Originally Posted by
pr00ne
Why? If you don’t have the units, staff or equipment for them that what do you want or need those redundant airfields for?
"
Agile combat employment" is the buzzphrase du jour, a concept born out of US concern for the survivability of Pacific island bases in conflict with China but of increasing interest to all air forces as lessons from Ukraine are contemplated. The thesis is that ISR (including cheap drones and commercial satellite imagery) is so capable that static basing will quickly become untenable in conflict even with hardening and point defences. Nothing new to Cold War warriors versed in dispersal plans, but you actually need somewhere to disperse to, and crucially then sustain ongoing operations from. And then somewhere else to go before being targeted. A small fleet size makes this more important, not less...