Layered defence and the fight to control aircraft

Britain's interwar service disputes provide a comparison for Soviet arguments over control of naval aircraft. An organisation focused on other priorities could leave naval missions without enough aircraft or training. Funding struggles occurred between services and within them, so command arrangements shaped which missions received support. Soviet theory increasingly tied naval aviation to layers of warning and defence, a logic that anticipated later Cold War bastion concepts. The perceived political isolation of the Soviet state made this protective orientation especially attractive. Naval control kept reconnaissance and direct fleet support from remaining secondary to strategic bombing or national air defence.