Recent events in Eastern Ladakh have once again brought to the fore the question of just how capable the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) really is, when deployed against India. Providing fuel to the discussions are frequent reports...
It has been understood since at least 1988, which was when the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) first started work on a road towards Yatung, that China’s primary aims in the Chumbi Valley (CV) were two-fold:
First, to...
Military flight safety is an issue as old as military aviation itself. Though the Italians were the first to use airplanes in combat against the Turks in 1911, it was really in the First World War (WW1), that military...
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Tejas Mk1 received Final Operational Clearance (FOC) earlier this year during Aero India 2019. Though, this was a watershed moment for the Tejas program, it was however the first part of the FOC process,...
The attitude of the Indian Air Force (IAF) towards indigenous aircraft projects is often a subject of intense debate. With the IAF's Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Chief Marshal (ACM) RKS Bhadauria, throwing his full weight behind the...
The hit-to-kill (HTK) interception achieved by the Defence Research & Development Organization’s (DRDO’s) updated exo-atmospheric ‘PDV’ anti-ballistic missile (ABM) interceptor on February 11, 2017, was a watershed moment in the history of India’s ballistic missile defence (BMD) program. The...
Editor's note: Even as the Indian Air force will soon begin inducting a number of new standoff strike powered munitions from the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) stable, the Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune, DRDO’s premier...
Rising like a phoenix above Bengaluru, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s HJT-36 ‘Sitara’ Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT), took to the sky for the first time in three years on April 17, 2019. The IJT program has been resurrected on account of...
This is the first of a three part series on China’s Air Defence System. The other two parts which can be accessed here and here, will focus on Technology Trends and Air Defence Capability in Tibet.
A very brief history
The First...
On Thursday, 19 September 2019, the Government of India announced that Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM will take over as the next Chief Of Air Staff (CAS), Indian Air Force (IAF) from Air Chief Marshal...
