During the cold war small states Air Forces operated as tactical resources in coalitions led by superpowers. After the cold war small states face new threats where the ability to fight independently is crucial to survival. Most of today’s air power theories focus on superpowers and do not mention specific details about its applicability within the small state’s context which leave small states in a state of confusion regarding their creation of doctrinal focus. Shaun Clarkes air power theory focuses directly on small states Air Forces and constitutes factors that conforms to the war principle of surprise. Clarke’s theory and the principle of surprise are both in need of critical empirical studies. This study contributes by supplementing the theory with the principle and conduct a case study on the Israeli Air Force performance during the six-day war and Yom Kippur war.
The result of the study strengthens the explanatory power of the theory by the conformance of its aspects with the successful operations of the six-day war while not being able to explain the operations of the less successful Yom Kippur war. The observation of underlying variables that may have affected the outcome means that the result cannot be generalized to other cases but indicates that it is an interesting aspect for small states as Sweden to consider during the creation of a doctrinal orientation.