 BARCAP: "Barrier Combat Air Patrol", in fleet terms, a mission flown between a carrier

battle group and the direction from which it is most likely that an enemy attack will come.
Also refers to fighter aircraft placed between a friendly strike force and an area of
expected airborne threat, also known as a "MiG screen".
 CAP/Strike: Aircraft with a primary CAP role and a secondary strike role; such aircraft
are permitted to jettison strike ordnance and actively pursue any enemy aircraft sighted,
and are not restricted to defensive encounters.
 FastCAP: Combat air patrol to protect fighter strike aircraft.
 FORCAP: "Force Combat Air Patrol", a patrol of fighters maintained over the strike
force, essentially an escort.
 HAVCAP: "High Asset Value Combat Air Patrol", flown to protect a "high-value asset"
such as an AWACS or J-STARS aircraft, aerial refueling aircraft, or intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft during its specific time on station. Also
called HVAACAP for High Value Airborne Asset CAP.[1][2]
 MiGCAP: Used primarily during the Vietnam War, a MiGCAP is directed specifically
against MiG aircraft. MiGCAP during Operation Linebacker became highly organized
and threefold:
o an ingress MiGCAP of 2–3 flights (8–12 fighters) that preceded the first
supporting forces such as chaff bombers or SAM suppressors and remained until
they departed the hostile zone;
o a target area MiGCAP of at least 2 flights that immediately preceded the actual
strikers; and
o an egress MiGCAP of 1 or 2 flights that arrived on station at the projected exit
point ten minutes prior to the earliest egress time. All egress MiGCAP flights were
fully fueled from tankers and relieved the target area CAP.
 RESCAP: "Rescue Combat Air Patrol", a fighter force, often drawn from aircraft already
in the area, used to protect personnel on the ground (such as downed pilots) from ground
threats, as well as combat search and rescue aircraft or other rescue forces from both
ground and air threats.
 SARCAP: "Search and Rescue Combat Air Patrol", an earlier version of RESCAP.
 Slow CAP: A combat air patrol to protect slower aircraft, such as the EA-3B / EKA-3B,
P-3A / P-3B, EB-66 / RB-66, B-52, or EC-121 during the Vietnam War; replaced by
"HAVCAP."
 Strike/CAP: Aircraft with a primary strike role and a secondary air defense role,
permitted to jettison strike ordnance and engage enemy aircraft only if directly attacked.
Strike/CAP aircraft also have an egress CAP role once strike ordnance has been delivered
on target.
 TARCAP: "Target Combat Air Patrol" is flown over or near a strike target in order to
protect specialized attack aircraft such as AC-130 gunships from enemy fighters.
 OCA: “Offensive Counter Air” is a military term for the suppression of an enemy's
military air power, primarily through ground attacks targeting enemy air bases: disabling
 or destroying parked aircraft, runways, fuel facilities, hangars, air traffic control facilities
and other aviation infrastructure.
 DCA: “Defensive Counter Air”: Defensive Counter Air (DCA) is a primary mission set
designed to protect US interests and centers of gravity from attack through threats
originating from the air. Defense of critical areas is a mission that requires continuous
coverage and surveillance to ensure US interests are protected from attack and any threat
is quickly neutralized.

DCA missions rely on an integrated air defense plan using both airborne and ground
based air defense systems. Primary air systems involved in DCA missions are airborne air
to air fighters; primarily F-22, F-15C with F-16, F-18 and F-15E supporting air to air
engagements. E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) provide Command
and Control (C2) to airborne fighters, conduct tanker and lane battle management, and
provide surveillance and early warning to a possible attack by adversary forces.

During DCA operations, enemy electronic attack (EA) will be focused on denying and
deceiving US C2ISR platforms, as well as denying targeting and deceiving both air to air
fighters and ground based air defense systems.
The goal of enemy EA during a DCA mission will to avoid detection, provide enough EA
to confuse operators, deceive operators, and finally to prevent engagement from US
systems.

The goal of this presentation is to introduce the audience to air operations from a
defensive counter air and missile mind set to include an overview of the air and ground
based equipment ranging from air to air fighters through command and control of tactical
forces. Then the difficulties encountered in a contested RF environment will be examined
and how the fielded forces must utilize each unique sensor to coordinate a single
integrated air picture to ensure the survivability of the assets protected.