Air Warfare is the warfare that happens in the air units. This does not limit any kind of aircraft including Helicopter and most common, a dogfight. When one achieved Air Superiority, one can suppress the ground units that were normally known as Air Support. In this New World, this doctrine was already a common way to do it but it happens in a variety of ways. Surprisingly, the Air Warfare in this New World already happening for centuries through the usage of Fire Birds and Wyverns while from Earth, it was less than 120 years when Air Warfare starts to applied through World War I. Most countries on this New World possess Wyverns except certain countries that cannot raise them due to either their doctrine or geographical limitation.
Varieties[]
Dogfight (Air to Air Battle)[]
When trying gain Air Supremacy, Dogfights most commonly happen first to establish Air Supremacy. This does not limit Dogfights at any battlefield including Air to Air Battle at Naval Warfare and Ground Warfare. When one achieves Air Superiority, it is difficult or impossible for ground units to hold their ground due to suppression from Air Units. The Battle of Gim is the first recorded Dogfight which causes Lourian Wyverns to achieve air superiority.
Air Support[]
Air Support are mainly used when there is a battle between Ground and Ground unit or Ship to Ship Battles. Their primary role was to conduct a suppression fire or to make additional damage to the enemy's target, mainly a flock of ground units or enemy Warship. Air support can also be called with a risk of the Air Units being shot down when one was requested to takedown Anti-Air target.
Air Support was first recorded when Japan is fighting Lourian Great Fleet on Rodenius Sea while the first Air Support between New World conflict happens during Battle of Gim, resulting to the fall of the town of Gim.
Bombing Run[]
It is a rare variety of bombing run in this New World where the Bombing run, Carpet Bombing, or Saturation strike only happens when the base command requests an Airstrike to destroy a specific target or to weaken the defenses, mainly military facilities, defenses, or a certain warship. Before the bombing run or saturation strike happens, one must achieve Air Superiority to ensure the fighters or bombers can reach the target safely and destroy the target as objective stated.
The first bombing run was recorded when Japan conduct a Bombing Run to destroy Lourian Kingdom's main camp at Ejey. Gra Valkas Empire's first recorded its bombing run when achieving Air Superiority over Cartalpas, allowing the bombers to bomb the Port Town at Holy Milishial Empire and another run is when Gra Valkas Empire is using torpedoes from an aircraft to sink a Holy Milishial's warship.
As technology advances, the advanced version of the Bombing Run have two varieties, known as Carpet Bombing and Saturation Strike while the concept remains the same, to destroy a specific target. Carpet Bombing can only be executed when Aircraft Bombers are equipped with multiple unguided bombs, intending to destroy a target. Normally the Carpet Bombing requires air escort to make sure the bombs can be delivered safely. Carpet Bombing mainly executed when one makes an attempt to destroy an attack that was too large to handled by a bombing run such as a large town.
The other advanced version of the bombing run is Saturation Strike. One can only happen when a missile technology is developed, allowing a single Fighter or Bomber to destroy up to 4 targets with a single strike. The saturation strike alone was using a new but foreign concept in this New World known as BVR (Beyond Visual Range) and it requires a spotter to gain a precise target. The first saturation strike recorded was when Japan conduct a saturation strike against the Parpaldia Imperial Navy during the Battle of Fenn Kingdom.
Doctrines[]
First Civilization Area[]
Though they do have jet fighters in their arsenal, the pilots of the Holy Milishial Empire are more amateurish than their Japanese and Gra Valkas counterparts. In addition to having poorly-performing fighter jets, the pilots do not seem to understand the concept of basic fighter maneuvers, relying solely on the plane's power. As a result, they were easily led into slow-turning fights where their jets could not turn tight enough. There was a lack of mutual support and pilots were not taught the basics of maneuvering to get on the opponent's tail.
Second Civilization Area[]
The Marin biplane is the pride of the Second Civilization superpower Mu. It was the most advanced mechanical plane until the arrival of Japan and the Gra Valkas Empire. Upon their arrival, the Marin cannot match the monoplanes of the empire and the supersonic fighter jets of Japan. However, with the amiable relations between Japan and Mu, the latter got blueprints of two WW2 Japanese fighters, the Nakajima Ki Type-84 Hayate and the Shinden. Later, Mu acquired a jet engine from Japan and Japanese engineers helped Mu in creating their first jet plane, the X Shinden Kai.
Third Civilization Area and Outside Civilized Areas[]
Air combat in the Third Civilization is designated to Wyverns, which are employed in almost identical ways to the mechanical and magical-mechanical aircraft from the other civilizations but with generally less efficiency. The Parpaldia Empire invested in creating Wyvern Overlords, a breed which was supposedly capable of engaging biplanes.
Gra Valkas Empire[]
The Gra Valkas fighter pilots are well-versed in close-range dogfights and are able to use the strengths of the Antares against the weaknesses of their New World opponents. However, compared to Japanese pilots, they are completely outmatched in terms of technology and training. Due to the advantage of BVR missiles, close-range dogfights between these two nations are rare, since the Gra Valkas pilots are usually shot down before they can get within visual range of their opponents and the fact Japanese jets are far too fast and have superior maneuverability for GVE monoplanes to even have a slightest chance to catch up. Furthermore, Japanese pilots have the benefit of over a century of aerial warfare history and tactics to draw from.
The Gra Valkas also developed the Guti Maun, their super-heavy bomber, and have developed a bombing doctrine based on psychological warfare and destroying enemy morale by bombing its civilian centers.
Japan[]
With the arrival of Japan in the New World, the JSDF changed the way how nations will control the airspace during a battle. With Japan's ability to strike beyond visual range (BVR) using guided missiles the old style of close-range aerial combat becomes irrelevant. Their supersonic fighters are the king of the skies, as well as the seas of the New World. From the very start, no wyvern, Wyvern Lord, Wyvern Overlord, biplane, Gra Valkan Antares and the famed magic jets of the Holy Mirishial Empire can match the F-15J and F-2 in terms of speed, range, firepower, rate of climb and maneuverability. And with the inclusion of the 6th-gen F-3 Multirole Fighter, Japan will surely dominate even further as they can strike without being detected by both mechanical and magical radar.
However, the JASDF pilots are still taught the basics of dogfighting and they have over a century of history, knowledge and tactics to draw from.
Prior to entering the New World, Japan did not own any large bomber craft. On Earth, bombers had largely been replaced by tactical fighters in most air forces save for those of the United States, Russia, and China. Realizing the use of bombers could have in the outdated warfare models of the New World, Japan modified some of its P-3C Orion into medium bombers capable of dropping unguided bombs on massed enemy forces or infrastructure.