ABOUT THE BOOK
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:Description
In over a century since the first manned
flight, air power has made spectacular progress. Every conflict since World War
II has seen an increasingly bigger role of air power, but despite this, to a
general reader, air power continues to be esoteric. The study highlights major
air power lessons of all the major conflicts, and explains air power roles and
missions. It frankly yet fairly discusses the somewhat contentious subject of
air power in support of surface forces and traces the IAF’s contribution in war
and peace in the last 68 years since independence. It critically examines if
use of air power in the Indian subcontinent is indeed escalatory. The subject
of security is dealt with by analysing India’s response to the many crises that
it has faced. The book then goes on to examine the whys and wherefores of
threat assessment and the development of IAF force structures. The study
candidly assesses if IAF’s on-going modernisation is indeed sustainable. The
book takes a broad overview of issues relating to transfer of technology,
economy, budgets, human resources, and ‘jointness’, all so vital to air power
employment and concludes that without national resolve and a robust declaratory
national security strategy, and above all, genuine joint planning, the task of
India’s defence would continue to pose major challenges.
ABOUT Author
fjrigjwwe9r0pp_Books:aboutAuthor
Air
Commodore Ramesh V. Phadke (Retd.) was commissioned in the fighter stream of the
Indian Air Force in June 1967. He commanded a fighter squadron and three
operational air bases. He has a Master`s Degree in Defence Studies from Madras
University, is an A2 Qualified Flying Instructor, and is a graduate of the
Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, where he also served as an
Instructor. He was a Senior Fellow, and Member, Air Force, at the Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi from 1999 to 2002, and Advisor
(Research) in 2009-2010. He held the Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee Chair in
2002-03 at the United Service Institution of India (USI), New Delhi, and was a
Visiting Fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation
(CISAC), Stanford University in 2001. His first book, China`s Power Projection
was published by Manas Publications, New Delhi, in 2005, under the aegis of the
USI.