Air Force
An air force is the branch of a nation's armed forces that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from the army, navy or other branches. Most nations either maintain an air force or, in the case of smaller and less well-developed countries, an air wing (see List of air forces). Air forces are usually tasked with the air defense of a country, as well as strategic bombing, interdiction, close air support, intelligence gathering, battlespace management and transport functions. Air force operations may also include space-based operations such as reconnaissance or satellite operations.
Other branches of a nation's armed forces may use aviation (naval aviation and army aviation) in addition to or instead of a dedicated air force. Army aviation is considered to be much more competitive than other branches within the Army.
Read more about this topic: Military Aviation
Famous quotes containing the words air and/or force:
“Personally I have no bone to pick with graveyards, I take the air there willingly, perhaps more willingly than elsewhere, when take the air I must.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“It’s the old captain’s dark fate
Who failed to find or force a strait
In its two-thousand-mile coast;
And his crew left him where he failed,
And nothing came of all he sailed.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)