According to the TOI today, the army is back to her old tricks. This time it has once again raised the old, much debated and flogged issue of demanding helicopter and fixed wing assets from the Indian Air Force. (IAF) This is ostensibly because the IAF does not know enough about 'Close Air Support (CAS) and is not generous with allocation of sorties for this task. This is not borne out by facts. All I can say is that the army needs to learn a lesson from its history and stop raising such absurd demands.
This also makes it clear why the army is constantly asking for a CDS. It wants air power 'under command' and not 'in support'. The trouble is that air power is so much in demand that everyone wants it. With Air Superiority anything is possible; without it everything is at risk.
India is neither rich nor advanced (technologically) to be able to afford a separate air arm like the US Army or Marines.
Go back to the basics, you need a primer in air power employment
In any case what sort of conventional conflict is the army thinking of and against who?
No comments:
Post a Comment