Articles By Col Mandeep Singh
Russian Electronic Warfare in Ukraine 2022-2023
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Vol. 38.2, Apr-Jun 2023 | Date: 07 Jul , 2023
In March 2022, just a month into Russia’s offensive, Ukrainian troops captured an abandoned Krasukha-4, one of Russia’s most sophisticated Electronic Warfare (EW) systems. It is designed...
Ukraine and Return of Air Defenses
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Nov , 2022
On September 11, 2022, Ukrainian air defenses shot down 9 of the 11 cruise missiles fired on eastern Ukraine by Russia. The failure of Russian strikes was not unexpected as a number of advanced...
Laser Weapons: The Future of Air Defence?
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 10 Jun , 2022
Israel recently announced the successful test of its Iron Beam laser weapon system that reportedly has the capability of intercepting rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles. Called a game...
Soft Kill Air Defence Weapon Systems: The Better Alternative?
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Vol. 37.1, Jan-Mar 2022 | Date: 23 May , 2022
In recent times, drone and ballistic missile attacks have increasingly been in the news with one of the most targeted countries being Saudi Arabia which has had to defend itself against weekly...
Contested Air Littoral and the Challenges Ahead
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 08 May , 2022
The way we fight has undergone a rapid transformation in recent years with drones and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) increasingly being used on the battlefield for a range of tasks, from tactical...
Defending the Defenders: Close Defence of Ground Based Air Defence Weapon...
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Date: 05 May , 2022
On 12 April 2022, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed that its Kalibr missiles had destroyed four launchers of Ukrainian S-300 air defence system on the...
The First Casualty: Suppression of Ukraine’s Air Defences
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 26 Feb , 2022
TASS, the Russian News Agency claimed within hours of the Russian offensive that “Ukrainian border guards are not putting up any resistance to Russian units. The Ukrainian air defenses are...
S-400 Triumf: Beyond Air Defence
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Nov , 2021
On 14 November 2021, Russian news agencies, citing Dmitry Shugayev, head of the Russian military cooperation agency, reported that Russia has started delivery of S-400 Triumf missile system to...
The Sead Challenge: Trends in Threats to Surface-Based Air Defences
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Vol. 36.3, Jul-Sep 2021 | Date: 02 Nov , 2021
The drones may seem to have an edge over air defence systems, but it is a matter of time that the advantage will be lost. The number of drones shot down over the years says it all. A total of 31...
Air Defence Artillery in India-Pakistan War of 1971
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 01 Jan , 2021
On 3 December 1971, No 26 Squadron, PAF initiated the pre-emptive strikes against Indian air bases with strikes at Srinagar, with a Time Over Target (TOT) of 1739 hrs. Each strike package...
Countering the Pakistan Air Force in 1965: Role of AD Artillery
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 13 Aug , 2020
A recent article published in the Indian Defence Review (read here), while comparing the performance of Indian and Pakistan Air Force highlights the better performance of Indian Air Force (IAF) in...
China's Cyber Warfare Capabilities
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 11 Jul , 2020
On 23 May 2017, an Indian Air Force Sukhoi 30 fighter aircraft was downed, purportedly by a cyber-attack from China. This was just one more incident in the series of cyber incidents against...
Of Fratricide and Air Defence Command
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Date: 11 Jun , 2020
In 2003, during the invasion of Iraq by United States led forces, 62 firing units of Patriot missile system followed the advancing troops providing them a continuous air defence cover. As the...
Hypersonic Weapons: A New Threat or Just Another Technology Demonstrator?
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 15 May , 2020
One of the most keenly observed weapons system during China’s National Day military parade on 1 October 2019 was the hypersonic glide vehicle. 18 of the sleek, aerodynamically shaped glide...
The Day After: Thoughts on Future Air Defence
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 22 Apr , 2020
The ongoing covid-19 crisis will, like all things, come to pass and end one day. The time that it will take to ‘normalise’ after the pandemic is contained, cannot be said with certainty but...
Drone Swarms as Air Defence Systems
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 01 Apr , 2020
In a major instance of failure of air defence systems, the Saudi Arabia failed to protect its Abqaiq and Khurais oil facilities when Houthi rebels launched 18 drones and seven cruise missiles...
Improvised Air Defence Weapons: An Emerging threat or Much Ado about nothing?
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 23 Nov , 2019
On April 19, 2019, Yemen rebels shot down a Chinese-built medium-altitude and long-endurance Wing Loong drone with a surface-to-air missile. The drone, operated by Saudi Arabia, was reportedly on...
Drone Attack on Saudi Oil Installations: Need to assess the failure of Air...
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 21 Sep , 2019
In a continuum of the its attacks designed to hit Saudi Arabia at its most vulnerable, the Houthi rebels carried out a massive drone attack on the strategic Saudi oil facilities at Abqaiq and...
Iranian Air Defences
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 18 Sep , 2019
On August 22, 2019, Iran unveiled Bavar-373 air defence system. Reportedly based on the Russian S-300, Iran claimed that the long-range air defence missile system was superior to both the US...
Drone Swarms: The Emerging Air Threat
By: Col Mandeep Singh | Issue: Vol. 33.4 Oct-Dec 2018 | Date: 01 Sep , 2019
The threat posed by drones has been acknowledged from the time the first drone took to the air. Efforts have been made ever since to counter the slow, low flying objects, if not to shoot them...