The blog “Air Marshal’s Perspective” has been around for six years and contains 850-plus posts. It covers a wide range of topics and aims to share personal viewpoints and daily lessons with everyone.
I asked the AI to review the blog (appended below).
What is urgently required is feedback from readers and suggestions to enhance its utility, user-friendliness, and informativeness.
I earnestly request all readers to please comment on this post.
Looking forward to your forthright comments and valuable suggestions.
BLOG AS VIEWED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
I reviewed the blog and its own material describing its evolution, scope, and the author’s background. There is enough material to analyse it not merely as a collection of defence articles, but as a distinctive strategic-writing platform shaped by an airpower practitioner’s worldview.
- What the blog is
“Air Marshal’s Perspective” is the personal blog of Anil Khosla, a former Vice Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. His stated background includes fighter operations, command of operational bases, operational planning, force-structure planning, capability development and senior IAF appointments. (55 NDA)
The blog began around 2020. By September 2025, it had published 750 posts, while the site’s current category pages show publication has continued into 2026. (55 NDA)
Its declared philosophy is captured by:
“Candid and to the point / काम की बात”
The author explicitly says that posts generally aim to reduce subjects to two or three pages, with an intended reading time of about 5–7 minutes. (55 NDA)
That is important: this is not designed primarily as an academic journal. It is a practitioner-oriented strategic blog.
- The intellectual architecture of the blog
The striking feature is the breadth of subjects.
The blog spans:
- Air power and air warfare
- IAF
- China
- Pakistan
- Geopolitics
- Technology
- Military capability
- Indigenisation
- Theatreisation
- Nuclear issues
- Maritime operations
- Leadership
- Management
- Decision-making
- Motivation
- Mental toughness
- Organisational culture
- Strategic affairs
The blog’s own five-year review describes this mixture explicitly, including defence, security, geopolitics, technology, leadership and management. (55 NDA)
This produces an interesting three-layer structure:
Layer 1 — Military/strategic analysis
This is the core:
Air power → warfare → military capability → technology → China/Pakistan → geopolitics → IAF
This reflects the author’s professional formation.
Layer 2 — Institutional/organisational thinking
The blog repeatedly moves from weapons and operations to:
leadership → decision-making → teamwork → culture → management → human behaviour
This aligns with someone who spent much of his career moving from tactical flying into command and higher-level staff responsibilities.
Layer 3 — Personal development
There is a further layer:
motivation → mental toughness → values → karma → tolerance → respect → personal growth
So the blog isn’t simply asking:
How should an air force fight?
It also asks:
How should people and organisations behave if they want to perform effectively?
That is probably the blog’s most distinctive characteristic.
- The central worldview
After looking across the material, I would describe the blog’s worldview as:
Operational realism + strategic awareness + institutional pragmatism + personal ethics
The emphasis is generally on practical consequences rather than abstract theorising.
The recurring questions are essentially:
- What does this mean operationally?
- What capability does it create?
- What are the risks?
- What should an organisation do?
- What lessons can be extracted?
- What can a commander/leader learn?
- What does this mean for India’s security?
This makes the blog particularly interesting because the author has experienced defence issues from several levels of the hierarchy.
His biography says he has worked across operational commands and with the Army, Navy and government agencies, and was involved in war planning, force structure and capability development. (55 NDA)
That background helps explain why his writing frequently connects tactical capability → operational employment → strategy → national security.
- A major strength: practitioner perspective
The biggest intellectual asset is obvious:
The author isn’t approaching airpower solely as an academic subject.
He writes from the perspective of someone who has actually operated inside the military system.
That gives the blog a different character from think-tank writing.
For example, subjects such as:
- air superiority,
- SEAD/DEAD,
- maritime air operations,
- force structure,
- theatreisation,
- capability development,
- command,
- joint operations
are naturally approached through questions of employment and implementation, rather than merely definitions.
The site’s maritime category, for instance, includes references to joint warfare, Indian military modernisation, India’s Joint Doctrine and airpower-related material. (55 NDA)
- Another major strength: accessibility
The blog deliberately avoids making every article academically dense.
The author’s own description says that the written pieces are generally bullet-oriented and designed for a short reading time. (55 NDA)
That creates a useful niche between:
academic paper
and
newspaper commentary.
The writing is intended to give the reader the “gist” quickly.
For defence professionals, students, veterans and informed general readers, this is valuable because many defence subjects are extremely time-consuming to research from scratch.
- The unusual combination of military and management
This is perhaps the most interesting analytical feature.
A conventional defence blog might concentrate almost entirely on:
China + Pakistan + weapons + aircraft + geopolitics.
Khosla’s blog repeatedly expands the discussion into:
leadership + decision-making + culture + teamwork + motivation + organisational behaviour.
The management category is still active in September 2026, for example, with a recent series on personal principles. (55 NDA)
This suggests that the author sees military effectiveness as fundamentally human as well as technological.
That is an important underlying proposition.
A technologically superior force can still perform poorly because of:
- poor leadership,
- weak decision-making,
- organisational silos,
- inadequate trust,
- bad communication,
- inappropriate culture,
- poor training.
The blog repeatedly returns to these themes.
- The China focus
China appears to occupy a particularly important place in the author’s strategic thinking.
His biography states that his post-retirement research includes China and that he has lectured on China, Pakistan, airpower and related strategic subjects. (55 NDA)
The site’s categories also give China substantial attention.
This is not surprising given his operational background and the strategic environment in which the IAF operates.
But there is an important analytical distinction:
The blog is best understood as an Indian strategic practitioner’s perspective on China, not as a neutral encyclopaedia of Chinese strategy.
That distinction matters when reading the material.
For serious research, individual assertions concerning Chinese intentions, capabilities or strategic behaviour should be checked against:
- Chinese primary sources,
- Indian government documents,
- Western/Asian strategic literature,
- satellite/technical evidence where relevant,
- independent academic research.
The blog is extremely useful for understanding how an experienced Indian military practitioner interprets the problem; it should not automatically be treated as the final authority on the underlying empirical question.
- The same applies to Pakistan
The Pakistan material is another area where the author’s professional perspective is valuable but should be contextualised.
The blog can tell you a great deal about:
how an experienced former IAF senior officer thinks about the India–Pakistan military equation.
But there is an inherent perspective:
- the author is Indian,
- he is a former senior IAF officer,
- his professional experience is predominantly from the Indian side,
- and many issues are inherently contested.
Therefore, for analytical work, I would pair his arguments with Pakistani military/strategic writings and independent scholarship.
That doesn’t diminish the blog’s value. It actually makes it more useful because you know what kind of source you are reading.
- One important limitation: source methodology
This is where I would be more cautious.
The blog itself states that information and data are sometimes adapted, excerpted or edited from other sources, and its disclaimer says material is intended for educational and non-commercial dissemination. (55 NDA)
Consequently, the blog should not automatically be treated like a peer-reviewed journal.
There are essentially three different kinds of material on the site:
- Original professional judgement
Potentially extremely valuable.
- Interpretation/commentary on external developments
Useful, but should be cross-checked.
- Curated/adapted material
Useful for discovery and synthesis, but consult the source before using it as evidence.
That distinction is essential if you’re using the blog for research, academic writing, policy analysis or intelligence studies.
- The blog’s strongest feature may actually be its archive
750+ posts is substantial.
The result is effectively a personal strategic knowledge repository.
The value isn’t only in individual articles. You can trace how the author’s thinking develops over time.
For example, one could construct longitudinal studies of:
- his assessment of China,
- his assessment of Pakistan,
- airpower debates,
- theatreisation,
- indigenous defence production,
- technology and warfare,
- drones,
- artificial intelligence,
- IAF modernisation,
- jointness,
- leadership.
This is much more interesting academically than simply reading the latest article.
The 2023 anniversary post reported 370+ posts; the 2024 anniversary reported 500+; and the 2025 anniversary reported 750. (55 NDA)
That growth itself demonstrates remarkable consistency.
- Writing style
The style can be characterised as:
short + declarative + bullet-driven + aphoristic + practical.
There is frequent use of:
- bullet points,
- quotations,
- lessons,
- numbered observations,
- diagrams/images,
- simplified explanations,
- historical examples,
- analogies.
The blog therefore resembles a strategic briefing converted into a public blog more than a conventional essay.
That’s consistent with the author’s stated goal of getting to the “gist.” (55 NDA)
- The “Shiqurdu” dimension
One particularly unusual element is the inclusion of “Shiqurdu”, described by the site’s own material as thought-provoking verse combining Hindi and Urdu. (55 NDA)
This gives the blog another dimension.
It suggests the author isn’t presenting himself exclusively as:
military professional → analyst → commentator.
There is also:
military professional → observer of human behaviour → philosopher/poet.
That helps explain why themes such as karma, tolerance, respect, resilience and personal conduct coexist with air warfare and geopolitics.
- What the blog is not
This is important.
I would not characterise it as:
A peer-reviewed academic journal
It isn’t.
An official Indian government/IAF publication
It is a personal blog.
A neutral geopolitical database
It contains the author’s perspective.
A pure airpower website
Its remit is substantially broader.
A conventional retired-officer memoir
Although personal experience informs it, much of the material is analytical and educational.
Instead, the most accurate description would be:
A large, practitioner-led strategic knowledge repository combining airpower analysis, defence commentary, geopolitical observation, leadership lessons and personal philosophy.
- How I would assess its value
Rather than giving it a simplistic “rating”, I would break its value down by purpose:
| Purpose | Value of the blog |
| Understanding an Indian airpower practitioner’s thinking | Very high |
| Airpower education | High |
| Defence/current-affairs orientation | High |
| Leadership/management lessons | High |
| Generating research questions | Very high |
| Discovering defence topics/sources | Very high |
| Establishing an empirical fact without verification | Moderate |
| Peer-reviewed academic evidence | Limited |
| Understanding opposing/foreign perspectives | Limited unless supplemented |
| Longitudinal study of Indian strategic thinking | Very high |
The key distinction is between source value and source authority.
The blog can be a tremendously valuable source without every individual proposition being independently authoritative.
- My overall analytical take
The most interesting thing about Air Marshal’s Perspective is not any individual article.
It is the body of work.
Over hundreds of posts, it represents an attempt by a senior military practitioner to translate several decades of military experience into accessible public knowledge.
There is a consistent philosophy underneath it:
Understand the environment → understand capability → understand people → make practical decisions → learn from experience.
Its greatest strength is therefore practitioner synthesis.
Its principal limitation is the corresponding perspective bias: the reader is looking at defence and geopolitics predominantly through an experienced Indian Air Force lens.
For casual readers, that distinction may not matter much.
For serious strategic research, it matters enormously.
Looking forward to your forthright comments and valuable suggestions.
850 posts and counting. It’s a treasure of knowledge. It makes easy reading crisp understanding. I think overall it’s an extremely valuable contribution in the field of professional academia.
Thanks Vijay
Indeed. Very interesting and insightful commentry / analysis by Air Marshal Khosla.
We are privileged that he penned a few articles for ET.
GREAT GOING
Thanks Nitin
I have known the Air Marshal very well having worked right under him. He has loads of experience in Operations and conduct. His posts are absolutely to the point and what he has acquired through experience at every level and finally as Vice Chief of Air Staff. There is no one who understands Operations, Strategy, Tactics, preparations for war, how to motivate personnel, training and what not. He covers everything simply well.
Thanks a lot
I have been following your blogs from day one. You have a unique style of presenting your perspective on wide ranging topics. The analytical summation of issues is well appreciated.
The presentations are easy to read & understand. Absolutely reader friendly!
Thank you & keep them coming.👍🙂
Thanks a lot Sir
Air Marshal’s perspective’s greatest strength lies in the author’s ability to convert extensive military experience into practical, accessible strategic insights. Wish him all the best and looking forward to get more such topics in future.
Thanks a lot
….been lucky to have served under Sir’s leadership multiple times……
& the basic philosophy of his … Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS) has been the hallmark… explaining Complicated, Sophisticated & technical matter in a simple manner that a stupid will also get it!!
… Great going Sir…. AI has put across detailed summary…
Thanks Ajay
I personally have tried to follow as many of your posts as possible; they’re excellent, primarily because they’re points-based.
Keep writing and (re-)educating, updating us!
Thanks a lot
An excellent repository of a practitioner’s persepctive on a variety of matters air warfare and strategy. It has helped me immensely in gaining practical insights and I recommend it wholeheartedly! Thank you, Sir, for elevating our understanding on such matters!
Thanks a lot
Great blog, sir. Very informative and interesting.
Thanks
Sir,
Gone through the post…
The simple thing to navigate and search for your relevant topic is like a Maze , instead of making it easy it is taking a long way of discovery…
Pl simplify the layout for interests and topics of relevance as per the reader…
If really looking for something he will go through every thing, rest will skim as usual…
Thanks for the feedback. The search option is useful.
The Blog is exactly as the author’s personality, direct, blunt and no-nonsense, with a deep and detailed insight into Indian Air Force’s operational and strategic thinking. As the AI review suggests, it is the volume of work that makes it outstanding. The Air Marshal has takes on complex ideas, and resolves them to the core issues, without unnecessary embellishment and diversionary sidesteps. Hence, it is easy to read despite the fact some posts require finer aspects of application of air power, the author skillfully comes to the meat of the matter to without sounding didactic.
Thanks Sandeep
A unique effort by someone who has been in the thick of the things. Blogs are precise and concise indicating at someone who has deep knowledge and ability to communicate without mincing words or sementics. Keep them coming.
Thanks Diwaker
Anil you are always great in your presentations..! Very lucid and relevant to the subject under analysis.
Just continue with the good job .
Hope people understand and get motivated with the story of defence subjects.
Best of luck 🤞
Your blogs are excellent and personally I benefit by reading these.
Gen PK Singh
Congratulations, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, on six remarkable years of blogging. As an oncologist, I particularly appreciate how your writings reinforce qualities equally vital in medicine—clarity of thought, evidence-based analysis, adaptability and humane leadership. Much like oncology, strategic thinking demands continuous learning and the courage to reassess established approaches. Your blog consistently stimulates that intellectual curiosity. Wishing you many more years of insightful writing. Bravo Zulu Sir! Keep posting
Subhas Ranjan
Sir,
A small request, would you consider enabling an RSS feed for the blog? It would make it much easier to follow your posts regularly, instead of depending on chance visits.
And please keep writing. Your words, by themselves, are a source of motivation for many.
Regards,
Wg Cdr Dinesh
Please subscribe to the blog with your name and email. You will get an email notification with a link to every post.
Heartiest congratulations Anil. Great going indeed. Totally zapped by your commitment and diligence. Kudos
Gen PR Kumar
Your deep knowledge & interest in the subjects you cover in your blogs comes out crystal clear and to the point. Very interesting and thought provoking articles. Congratulations for completing 6 years of blogging and my best wishes.
Thanks Sanjiv
I have not been a regular reader, but whenever I have read the blogs, I have been spellbound. The author’s matter-of-fact style and depth of knowledge are equally amazing.
I specially enjoy the contemporary Air Power issues, but truly love those on leadership and personal growth.
Thanks Deepsak
I know Air Mshl Anil Khosla since early nineties and have been following the ‘Air Marshal’s blog’ for the past six years. From his TACDE days as a member of the directing staff to the peak of his service career as the AOC in C and the VCAS, he has always been a source of inspiration for all those who have been around him or distantly related. A thorough professional that he has been, he is continuing to impart knowledge and understanding of air power, strategic planning, force structure, analytical account of geopolitical developments, leadership, training values and a host of other issues directly or indirectly related to national security and military operations. His writings in the blog are a pleasure to follow, easy to comprehend and even easier to form views about contemporary issues and developments across the globe in general and South Asia in particular. His own views about military aviation and its application in conflict situations are thought provoking and a treasure for those who take keen interest in defence studies and analysis.
Thank you Air Marshal for your contribution towards spreading awareness. Wish you very happy blogging in the years to come.
Thanks a lot Senu
Heartiest congratulations, Sir, on completing six remarkable years of blogging and 850+ posts. 🫡 Thank you for generously sharing your experience, knowledge, and perspectives with all of us. Your ability to bring complex issues of defence, strategy, technology and leadership into a clear and accessible format makes this repository truly valuable. Wishing you continued success and many more years of insightful writing and knowledge sharing.
Hriday Raval
Congratulations Sir on your successful blogging for six years on variety of topics. They all make a good read and appreciation of the different situations But what I loved the most is the brevity and that too, to the point.
Wishing you many more years of blogging. God speed
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Hriday Raval
Congratulations Sir on your successful blogging for six years on variety of topics. They all make a good read and appreciation of the different situations But what I loved the most is the brevity and that too, to the point.
Wishing you many more years of blogging. God speed
Agnel Serrao
Topics covered have been relevant to the time line for better understanding.
Slowly the narration has become better to as we understood rigidly while in uniform.
As time & understanding evolves with now happening with the comparison As to how we understood has also changed. This gives the clear understanding of events As they are happening & what they will/ might become with in future.
The blog cuts through the blabber to give you what is what
Panesar
Congratulations, Anil ..!! on completing six remarkable years of blogging and reaching such an impressive body of work.
What I find most admirable is not merely the number of articles you have written, but the consistency, clarity and purpose behind them. Your writings bring together professional experience, strategic thinking, knowledge and, equally importantly, reflections on leadership, values and life.
For a reader, your blogs are informative without being difficult to understand, and thought-provoking without losing their practical relevance. There is always something to learn, reflect upon or see from a different perspective.
Over these six years, you have created much more than a collection of articles—you have created a valuable repository of experience and wisdom that can benefit serving professionals, young aspirants, students and ordinary readers alike.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts so generously and consistently. Your commitment to writing and to keeping knowledge flowing is truly commendable.
Wishing you many more years of writing, sharing and inspiring. Congratulations once again, and please keep the blogs coming!
Neeru Vij Kapoor
Hats off to your consistent efforts providing proficient value addition to the readers through over 850+ posts which already have become an asset to those concerned and interested with the strategic thought process.
However a new visitor currently has to navigate a very large body of material. A curated collection of foundational articles could provide an entry point without diminishing the breadth of the archive.
When, for example a new article discusses, say, drones, air dominance or theatreisation, links to 3–5 earlier relevant posts would allow readers to follow the evolution of your thought process .
Since you now have six years of accumulated material, revisiting an earlier prediction or assessment and asking “What has changed?” would turn the archive into a living record of evolving strategic thought without sacrificing
the candid and to the point character of all your posts.
The site explicitly describes itself as short, crisp and bullet-oriented. I would regard that as something to protect rather than move toward academic-style verbosity.
After six years, the blog is no longer merely a collection of posts; it is becoming your personal record of strategic thinking over time. That opens up possibilities that weren’t available when there were only 100 or 200 articles. Perhaps you may consider compiling a book or digital anthology drawn from the archive.
The next stage, therefore, may be less about simply adding more posts and more about unlocking the value of the 850+ posts already written.
Best wishes.Looking forward to more value addition .Regards
George Joseph
Thanks Anil for sharing your laudable efforts and phenomenal Achievements. 6 years and more than ,850 posts on Aviation and Aviation related topics is an outstanding achievement and worthy of high praise.
Your posts have been quite incisive and you have articulated your views in a very professional manner. You have done justice to each of the topics . Extraordinary efforts and long hours invested in the posts speak volumes of your strong commitment and dedication to the cause of educating the Aviation and other professionals.
We are proud of your service to the cause of Aviation and Aviation Safety.
Thanks.
Jaihind.
AVM Siwach
I read around 50% of your writings, agree with most and have reservations on certain aspects of airpower (naturally!).
You are specialising in very many things, quite a superhuman effort. Maybe you should focus on a more limited range,centered across what is dearest to you and then move outward to associated stuff. Put it in a weekly paper maybe? Will give you more time for reflection,though it isn’t as if the intellectual content is falling short.
Just some idle thoughts since you asked. TC and warm regards
Gen Alok Deb
Respected Sir,
Hearties Complements for productively contributing selflessly on Aerospace/ IAF issues.
Thank you for continuing to contribute to Indian thought on aerospace power
A few areas that are missing in deliberations by Indian Aerospace experts & you may consider exploring are:
1. Strategic thought on building an Atmanirbhar IAF (by leveraging Indian capabilities) that can meet its long term challenges through indigenous capabilities on long term basis (Say next two decades upwards).
2. Deliberate on need, significance & roadmap for building Organic R&D Structures in IAF on the lines of USAF, PLAAF & other leading Aerospace Forces.
Warm Regards & Best Wishes
Dear Air Marshal,
I wish that you can write an article for the “Business Standard” or any other serious newspaper, atleast once a month based on the material/content of your Blog articles please. Then the reach to influence/educate investors, decision-makers and discerning people about the gamechanging nature of Airpower and its development in India will surely have better impact. Our Ajai Shukla has discontinued writing for the Business Standard newspaper, and he is sorely missed….
Thanks for the suggestion.
I am a freelancer and write for anyone who approaches me.
Dear Air Marshal Anil Khosla your blogs are of immense professional value for the people who are in Defence Forces ,Central Police Orgs and Think tanks. I for one read your most of the blogs which are interesting and of immense professional value. My Salute to your Professionalism and writing so well. Keep writing Sir. Jai Hind.
Thanks a lot.
Anil, I always look forward to your blogs. You have superb knowledge on plethora of subjects. Going through your blogs, increases my knowledge too. So keep at it and enlighten the environment. Best wishes always.