The Role of the Luftwaffe in Stabilisation Operations

Klaus-Peter Stieglitz

Among experts and in the public perception the subject “missions abroad” has, for some time, been associated almost exclusively with Afghanistan. Although this is understandable it must not lead to a constriction of the security policy debate. In fact, the Bundeswehr is in place at many hotspots in the world performing services of outstanding excellence with its soldiers for the security of our country.
However, in the focus of the media are pictures and news of the Bundeswehr operating in Afghanistan with rather lightly armed ground forces in protected vehicles. The mission reality in the disputed southern part of Afghanistan is hardly noticed by the German public, though. And the omnipresent fighter aircraft operating out of sight of television cameras and providing protection and support for all operations in Afghanistan attract only little attention in the media and thus in public perception, because they are difficult to capture in media-effective pictures.
These impressions could lead to the wrong conclusion that the mission in Afghanistan was nothing but a ground operation. That this is not the case is obvious. Because with their unique capabilities air forces make a significant contribution to the joint and combined accomplishment of the mission – and they do this independently of the question about response or stabilization scenarios. After all, no soldier would move on the ground in Afghanistan without the massive employment of air forces — be that in the form of reconnaissance, air transport or air attack missions.
But what concrete effect does air power produce in operations? To that end it is necessary to take a look at the parametric conditions of potential missions first. Afghanistan can certainly serve as a generic blue­print here. For over there we are confronted with the entire spectrum ranging from humanitarian aid up to combat actions of high intensity.
Each and every mission of the Bundeswehr is subject to political goals and stipulations specified in the Bundestag (Lower House of Parliament) mandate. The tasks to be accomplished as well as the quantitative caps for the respective Bundeswehr contingent are given prominence here. In the light of the German approach in foreign and security policy which is based on history and oriented towards renunciation of the use of force, the medial public exerts special influence on the employment of the Bundeswehr. Both the prevention of losses of life and the avoidance of collateral damages are the primary maxims in this context.
The current stabilization operation in Afghanistan is characterized by diffuse borders between the conflicting parties and an always­latent asymmetric threat, which, on top of that, varies strongly in shape and gravity in the different regions. We speak here of a non-linear battlefield, i.e. of a large area of operation with limited forces and without clearly defined front lines. In addition, the situation is marked by the constant danger of a sudden escalation.
The capability profile of the armed forces must thus be particularly tailored to a relevant contribution to stabilization operations. In view of worldwide missions the armed forces must be capable of deploying with rapidity and over long distances and of generating and bringing to bear their effect. They must be able to protect themselves and others from threats and require for that the capability to flexibly engage targets from a distance to minimize their own risk. Finally, they must have a doseable precision capability to achieve the desired military and non-military effects as a contribution to unitary crisis management by excluding unintended damages as far as possible.

Mission Contributions by Air Forces

When looking at the specific characteristics and capabilities of air forces it becomes quickly apparent that they make considerable contributions in this context to the accomplishment of the mission. Particularly their range and speed as well as the utilization of the 3rd dimension make them a special instrument of politically useable military power, which allows a rapid and flexible reacting to situational developments — in either an escalating or deescalating way, depending on the situation. The capabilities of air forces are indispensable in all phases of the mission. After all, a military mission — no matter what type and intensity — is simply unthinkable without the employment of air forces. For instance, the continuous, interruption-free reconnaissance and surveillance of the area of operations by means of airborne and increasingly also by space­based systems is thus the basic prerequisite for independent decision-making. This does not only apply to the military command and control of operations, but also and primarily for the political decision makers.
Airlift and other supporting air operations allow a worldwide deployment and supply of op­erating forces for rapid crisis reaction. Thus, the Luftwaffe is presently contributing — to a considerable extent — to the success of the overall operation with eight protected C-160 TRANALL from Termez/Uzbekistan every single day.
But air transports are not only about logistic flights for the troops in the area of operations, but also about ensuring an immediate extraction capability — that is the possibility of “getting out” or evacuating our troops from a given locality. This is not thinkable without air transport forces — and, by the way, not feasible without fighter aircraft.
Fighter aircraft for air-to-ground support — in technical language called “close air support”— are the primary instrument to guarantee the own freedom of action and to retain the initiative. They contribute considerably to shifting points of main effort both rapidly and flexibly in an overextended area in order to effectively support friendly forces in their fight against an enemy, which is superior for a short time. With that the air forces also offer active protection in non-linear and asymmetric environments. This capability is being attached particular importance, because the mandate caps for the personnel are generally set rather narrowly. In consequence, a massing of own forces, which might become necessary at short notice when facing a surprisingly strong enemy, is thus often not possible for purely quantitative reasons. Here, air attack forces can be employed very rapidly and precisely dosed with comparatively little effort for selective escalation or deescalation.
Their employment ranges from the simple demonstration of power for the purpose of deterrence up to the direct use of weapons against military targets. In this way, air forces provide also the possibility to deny the enemy the establishment of sanctuaries in the rear area from which he could otherwise prepare and conduct his attacks.
Air forces are thus absolutely mandatory for achieving the indispensable control of the asymmetric battlefield by keeping the overall strength of the employed ground forces as low as possible at the same time. This contributes directly to avoiding unnecessary risks for the own forces.

Capability Profile of the Luftwaffe

The capability profile of the Luftwaffe is geared to making the outlined contributions to crisis reaction within a multinational scope. In this context, our materiel and equipment planning aims at making these contributions even more efficiently and more effectively by means of the future capability platforms. The improvement of the operability is the “measure of all things”.
Multinational projects such as the A400M, the MEADS tactical air defence system, and the EUROFIGHTER as well as the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles will close the identified, conceptually justified capability gaps and the ones verified in current missions. They will strengthen the capability profile of the armed forces across the whole mission spectrum from stabilization operations up to response operations of high intensity.
The EUROFIGHTER is a key project for the future qualification of the Bundeswehr in a multinational environment. With it we are going to have a platform of advanced technology with a substantial growth potential.
Apart from its employment in air defence the multirole EUROFIGHTER will more ore less replace the TORNADO in the air attack role by 2015 and thus constitute the backbone of our fighter aircraft fleet.
With the urgently needed 3rd batch of EUROFIGHTERs and the then total of 180 aircraft of the 4th generation the Bundeswehr does not only make a security contribution appropriate to the importance of Germany, but the Luftwaffe ensures with them its future qualification in the field of air attack and thus also the capability for close air support in missions like the one in Afghanistan. The available high technology that we have got with the EUROFIGHTER enables us to reach the required efficiency and effectiveness including the necessary precision for a successful employment in all scenarios to be expected. We thus also create the precondition for guaranteeing with national means an area-wide, large-scale protection of our own ground forces on operations. In view of the in­creased German commitment, e.g. in the Quick Reaction Force in northern Afghanistan , this aspect cannot be rated high enough.
In order to optimally bring to bear these capabilities it is necessary, aside from the most sophisticated technology, to also continuously and realistically train and exercise the different mission roles and weapon employment procedures in combine with ground-based forces. This so­called joint and combined tactical fire support requires qualitatively and quantitatively adequate exercise and firing range capacities at home.

Reconnaissance TORNADOs on Operations

Within the scope of the current employment of the Luftwaffe in Afghanistan , it is primarily our Recce TORNADOs, which are in the center of interest. They are presently the only means for aerial imagery reconnaissance, which can be employed by COMISAF directly and downright flexibly at any time.
Thus, our TORNADOs provide more than half of all imaging reconnaissance results for ISAF. To date, more than 2,500 targets were successfully acquired in more than 1,000 reconnaissance sorties. The spectrum comprises the line search and terrain reconnaissance in advance of own operations, the identification of suspicious activities as well as the reconnaissance of individual buildings or important traffic infrastructure. The delivered results, especially the qualitatively high-class evaluation by our Luftwaffe personnel on site, are highly appreciated and recognized by all users.
The reconnaissance results have distinctly increased the safety and security of our operating forces, which is particularly due to the updating of maps for our forces on the ground. With that we do not only improve the protection of own soldiers and the civilian environment, but also the sustainability and effectiveness of the total ISAF mission.
But our experiences gained in missions and operations show also that there is an urgent need for continuous reconnaissance and surveillance in the area of operations, especially in respect to the existing asymmetric threat. As to this, our TORNADOs are limited in their scope of performance regarding range and endurance. The same applies to the capability to provide reconnaissance results in near-real time.

Requirement for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In order to compensate for these deficits, it is planned to initially procure five UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) of the MALE (Medium Altitude Long Endurance) class. Due to their long range and endurance in the area of operations these systems can contribute much better to information gathering and the establishment of a current picture of the situation. And especially this up-to-the-minute information is indispensable when one wants to further reduce the risks and thus optimize the protection of our force on the ground in toto.
The UAVs of the MALE and HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) class planned to be introduced in the Luftwaffe have, when compared with the only tactically employable drones of the Army, a much higher altitude and endurance over the area of operations, the so-called “persistence”. And just because of that they deliver results, which are of interservice significance, and even politically relevant for all users, i.e. they are of tactical and operational and often even of strategic importance.
We therefore aspire a swift procurement of a commercially available and, above all, mission-tested UAV. This would not only allow a quick, low-risk and economic solution, but also the cooperation with our allied partners who are already experienced in the operation of UAVs. In this way we would be able to rapidly achieve a clear improvement of the mission profile of German armed forces and thus to contribute directly to the enhancement of the protection of our soldiers on operation.
The challenges we have to face in current missions and also in those to be expected in the future require a broad military capability spectrum. This is only available in joint and combined collaboration. In view of the resource situation, it is not required that everybody can and must do everything here.
The task of the ground forces is primarily to gain and maintain terrain. In stabilization operations they contribute by their presence on the ground to creating the preconditions for the reconstruction. In doing so, they are extremely exposed to asymmetric threats, which they are not able to counter solely with overextended forces often widely dispersed in the area.
Last but not least the air forces make, due to their specific characteristics and capabilities, a decisive contribution here – also in the meaning of an essential “system pool”. Precise weapon effect from a distance by simultaneously minimizing undesired effects — i.e. in the worst case also the loss of lives — will in future become the key of the military and thus, above all, also of the political success of a mission.
Precise does not only mean the accurately placed effect at a given time, but also the doseability of the effectors and a scalability of the distance. In addition, the effective and efficient engagement over long distances also requires exact and near-real time data — i.e. reconnaissance results of primarily airborne sensors in top quality.
Only the Luftwaffe possesses the required know-how for that. As a mainstay of competence for the effect in and from the air, the Luftwaffe makes available its capabilities and the urgently needed reconnaissance data not only to joint and combined missions, but also and especially for the political decision makers. The Luftwaffe continues thus to be a decisive instrument of politically useable military power also in respect to the introduction of new and often cost-intensive weapon systems.

By Lieutenant General (GE AF) Klaus-Peter Stieglitz, Chief of Staff, Luftwaffe.

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