Six months after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began with pre-dawn airstrikes, the skies over Ukraine remain contested.
The Ukraine air war, in which neither side controls the skies, provides an alternative model of air control.
An integrated air defence system should form the outer layer of American and allied defences.
During the 1991 Gulf War, the coalition led by the United States used strike aircraft and special forces to hunt down Iraq's truck-mounted Scud missiles.
The mobile surface-to-air missiles of the US and its allies and partners would make the hunt even more difficult.
an air defence system in place — it should be enough to deny the enemy's fighters and bombers unrestricted access to the "blue skies."
The "air littoral," or airspace between ground forces and advanced fighters and bombers, would be analogous to a "aerial minefield."