WellAttacks on AWACS, Tankers and other force multipliers can be done over and under conventional fighting. Salvos of ballistic missiles against AWACS/Tanker bases should get a couple of hits through the TABM screen and destroy these valuable and limited aircraft and push them further away from the action which makes them less effective. Sabotage and terror attacks on these rear bases can also have a significant impact on the operation of these aircraft and the array of support they offer, making cozy assumptions about radar cover and tanker orbits obsolete. Indeed China militarising these tiny islands is specifically to deny the airspace to AWACS and tanker aircraft.
Then there's the unconventional conventional stuff like fast high altitude attacks specifically against AWACS, S400 SAM, Special Forces raids and even attacks by a battalion of Paas who then fight a gun battle on the hardstand.
It doesn't take much to reduce or render significantly less effective the force multipliers used with such stunning success since Vietnam. Then the opportunity arises for an enemy to get his attack planes and helicopters in amongst your forward troops.
To do anything more than a pinprick, you would need literal tons of weaponry. Have you ever seen an airbase? I mean a modern air base? The things are massive with everything well spread out to avoid one lucky shot killing all the important bits.
Yes, the RAF regiment had light armour and during wartime would be patrolling extensively around RAFG bases with help from the Germans looking for SPETZNAZ or other Soviet forces. They knew where the bad guys would likely set up observation posts, HMG's, mortars or rockets and had ambush plans for them. Don't forget they had been working in the areas around the bases for some 40 years and so it was pretty much their back yard.
Perfectly explained. This is the point I was trying to make. Given the sheer size of the bases, there were only a few areas that you could set up an attack and hope to hit something important. And all those areas were in very carefully set up kill zones. As was stated earlier, this kind of attack only works in video games or Tom Clancy novels.
So no, ground attacks on support aircraft won't do much and air superiority does indeed make air defenses irrelevant and unnecessary.We and the Host Nations were well aware of this fact and had extensive and complete plans to deal with such situations. The most likely 'positions' were well monitored and surveyed constantly during peace time and more so during heightened tension. Specifically because most European airbases were paranoid about special forces attacks.
Not so easy to do and I'd point out that internal organization and mobilization changes from time to time so you pre-surveyed points are time-limited. I'll also point out that such pre-surveying in and of itself is a key indicator and something that is watched for.
Uh, what 'disruption' might you think would happen? We specifically trained for this kind of stuff so that down-time after an attack was reduced to mere minutes at worst. We EXPECTED to get slimed on a daily basis and work through it. Oh and by the way, once this happens you no longer have a civilian or public populace for the special forces to 'hide' among anywhere in the area so they will be spotted and wiped out as soon as they try and move into position.
As has been noted Northern Ireland and the IRA are very different from central Europe and WP forces available. Several attacks on NATO airbases and posts DID in fact take place during the 80s of which none had any notable effect on airbase/post operations so there's pretty clear proof that such attacks in the run up to a major conflict would have little effect.
Randy