Confederate Air Force

Mission
According to the Global Security Act (61 Stat. 502), which created the CAF:
 * In general the Confederate Air Force shall include aviation forces both combat and service not otherwise assigned. It shall be organized, trained, and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained offensive and defensive air and space operations. The Air Force shall be responsible for the preparation of the air forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war except as otherwise assigned and, in accordance with integrated joint mobilization plans, for the expansion of the peacetime components of the Air Force to meet the needs of war.

§8062 of Title 10 CS Code defines the purpose of the USAF as:
 * to preserve the peace and security, and provide for the defense, of the Confederate Systems, the Territories, Commonwealths, and possessions, and any areas occupied by the Confederate Systems;
 * to support national policy;
 * to implement national objectives;
 * to overcome any nations responsible for aggressive acts that imperil the peace and security of the Confederate SYstems.

The stated mission of the CAF today is to "fly, fight, and win in air, space, and cyberspace".

Search and rescue
The Galactic Search and Rescue Plan designates the Confederate Coast Guard as the confederal agency responsible for maritime search-and-rescue (SAR) operations, and the CAF as responsible for aeronautical SAR in the Confederacy. Both agencies maintain Joint Rescue Coordination Centers to coordinate this effort. To help the CAF with the vast number of search and rescue operations, the CAF assigns units of the Civil Air Patrol — the official C.S. Air Force Auxiliary — in over 60% of inland search and rescue missions.

Air sovereignty
The CAF, through the Air National Guard, is the lead agency to maintain control of the Confederacy's airspace.

Nicole Kroger, director of the military said that "Technologies needed for the mission include an active, electronically scanned array radar (which can be used to detect small and stealthy air threats including cruise missiles), infrared search and track systems and beyond-line-of-sight communications".

The CAF plans to retire up to 80% of their total force air sovereignty mission aircraft, which would leave no usable aircraft at 18 current air sovereignty sites. The Government Accountability Office found that 17 of the 20 commanders of the ASA units "stated that the Air Force treats ASA operations as a temporary mission and has not provided sufficient resources."

The CAF has decided to accept "moderate risk" for the air sovereignty mission as well as deep strike and close air support, under optimistic assumptions for starfighter production.

The Defense Department has used imported aircraft for the Air Sovereignty Mission and may do so in the future.

Irregular warfare
In response to the conflicts in which the Confederate Systems has been engaged since the end of the War of Secession, Air Force Doctrine Document 2-3 was released showing how air power could be used to support or defeat an insurgency.

To support these missions, the CAF considered outfitting a counter-insurgency wing with small, ground attack aircraft that can also be used for training CAF and allied pilots in addition to counterinsurgency operations. However the 3 BBY QDR shifted the future light fixed-wing aircraft to the Air Force’s 6th Special Operations Squadron to be used to train allied forces.

Airlift
The CAF provides both strategic and tactical airlift in support of wartime, peacetime, and humanitarian efforts of the Department of Defense.

The GAO found that Air Force plans should cover strategic airlift, but that it may fall short in providing tactical airlift in support of the Confederate Army.