Offensive counter air Offensive Counter - Air ( OCA ) is a military term for the suppression of an enemy ' s military air power by destroying or disabling the aircraft — preferably on the ground . This includes disablement achieved by damaging the infrastructure ( for example runways ) or logistics . Tactics . Operations include attacks on air base s . Aircraft on air bases are often more concentrated and vulnerable than they are in flight , and destroying them at their bases may be much easier than destroying them in aerial combat . Attacks on bases crowded with aircraft can have devastating results in the struggle for control of the air . Since the Six - Day War in June 1967 where Israel destroyed much of Egypt ' s air force on the ground , most air forces have provided protection , such as Hardened Aircraft Shelter s for their aircraft to prevent wholesale destruction of their aircraft . Even if the attacker does not catch air forces on the ground , destruction of critical base facilities can still be decisive . When air bases cannot provide landing , launching , or critical support ( e . g . , maintenance , fuel , munitions ) , air forces are effectively grounded . Air - to - air operations conducted by fighter aircraft are also offensive counter air measures , but they are seen as a comparatively slow way of achieving the final objective - air superiority . History . World War II . Offensive counter - air strikes have been used since World War I , and the German attacks against allied airfields during World War II in 1945 was a particularly successful example . The Teishin Shudan and Giretsu Kuteitai carried out two OCA raids in the Pacific theatre against B29s . In one measure the most successful single OCA mission to date was Operation Focus , the Israeli offensive that opened the Six Day War of 1967 , when the Heyl Ha ' avir destroyed a large portion of the air power of Egypt , Syria , and Jordan , mostly on the ground , totaling roughly 600 airframes destroyed by a force of 200 aircraft . However , in sheer number of planes destroyed , the opening two weeks of Operation Barbarossa saw some 3 - 4 , 000 Russian planes destroyed in total . Other successful attacks include US counter air operations in Korea in 1950 and 1953 , French and British attacks during the Suez Crisis and many others . However , there have also been notable failures like Operation Chengiz Khan initiated by Pakistan during the Indo - Pakistani War of 1971 and Iraqi attacks on Iran . The Teishin Shudan and Giretsu Kuteitai commandos carried out two notable OCA raids during World War II . The Vietcong destroyed a number of planes through mortars , and recently a Marine aviation unit was overrun in Afghanistan . Cold War . During the 1950s , the Cold War strategy of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact called for OCA to be carried out with tactical nuclear weapon s , but by the mid - 1960s , new policies of ' proportional response ' brought about a return to conventional tactics . Beginning shortly before the Six Day War , specialized weapons were developed for disrupting runways , such as the BLU - 107 Durandal anti - runway bomb . Various such weapons continue to be fielded , notably the Hunting JP233 munition used by RAF Panavia Tornado aircraft during the 1991 Gulf War . Although OCA missions are often carried out via air strikes , they are not limited to aerial action . As a common rubric of the Cold War held , a tank parked in the middle of an enemy runway is a perfectly valid counter - air weapon .