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:
“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.”
—Thomas Gray (1716–1771)
“It is the fixed that horrifies us, the fixed that assails us with the tremendous force of mindlessness. The fixed is a Mason jar, and we can’t beat it open. ...The fixed is a world without fire--dead flint, dead tinder, and nowhere a spark. It is motion without direction, force without power, the aimless procession of caterpillars round the rim of a vase, and I hate it because at any moment I myself might step to that charmed and glistening thread.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)