Articles By Gp Capt AK Sachdev
‘Make in India’ and the Indian Aerospace Industry: Quo Vadis?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.1 Jan-Mar 2019 | Date: 04 Jul , 2019
Given the opportunity, private enterprise is certain to outdo PSUs in the aerospace arena. If India is to achieve the status of an aerospace power, it has to radically alter its perception and...
Flight Refuellers for the IAF: Lessons from Gagan Shakti 2018
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 33.4 Oct-Dec 2018 | Date: 17 Jun , 2019
Nine months of planning for Exercise Gagan Shakti brought forth immaculate execution during the period from April 08 to 22, 2018. The stated aims of the Exercise were real time coordination,...
Air Power for Special Operations: The Need For ‘Jointness’?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 33.2 Apr-Jun 2018 | Date: 07 Mar , 2019
The Indian Army and the Indian Navy have elite forces for Special Operations while the Indian Air Force owns a majority of the platforms to deliver them. The lack of ‘jointness’ has meant that...
Combat Potential of the IAF for a Two-Front War
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 33.3 Jul-Sep 2018 | Date: 23 Feb , 2019
India is now the world’s fifth highest defence spender, but statistics can be disingenuously deceptive. In terms of percentage of GDP, it is the lowest since India was last subjected to an...
The LCA Tejas Programme: Leading to Indigenous AMCA: Quo Vadis?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 33.4 Oct-Dec 2018 | Date: 20 Feb , 2019
The LCA programme trundles along with new delays added at irregular points in time. Not only is the FOC unattainable yet, even the HAL assembly line is nowhere near producing 16 aircraft a year as...
The Unmanned Battlefield Helicopter
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 33.1 Jan-Mar 2018 | Date: 20 Nov , 2018
The term ‘battlefield helicopter’ continues to live on and conjure up visions of sleek, fierce looking rotary-wing craft shrieking their way over friendly forces on the ground. Since the...
Role of the IAF in a Two-Front War
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.4 Oct-Dec 2017 | Date: 01 Sep , 2018
The White Paper on China’s Military Strategy 2015 states, “In line with the strategic requirement of building air-space capabilities and conducting offensive and defensive operations, the...
Modernisation of the IAF’s Helicopter Fleet
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.4 Oct-Dec 2017 | Date: 04 Aug , 2018
The IAF began with US helicopters in the fifties and expanded gradually to include license-built French and Soviet helicopters. The circle is coming round once again with planned induction of the...
Advances In Technology: Battlefield Helicopters
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.3 Jul-Sep 2017 | Date: 10 Jan , 2018
Inarguably, the most ambitious programme to design future battlefield helicopters is the US FVL. However, the Dutch Air Chief, Lt. Gen. Alexander Schnitger reportedly questioned the programme...
Revamping the Combat Fleet of the IAF
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.2 Apr-Jun 2017 | Date: 06 Nov , 2017
In the absence of any indigenously produced combat aircraft discounting the non-operational Tejas, India’s current aircraft are Russian (MiG-21, MiG-27, MiG-29, Su-30MKI), French (Mirage-2000)...
How Worrisome is PLAAF Presence in Tibet?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.2 Apr-Jun 2017 | Date: 01 Nov , 2017
The threat of co-ordinated action by China and Pakistan is a distinct possibility and, under such a scenario, the IAF would have to spread its assets on two fronts; that would render the PLAAF...
Will the Kamov Ka 226T meet India’s Requirements?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.1 Jan-Mar 2017 | Date: 18 Apr , 2017
On November 30, 2016, an Indian Army Cheetah helicopter crashed at Sukhna in West Bengal, killing three officers and injuring a soldier. Whether the Court of Inquiry finds the old age of the...
India's Aerospace Industry: In Privatisation Lies the Key
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Courtesy: South Asia Monitor | Date: 23 Mar , 2017
India made its debut entrance into the international air show circuit two decades ago with an aerospace and defence event — the Aero India Show. The tenth edition (in 2015) was used by Prime...
IAF’s Combat Aircraft Shortfall: A Ticking Time Bomb
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 32.1 Jan-Mar 2017 | Date: 16 Feb , 2017
The Tejas is an aircraft the IAF can do without, although pressures to induct it have led to orders. Meanwhile, the sands of time, inexorably straining through the impassive hourglass of IAF...
China – The New Aerospace Power
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 31.3 Jul-Sep 2016 | Date: 18 Nov , 2016
Both India and China began their march towards progress almost at the same time and have had an unwholesome antagonism towards each other since the 1962 War. The boundary dispute between the two...
Privatisation of the Indian Aerospace Industry: Problems and Prospects
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 31.2 Apr-Jun 2016 | Date: 09 Aug , 2016
“Make in India” has been around for some time now, both as a slogan and as a rallying point for industrial lobbies. As far as the aerospace industry is concerned, the single major act of...
Make in India: Problems and Prospects for the Aerospace Industry
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 31.1 Jan-Mar 2016 | Date: 27 Jun , 2016
The Indian public sector aerospace industry, protected by successive governments, does not have much to show as results for all the money spent in the last seven decades. On the other hand, the...
Future of Rotary Wing Craft
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 30.4 Oct-Dec 2015 | Date: 30 May , 2016
Technological advances have brought impressive improvements in rotorcraft technology albeit without eliminating the intrinsic limitations. The classic helicopter design has been mutated into newer...
Will Advances in UAVs Edge Out Manned Aircraft?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 30.4 Oct-Dec 2015 | Date: 23 Apr , 2016
The term ‘drone’ has hummed itself into aviation lexicon and is universally used to describe flying objects not carrying a human pilot; some other terms in general use for them are Unmanned...
Is the IAF Equipped for a Two-Front War?
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 29.2 Apr-Jun 2014 | Date: 09 Jan , 2016
During the past decade, India’s defence preparedness has steadily and inexorably deteriorated despite constant clamour by the defence forces for modernisation and upgradation to meet assigned...