Contributor - Azragaul
There are three air support units in the game currently these are reapers, thunderbolts and raptors. Once you build an airfield in your base you will gain access to these units. Once built you can add them to a platoon in the air support section. To use the air support click on the support tab on the left of your screen. Click on the unit you would like to use and click on the building you would like the air support to attack.
Reapers are drones and take up very little space at 50 points per drone. This allows you to have a large numbers in a single support slot. Reapers will linger over the target you use them on until the reapers are eliminated or the target is eliminated. Because of their speed and size they are not as venerable to flak guns as other types of air support. They are more susceptible to damage from other sources like infantry coming out of a barracks or machine gun turrets because of their tendency to linger over the target and low health.
Thunderbolts and Raptors attack in a similar fashion. They swoop in on the target you have selected, hit it, turn 90 degrees and fly off the map. The difference with Raptors is that they have an area of effect component that allows them to hit buildings around their primary target building. Attacking a flak gun boosted with a transformer with these is suicide. They can be used however to great effect against targets like howitzers, rails us and defensive structures like war factories and barracks.
When using air support ideally you want to keep them from taking damage. They have a tendency to be very expensive to repair with oil. Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice them in order to beat a base but if it can be avoided it should be. Providing a distraction for turrets to target instead of your expensive air units is the best way to save oil. The simplest example would be a lower level base with 5 machine gun turrets. Using Rhinos to attract the attention of the machine gun turrets would allow you to attack the turrets with reapers without them firing back at your reapers. This distraction becomes more involved as the game progresses in levels. It might get to the point where you eliminate specific turrets with ground units before sending in your air support to clean up turrets or buildings that your ground units would take damage destroying.
A common tactic is to use reapers to distract flak and machine gun turrets so thunderbolts or raptors can get an attack run in. This can work but it has a tendency to incur significant losses to your air support and thus results in higher oil repair bills.