KING’S COLLEGE
DEPARTMENT OF WAR STUDIES
BA WAR STUDIES
SW2035 FIGHTING IN THE AIR
Course Organiser: Professor Philip Sabin
Contact details: philip.sabin@kcl.ac.uk
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This third year BA option course is designed to provide a detailed strategic and tactical analysis of battles for air superiority since the dawn of air warfare a century ago. The course aims to show how the tactics and strategy of air superiority contests have evolved over time, and to develop an analytical framework within which the decisive factors in any given contest may be identified. The course covers all aspects of the duel between opposing air arms and air defence systems, but does not cover the use of air power against surface targets unrelated to the air battle. It also focuses on actual experiences of air combat, rather than on theoretical speculations about potential aerial duels. Extensive use is made of audio-visual material, including simulation and modelling techniques, to come to grips with the changing face of air fighting.
Upon successfully completing this course, students should have acquired:
- an understanding of the history of air fighting over the past century, focusing on key case studies of each type of fighting;
- a range of theoretical insights into the strategic and tactical determinants of air fighting, and how these have changed over time;
- the ability to analyse air contests in strategic and tactical terms, and to identify the key parameters involved in individual cases.
Students should also have developed their generic skills in teamwork, oral seminar presentations, debates, and the research and writing of analytical essays.
COURSE PROGRAMME
Introduction to the Course
Studying Aerial Warfare (I)
Studying Aerial Warfare (II)
Basic Fighter Manoeuvres
The Strategic Context
Daylight Air Combat, 1939-45: Tactical Perspectives
Daylight Air Combat, 1939-45: Grand Tactical Perspectives
Daylight Air Combat, 1939-45: Operational Perspectives (I)
Daylight Air Combat, 1939-45: Operational Perspectives (II)
Daylight Air Combat, 1939-45: Strategic Perspectives
Night Air Fighting, 1939-45 (I)
Night Air Fighting, 1939-45 (II)
The Experience of Air Fighting, 1914-45
The Advent of Jets
Strikes against Airfields
The Advent of Missiles
Surface-to-Air Defence
Modern Air Combat
Ballistic and Cruise Missiles,
Asymmetric Warfare
Hardware vs Software
