Commonality Air Force

Commonality Air Force Заедништво воздушни сили
Active	1988 - present
Country	Syara
Branch	Air Force
Role	Aerial warfare
Size	195,000 personnel 98,000 reservists 1,296 fighter aircraft 443 UAVs 228 helicopters 202 attack aircraft 125 trainers 96 transport aircraft 8 refuelers 6 AWACS
Part of	Syaran Commonality Armed Forces
CAF Headquarters	Zovahr
Nickname(s)	Syaran Air Force
Motto(s)	Soaring and Free
Engagements	Imerti Conflict Zemplen War
Commanders
Commander-in-Chief	Anita Beleska

The Commonality Air Force (Syaran: Заедништво воздушни сили) is the Air force of the Syaran Commonality Armed Forces. It is responsible for the air based defense of Syara and her interests, and to conduct air combat operations during times of war. It was established along with the rest of the SCAF in 1988 following the conclusion of the Refusal War. The commander-in-chief of the CAF is the Executive of Syara, and it's headquareters is known as CAF Central Command in Zovahr.

History

Like the rest of the SCAF, the Commonality Air Force was founded in the aftermath of the Refusal War. Unlike the Syaran Army Air Corps, which was subordinate and part of the Army of the Syaran Republic, the CAF would be it's own independent branch, responsible for it's own administration and organization. With much of the SAAC destroyed during the Refusal War, there was comparatively little for the CAF to work with. Syara retained several hundred airframes mostly of Syara design, namely it's Corvus and Strix ground attack aircraft, as well as small numbers of the domestically produced Celaeno light fighters. While restarting production of these aircraft was easy due to their cheap cost and simple design, CAF Central Command believed that an upgrade over the 30 year old Celaeno was necessary.

Beginning in 1992 the CAF began a competition and research program into acquiring a new mainline fighter aircraft. While several domestic designs were considered, the CAF also considered international possibilities, namely the Ossorian T-35 Séideán, the Cacertian AFASF-12 Drago Air Superiority Fighter, and the Acrean Typhoon. Domestically the only major competition was offered by the Ceyx fighter, a single engine cropped delta-canard aircraft that resembled the Ossorian T-35, albiet smaller and lighter. Ultimately the T-35 won out, largely due to it's superior air-to-ground capabilities. In 1993 CAF Central Command had concluded that, absent any distant external threats that warranted strategic bombers or expeditionary capabilities, the air force would function primarily in tactical role in support of the Syaran National Army.

Actually acquiring the T-35 proved more difficult than originally expected. Ossorian support for the Royalists during the Refusal War made it diplomatically problematic for the High Kingdom to sell it advanced fighter aircraft to the Warden-controlled Commonality. Negotiations for purchasing the aircraft nearly resulted in Syara abandoning efforts to acquire the T-35, but Syara's growing ties with Æsthurlavaj eventually convinced the Ossorian government to authorize the sale. The first sale for 64 aircraft was approved in 1995, and production rights were granted in 1999. By the end of the 20th century the CAF had grown considerably and had formed a strong core of several airframes, with the T-35 (which were designated the Zephyr by the CAF) formed the mainline principal fighter supported by the lighter Ceyx design. Forming the core of Syara's ground attack capability was more than 600 Corvus and Strix aircraft.

Rising tensions with Ruvelka soon began to provide the CAF with an actual peer adversary to prepare against. Large scale aerial exercises were carried out between 2001-2003 during which new tactics and doctrine were tested and refined. While the CAF was pleased with the performance of the Zephyr, some concern was noted regarding the Corvus and Strix attack aircraft. Both essentially light fighters, neither could carry a significant payload, reducing their effectiveness at ground attack and close air support. As a result in 2004 Syara secured the purchase of 48 AFGSF-5 Tartaruga Ground Strike Fighters from Cacerta, hoping to augment it's already sizeable ground attack fleet.

In 2005 Syara fought a brief six day long war with Ruvelka over Imerti, which became known as the Imerti Conflict. The CAF played a relatively minor role in the conflict, conducting 197 sorties most of which were close air support from the Syaran National Army as it routed the Ruvelkans from Imerti. While the conflict did not give the CAF much opportunity to refine it's operations or doctrine, it did serve to establish Ruvelka as Syara's number one strategic threat, reoriented the CAF to focus heavily on potential future clashes with the Ruvelkan Imperial Air Force. On paper the RIAF was outnumbered but beginning in the mid-2000s the Ruvelkans had begun ramping up production and purchases of their Drago fighters, and by 2007 fielded almost 200 more fighters than Syara did. The numerical imbalance in fighter aircraft between Syara and Ruvelka did not deeply trouble CAF Central Command, who did not view the RIAF's performance in the skies over Imerti as particularly impressive.

When fighting broke out in Zemplen in 2008 the CAF originally spent most of June and July in their airfields, held back in the hopes that diplomatic negotiations would end the conflict began it began. It wasn't until late July when talks hosted by the Organization of Tyrannic Nations faltered that the CAF was ordered to take to the skies in support of the Syaran army in what became known as the August Offensive. Primarily viewed as war to be determined by ground forces, the CAF was given two main tasks; keep the skies clear of Ruvelkan aircraft and support the SNA with close air support. While the August Offensive was a success, the following Operation Aspis proved to be a rude awakening.

While the Zephyr one-on-one was more than a match for the Drago, in September 2008 Syara fielded just 245 of them, with the remainder of their fighter aircraft being the lighter and less proficient Ceyx. Overall, the Ruvelkans fielded more than 200 more fighters than the CAF, resulting in an immediate loss of initiative to the RIAF. Keeping control of the skies quickly became a recurring nightmare for the CAF, which despite rampant production struggled to defend Syaran airspace and Syaran ground forces from Ruvelkan aircraft. Despite overall success on the ground, the CAF struggled to retain at least air parity against Ruvelka's Drago fleet.

While Syaran fighters could at least trade with their Ruvelkan counterparts in largely equal numbers, less could be said for Syara's fleet of attack aircraft. Almost immediately during Operation Aspis, the CAF learned firsthand how vulnerable its attack aircraft were to Ruvelkan short range air defense systems and man-portable air defense weapons. In September alone the CAF lost 27 fixed wing attack aircraft destroyed or heavily damaged while carrying out close air support sorties for the SNA. During the Ruvelkan Winter Counter-Offensive Strix and Corvus fighters were thrown against Ruvelkan formations to help stem the tide, suffering more 60 aircraft damaged or shot down. The inability of Syara's attack aircraft fleet to operate effectively in contested air space stunned many leaders within CAF Central Command, leaving the Syarans without a reliable platform for conducting CAS in support of the SNA.

Replacement of the CAS role with other platforms proved difficult. While the Zephyr possessed potent air-to-ground capabilities they were all desperately needed to contest the skies against Ruvelkan fighters, and the Ceyx's limited attack ability meant it also had to be focused on air combat. Syara lacked an armed unmanned aerial vehicle, and mid-war efforts to create one met with mixed results. Short on helicopter gunships (unlike the Ruvelkans), the CAF was forced to commit it's attack aircraft in spite of heavy losses. Attrition soon took it's toll, and by Operation Harpe the Syarans had lost over 160 attack aircraft destroyed. While the Cacertian Tartaruga fared somewhat better due to it's heavier payload, itself was still vulnerable to ground fire, and by mid-2009 the Syarans were down to just 18 operational aircraft, unable to secure spare parts from Cacerta.

To make matters worse, in July 2009 Ruvelka began Operation Eclipse, a strategic bombing campaign against Syaran industrial and military targets within Galania and Makedon. While the bombing itself was largely ineffective, the threat of Ruvelkan strikes against the Syaran interior forced the CAF to divert badly needed fighters to patrolling Syaran airspace, furthering undermining the situation at the front. The Syarans would spend the rest of the on the backfoot, their last major contribution covering Syaran forces as they retreated during Operation Homefront.

The CAF ultimately recorded 545 aircraft lost or written off during the Zemplen War, 312 of them attack aircraft. The war profoundly impacted the organization and doctrine of the CAF, which abandoned fixed wing attack aircraft as its primary means of close air support in favor of drones and high-altitude precision bombing. In 2012 the CAF compiled the information it had gleamed regarding the Zephyr aircraft and its performance and handed it over to Ossoria, which used the information to produce the T-35 block C/D variants, which Syara purchased the rights to in 2015. In 2016 the CAF Central Command outlined a new directive policy which intended to focus the CAF on being "top heavy", fielding more main line fighters. In 2015 Syara introduced it's first UCAV, the Autonous. In 2018 the CAF announced it would shut down production of the Ceyx light fighter, with the remainder intended to stay in service until 2030.