase. Runway required for landing can be reduced by quickly stopping an aircraft after it lands or by slowing the aircraft before it lands. V/STOL technology offers a particularly effective way of reducing runway requirements because it enables an aircraft to be stopped prior to landing. The value of aircraft using V/STOL technology can best be appreciated if evaluations of aircraft performance apply a campaign rather than a tactical perspective.