Team Performance in Air Combat: A Teamwork Perspective

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe a model combining taskwork and teamwork of a single-seat fighter aircraft team, or flight, during its performance episode. Background: In air combat, evaluations of team performance have focused on task performance. However, both teamwork and taskwork are required for high performance output. Attempts to address taskwork and teamwork in single-seat fighter aircraft flights have mainly settled for adopting existing models of teamwork to flights. As such, they have overlooked the unique nature of teamwork in air combat. Method: Existing models of teamwork and taskwork are reviewed and a flight’s tactical decision-making is described as an input-process-output model. A model combining flight’s teamwork, taskwork, situation awareness and transactive memory is conceptualized and operation of the model is illustrated with a case study. In the case study, the model is used to provide an alternative explanation for an air combat accident. Results: The model bridges the gap between the well-established concepts of teamwork and the unique nature of air combat. It rationalizes how the mission essential competencies, situation awareness and transactive memory interact with each other, and how they impact the flight’s performance output. Conclusions: The model helps scholars and practitioners in identifying the connection between the flight’s performance output and the underlying processes even when cause and effect are not adjacent in either time or space.