The Indian Air Force was formed on 8 October 1932. Tested in the Second World War and in subsequent India-Pakistan conflicts, the force enters its 90th year as one of the largest air forces in the world. However, it also faces enhanced challenges in the region as it seeks to replace legacy systems, upgrade its combat and support assets and to also expand its force levels. Despite many problems the IAF is facing the second decade of the 21st century with an increasingly rationalized doctrine, an improving air defense network, an array of new ordnance and electronics and a rejuvenated combat fleet.90 Years of the Indian Air Force examines the Indian Air Force as it exists today and its moves towards modernization. Each element of the IAF, along with the current inventory of aircraft as they relate to its combat squadrons, its transport fleet, its helicopter forces and its training and electronic warfare and surveillance assets are discussed. In addition, the IAF's air defence network and its large SAM inventory are detailed along with the fledgling Defence Space Agency which operates with Air Force assistance. India's existing space assets are discussed as they relate to airspace surveillance and management.The ongoing modernization of the Indian Air Force is examined in terms of new acquisitions and the upgrading of older but viable platforms. Similarly, the ongoing efforts to improve the Air Defence network, ISTAR systems, AEW platforms and new SAMs are analyzed. Moreover, the focus on indigenous designs in respect of radars, aircraft, ordnance and SAMs are explored in detail. Two separate elements of this effort are discussed - license production of foreign designs and a renewed emphasis on local designs for combat aircraft, trainers, helicopters, weapons and SAM, this local production being key to the IAF's future modernization.

This collection of essays reflects the proceedings of a 1991 conference on "The United States Air Force: Aerospace Challenges and Missions in the 1990s," sponsored by the USAF and Tufts University. The 20 contributors comment on the pivotal role of airpower in the war with Iraq and address issues and choices facing the USAF, such as the factors that are reshaping strategies and missions, the future role and structure of airpower as an element of US power projection, and the aerospace industry's views on what the Air Force of the future will set as its acquisition priorities and strategies. The authors agree that aerospace forces will be an essential and formidable tool in US security policies into the next century. The contributors include academics, high-level military leaders, government officials, journalists, and top executives from aerospace and defense contractors.

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

Proceedings of a symposium co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation and the Air Force History and Museums Program. The symposium covered relevant Air Force technologies ranging from the turbo-jet revolution of the 1930s to the stealth revolution of the 1990s. Illustrations.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

In 1984, the Indian Army carried out a stunning operation that captured the Siachen Glacier in the northernmost regions of what is now the Union Territory of Ladakh. Since that time, a full brigade of Indian troops has faced off against a similar number of Pakistani soldiers in the highest battlefield on earth. Sustained by a combination of tenuous road supply lines and air support, where helicopter manuals have had to be rewritten, the two countries have had numerous skirmishes that have escalated into the use of artillery fire. Operation Meghdoot tells the story of this conflict. Beginning with the trauma of partition and the first Kashmir war that saw the region divided between India and Pakistan, it progresses to the 1962 Sino-Indian war which saw the Aksai Chin region lost to China and the Shaksgam Valley unilaterally ceded by Pakistan to China. The consequence of this was to allow the development of the Karakoram Pass and highway to link China to Pakistan. In the aftermath of Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war, the mapping of the area created sufficient confusion to enable both India and Pakistan to assert their respective claims. This eventually led to Operation Meghdoot which enabled India to secure the entire Siachen glacier, pre-empting Pakistan's Operation Abadeel. Operation Meghdoot examines the political, geographic and geopolitical imperatives that drove both sides towards conflict in this inhospitable area. The evolution of India's mountain divisions with their attendant expertise is discussed as well as the air support capabilities available to both sides. Operation Meghdoot itself is discussed in detail including its planning and execution, and the conflict since 1984 is chronicled with an emphasis upon the military engagements, the use of air power and the struggle of both armies to adapt and cope with the environment. Finally, the implications of India's hold on the Siachen Glacier is analysed with respect to its position against a hostile Pakistan and an increasingly hostile China. Operation Meghdoot includes 80 photos, 10 maps and diagrams, and 15 color profiles.

Presents revised and edited papers from a October 2010 conference held in Taipei on the Chinese Air Force. The conference was jointly organized by Taiwan?s Council for Advanced Policy Studies, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the U.S. National Defense University, and the RAND Corporation. This books offers a complete picture of where the Chinese air force is today, where it has come from, and most importantly, where it is headed.

Global air mobility is an American invention. During the twentieth century, other nations developed capabilities to transport supplies and personnel by air to support deployed military forces. But only the United States mustered the resources and will to create a global transport force and aerial refueling aircraft capable of moving air and ground combat forces of all types to anywhere in the world and supporting them in continuous combat operations. Whether contemplating a bomber campaign or halting another surprise attack, American war planners have depended on transport and tanker aircraft.

Did the impact of air power in the Gulf War mark a revolution in warfare? Is air power impotent in politically fractured scenarios such as Bosnia? Does air power need to break free from habits and concepts induced by 40 years of superpower confrontation? How does air power impinge upon new security structures in Europe and the Middle East? Can air power any longer have the same meaning in Washington, Moscow, Stockholm or Copenhagen? How can air power contribute, and with what implications, to international peacekeeping and peace enforcing? How can the complexities of air power be contained within arms control and confidence-building regimes? What support can air power offer to international diplomacy?