Aerial warfare of the Hayren War

Aerial warfare of the Hayren War was a sporadic affair over the course of the Hayren War owing to the complex situation on the ground and the uneven nature of the conflict. While the Hayren Republic processed no real air force of note, both the Syaran Army Air Corps and the Ruvelkan Imperial Air Force took regular part in the conflict, performing aerial reconnaissance, air interdiction, and air support. Although both the Republic of Syara and Ruvelka attempted to avoid the conflict escalating into a direct war between the two states, frequent clashes and military operations conducted against one another frequently threatened to spill over. Although total hostilities never broke out, clashes between the two nations produced several major battles, including aerial cofrontations and engagements.

The Ruvelkan air force in its post war assessment concluded that a total of 273 "aerial incidents" occurred between 1974-1980. The majority of these were interceptions of Syara or Ruvelkan aircraft by their counterparts, and most were resolved peacefully. On several dozen occasions warning shots were fired, and on 36 incidents direct air-to-air combat resulted in an shootdown of an aircraft. These 36 engagements resulted in the downing of 23 Syaran aircraft and 17 Ruvelkan aircraft. An additional 33 Ruvelkan aircraft and 14 Syaran aircraft were downed by air defense systems and surface-to-air missiles; more than half of Ruvelkan aircrft downed by SAMs were helicopters.

Both sides attempted to limit the scale of their operations to prevent escalation, and as a result most engagements occurred between individual aircraft or individual flights; the largest air battle of the war involved 11 aircraft. The majority of air operations were combat air patrols and air support operations for ground forces. The sporadic and inconsistent nature prevented it from significantly influencing the war on the ground, but the conflict provided combat experience for a wide variety of aircraft. Both Ruvelka and Syara made use of a variety of aircraft, involving fighter jets from four different national origins. In some cases the experience of these aircraft went on to influence later developments of fighter aircraft.

Aircraft used

Both the Syaran Army Air Corps and the Ruvelkan Imperial Air Force employed aircraft from a variety of sources. The SAAC fielded aircraft from both Syara and Æþurheim while the RIAF made heavy use of Cacertian and Acrean aircraft.

Throughout the course of the war the RIAF fielded the following aircraft:

• Aestrup-Sibrian MRCA
• AFSF-8 Folivori Strike Fighter
• AFASF-10 Donnola Air Superiority Fighter
• AFASF-11 Libellula
• Norderstedt EF 106 Lycan

The SAAC fielded the following aircraft:

• Alkyonides
• Coronis
• Corvus
• Cycnus
• Erinys
• Nephele
• Strix
• Tereus