Air force in the context of Combat effectiveness

A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a distinct military uniform. They may consist of one or more military branches such as an army, navy, air force, space force, marines, or coast guard. The main task of a military is usually defined as defence of their state and its interests against external armed threats.

In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often synonymous, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include other paramilitary forces such as armed police.

A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private businesses or voluntary organisations, or by private businesses subject to government regulation. Some public services are provided on behalf of a government's residents or in the interest of its citizens. The term is associated with a social consensus (usually expressed through democratic elections) that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income, physical ability or mental acuity. Examples of such services include the fire services, police, air force, paramedics and public service broadcasting.

Even where public services are neither publicly provided nor publicly financed, they are usually subject to regulation beyond that applying to most economic sectors for social and political reasons. Public policy, when made in the public's interest and with its motivations, is a type of public service.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense and is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

The Department of the Air Force, which serves as the USAF's headquarters and executive department, is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense. The Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian secretary of the Air Force, who reports to the secretary of defense and is appointed by the president with Senate confirmation. The highest-ranking military officer in the Air Force is the chief of staff of the Air Force, who exercises supervision over Air Force units and serves as one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As directed by the secretary of defense and secretary of the Air Force, certain Air Force components are assigned to unified combatant commands. Combatant commanders are delegated operational authority of the forces assigned to them, while the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of staff of the Air Force retain administrative authority over their members.

A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.

In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel.

A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. However, it lost its independence twice, first being absorbed into the Strategic Rocket Forces from 1997–2001 and 2001–2011, then it merged with the Russian Air Force to form the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2015, where it now exists as a sub-branch. As of 2025, there are two independent space forces: the United States Space Force and China's People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force.

Countries with smaller or developing space forces may combine their air and space forces under a single military branch, such as the Russian Aerospace Forces, Spanish Air and Space Force, French Air and Space Force, or Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, or put them in an independent defense agency, such as the Indian Defence Space Agency. Countries with nascent military space capabilities usually organize them within their air forces.

The term Tactical Air Force was used by the air forces of the British Commonwealth during the later stages of World War II, for formations of more than one fighter group. A tactical air force was intended to achieve air supremacy and perform ground attack missions.

Unlike the numbered air forces of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), the Tactical Air Forces did not include strategic bombing/heavy bomber capability. The USAAF situation changed in late 1943 when the Twelfth Air Force transferred its heavy bombers to the newly formed Fifteenth Air Force. Later, when the Allied air forces in the MTO were reorganized into the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces (MAAF), the US 12th Air Force and the RAF Desert Air Force became part of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force and the US 15th Air Force and No. 205 Group RAF became part of the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force. A Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force was also part of MAAF.

Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, either from warships that can embark aircraft (e.g. aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships and aircraft cruisers) or from coastal naval air stations.It often involves navalised aircraft, specifically designed for naval use.Seaborne aviation encompasses similar activities not restricted to navies, including marines and coast guards, such as in U.S. naval aviators. As with most army aviation units, naval aviation units are generally separate from a nation's dedicated air force.

Naval aviation operations are typically projected by way of carrier-based aircraft, which must be sturdy enough to withstand the demands of shipborne operations at sea. They must be able to take off from a short runway (typically the flight deck of an aircraft carrier) and be sturdy and flexible enough to come to a sudden stop when landing; they typically have robust folding or swinging wings that reduce the occupied space and thus allow more of them to be stored in below-decks hangars and limited parking spaces on flight decks. These aircraft are designed for many tactical purposes, including aerial combat, airstrike/close air support, anti-submarine warfare, early warning, search and rescue, matériel transport, weather observation, patrol and reconnaissance, and wide-area command and control duties.

Military personnel or military service members are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, coast guard, air force, and space force), rank (officer, non-commissioned officer, or enlisted recruit), and their military task when deployed on operations and on exercise.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Following the Allied victory over the Central Powers in 1918, the RAF emerged as the largest air force in the world at the time. Since its formation, the RAF has played a significant role in British military history. In particular, during the Second World War, the RAF defeated the German Luftwaffe's efforts to establish air superiority over England during the Battle of Britain, and played a key role in the Combined Bomber Offensive alongside the USAAF.

The RAF's mission is to support the objectives of the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), which are to "provide the capabilities needed to ensure the security and defence of the United Kingdom and overseas territories, including against terrorism; to support the Government's foreign policy objectives particularly in promoting international peace and security". The RAF describes its mission statement as "... [to provide] an agile, adaptable and capable Air Force that, person for person, is second to none, and that makes a decisive air power contribution in support of the UK Defence Mission". The mission statement is supported by the RAF's definition of air power, which guides its strategy. Air power is defined as "the ability to project power from the air and space to influence the behaviour of people or the course of events".

A squadron in an air force, or naval or army aviation service, is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force.

In most armed forces, two or more squadrons will form a group or a wing. Some military forces (including the United States Air Force, United States Space Force, French Air and Space Force, Royal Air Force, German Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, Belgian Air Component and Republic of Singapore Air Force) also use the term "squadron" for non-flying ground units (e.g. radar squadrons, missile squadrons, air defense squadrons, aircraft maintenance squadrons, security forces squadrons, civil engineering squadrons, range operations squadrons, range management squadrons, weather squadrons, medical squadrons, etc.).

Industrial warfare is a period in the history of warfare ranging roughly from the early 19th century and the start of the Industrial Revolution to the beginning of the Atomic Age, which saw the rise of nation-states, capable of creating and equipping large armies, navies, and air forces, through the process of industrialization.

The era featured mass-conscripted armies, rapid transportation (first on railroads, then by sea and air), telegraph and wireless communications, and the concept of total war. In terms of technology, this era saw the rise of rifled breech-loading infantry weapons capable of high rates of fire, high-velocity breech-loading artillery, chemical weapons, armoured warfare, metal warships, submarines, and aircraft.

The army rank of captain (from the French: capitaine) is a commissioned officer rank historically corresponding to the command of a company of soldiers. The rank is also used by some air forces and marine forces, but usually refers to a more senior officer.

The Syrian Air Force (Arabic: الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ السُّورِيَّةُ, romanized: al-Quwwāt al-Jawwīyah al-Sūrīyah) is the air force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It was established in 1948, and first saw action in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Under Ba'athist Syria until 8 December 2024, it was known as the Syrian Arab Air Force. Land-based air defense systems were grouped under the Syrian Air Defence Force, which split from both the Air Force and the Army.

As of March 2025, the air force status is unknown, with some of its equipment being lost following the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and other rebel groups offensive in November 2024 and subsequent Israeli Air Force's airstrikes in December 2024, following the collapse of the Assad regime.

The Hellenic Air Force (HAF; Greek: Πολεμική Αεροπορία, romanized: Polemikí Aeroporía, lit. 'Military Aviation', sometimes abbreviated as ΠΑ) is the air force of Greece (Hellenic being the endonym for Greek in the Greek language). It is considered to be one of the largest air forces in NATO, and is globally placed 18th out of 139 countries. Under the Kingdom of Greece from 1935 to 1973, it was previously known as the Royal Hellenic Air Force (RHAF) (Ἑλληνικὴ Βασιλικὴ Ἀεροπορία, Ellinikí Vasilikí Aeroporía).

The Hellenic Air Force is one of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces, and its mission is to guard and protect Greek airspace, provide air assistance and support to the Hellenic Army and the Hellenic Navy, and to provide humanitarian aid in Greece and around the world. The Hellenic Air Force includes approximately 33,000 active troops, of whom 11,750 are career officers, 14,000 are professional soldiers (ΕΠ.ΟΠ.), 7,250 are volunteer conscripts, and 1,100 are women. The motto of the Hellenic Air Force is the ancient Greek phrase Αἰὲν Ὑψικρατεῖν (Aièn Hypsikrateîn, 'Always Dominate the Heights'), and the HAF emblem represents a flying eagle in front of the Hellenic Air Force roundel. The General Air Staff (GEA) is based at the Papagou Camp in the Municipality of Filothei - Psychiko of the Prefecture of Attica.

The Argentine Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Argentina, or simply FAA) is the air force of Argentina and one of three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. In 2018, it had 13,837 military and 6,900 civilian personnel. FAA commander in chief is Brigadier Gustavo Valverde.