The rules and organization of air traffic at airstrips during military operations: Based on experience gained on missions in Chad and Afghanistan

• Authors: Rafał Zajkowski
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of the article is to present the characteristics of airstrips used by Polish and allied aircraft during military operations in Chad and Afghanistan. The main goal is to examine their organisation and the management of air traffic by Polish ATC staff as well as to answer the question: How did Polish controllers plan the air operation? Answers to this question were sought through empirical and theoretical research. The theoretical methods were a study of literature (analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalisation, interpretation, analogy and comparison). The empirical method – “opinion poll” took the leading role, which used different techniques conducted in a tested environment to gather the data (interviews with experts and an ex post facto experiment). Consequently, the article looks at the method of planning and preparing air operations and the rules of air traffic organisation in the area of responsibility of Polish controllers. The selected issues discussed herein include the rules of airspace segmentation, the adopted air traffic control solutions and the landing zone infrastructure used. All in all, the experience discussed herein constitutes valuable information regarding air traffic security and may prove helpful in organising landing zones and preparing air personnel for future operations conducted by Polish and allied Military Contingents at home and abroad.

Keywords

EN

Military air traffic; landing zone; airstrip in Afghanistan; airstrip in Chad

• Publisher: Akademia Sztuki Wojennej
• Journal: Security and Defence Quarterly
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 81-94

Dates

published

2020-09-30

received

2020-04-27

revised

2020-07-03

accepted

2020-07-16

Contributors

author

Rafał Zajkowski

• Faculty of Military Studies, War Studies University, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.35467/sdq/125498