Articles By Gp Capt AK Sachdev
Airspace Control: Challenges and Way Ahead
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. Apr-Jun 2020, (35.2) & Jul-Sep 2020, (35.3) | Date: 28 Dec , 2020
In the framework of international law, ‘sovereignty’ signifies the full right and power of a State to govern itself and its territory without any external interference. This legal right to...
IAF’s Unmanned Capability: Prospects for Indigenisation
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.1 Jan-Mar 2019 | Date: 29 Nov , 2020
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have contributed to the application of air power for decades; in a sense, the German V1 flying bomb of the 1940s was a UAV. Current definitions however, discount...
Indo-Israel Defence: Cooperation and Future Prospects
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.1 Jan-Mar 2019 | Date: 18 Nov , 2020
The diligent researcher could trace back trade and cultural relations between present day India and Israel to the contacts between the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Babylonian culture. Indian...
Securing the Indian Skies
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.3 Jul-Sep 2019 | Date: 31 Oct , 2020
The face-saving reprisal by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in response to the Indian Air Force (IAF) aerial strike on February 26, 2019, against a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) training camp near Balakot in...
Advances in Military Helicopters
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.4 Oct-Dec 2019 | Date: 19 Oct , 2020
While lagging behind fixed-wing combat aircraft that are stretching out to their sixth generation, military helicopters have yet cornered substantial attention and funding to have made notable...
Private Sector in Aerospace and Defence: An Evolving Success Story
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.2 Apr-Jun 2019 | Date: 31 Jan , 2020
There is near unanimity in public perception of the Indian public sector involvement in aerospace and defence, be it the bloodsucking Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO)...
Unmanned Platforms in the IAF: The Need to Bolster
By: Gp Capt AK Sachdev | Issue: Vol. 34.1 Jan-Mar 2019 | Date: 30 Oct , 2019
The DRDO has had some success with small UAVs but projects worthy of the IAF’s needs and wants appear to be very distant in the future. Slow rates of progress and minimal levels of technology...
‘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...