luftgestützten

Luftgestützten (air-supported) is a term used in German military doctrine to describe actions, units, or systems that rely on air power to support other forces. The central idea is that aerial assets provide effects from above to enable ground and naval operations to proceed more effectively. In practice, luftgestützten operations may include close air support, air interdiction, airborne mobility, reconnaissance from the air, and the use of helicopters or unmanned aerial vehicles to insert, resupply, or recover personnel and materiel.

Assets that contribute to luftgestützten operations include fighters and bombers for strike and suppression, transport aircraft for airlift, helicopters for mobility and casualty evacuation, and drones for ISR. The term is commonly used in joint or combined-arms doctrine to describe the integration of air power with land and sea components to achieve shared objectives. In this sense, luftgestützten actions form part of broader concepts such as air superiority, airlift capability, and precision strike, all coordinated with ground operations.

Historically, the concept developed with the evolution of air forces and combined arms warfare. In German-language literature, it appears in discussions of how air power supports ground campaigns and how forces are projected and sustained. Today, luftgestützten operations remain central to expeditionary warfare and crisis response, enabling rapid deployment, situational awareness, and concentrated firepower while reducing exposure of friendly forces.