The 2026 Iran War and 2025 Operation Roughrider in Yemen demonstrate that traditional air-control lexicon, including "air dominance," "air supremacy," "air superiority," and "air parity," is obsolete. These terms, established when only manned aircraft occupied the sky, fail to account for the routine use of diverse unmanned systems like rockets, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones by both state and nonstate actors.
The concept of "ownership of the sky" is no longer feasible, as adversaries can continue launching attacks despite intense air operations, as Iran did against Israeli and US forces, and Houthis against the United States. Doctrinal definitions of "air superiority" inadequately capture this reality, exemplified by the US losing an F/A-18 and Reaper drones to Houthi defenses despite technical superiority. Attempts to reform terminology, such as "air denial" or "air littoral," are limited responses. Instead, the article advocates abandoning these imprecise terms for the objective, mission-focused concept of "counterair operations" to accurately describe efforts to counter adversary air use.
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