Hello Readers,
It has been three years since the blog “Air Marshal’s Perspective” was launched. The idea of the blog is to share the gained knowledge and new learnings.
The tagline of the blog “Candid and to the point / काम की बात”, explains the style adopted. In the times of quick fix (Twenty 20 cricket), everyone wants to know the gist of the issue (as one of my gurus used to say “Just tell me the निचोड़”). The written posts cover the topic in bullet form (two to three pages), with a reading time of 5-7 minutes. The lengthier video bytes have a selective viewing option.
First and foremost thanks to all the readers who read the blog and provide the necessary encouragement to continue blogging.
This celebratory post has three parts:
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- Present Status.
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- Future trajectory.
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- Genesis of the blog and acknowledgement to Col S Muralidharan.
Present Status.
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- The blog has 370 + posts on a variety of topics (a list of topics covered is attached).
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- The blog keeps featuring in the top twenty Indian blogs under the category of defence and security.
Future Trajectory.
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- The blog is being migrated to a new host domain. The process will start on 01 Sep 23, and a new avatar of the blog will evolve.
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- A new YouTube channel has been launched in conjunction with the blog.
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- A podcasting section is being added (starting with a series of podcasts on IAF life, consisting of interesting anecdotes and occurrences).
Genesis of the Blog and Acknowledgement to Col S Muralidharan.
- Col S Muralidharan, my Course mate is a digital world wizard with a golden heart.
- He saw some of my post-retirement interview videos and articles on social media (hosted by engaging organisations) and suggested putting the content on our NDA course website (55 NDA).
- Murali is doing a wonderful job of administering our course website. Not only has he conceptualised and designed the website, but he has also hosted it on his personal domain space. He is administering and maintaining it (which is an arduous and time-consuming task).
- He provided the necessary space for the blog and guided me through the entire process.
- Now also, when faced with any problem or challenge he is the one who deals with it in a proactive manner. A case in point is the recent crash of the blog was resolved by him overnight.
- I am grateful to him for his encouragement and support. The future plan for the Blog has been made in consultation with him.
Topics Covered (So Far)
| Leadership, Motivation and Management |
| Decision making |
| Mental toughness |
| Earning respect |
| Good leadership qualities and values |
| Science of Karma |
| Good working culture and environment |
| Listening Skills |
| Be good feel good |
| Healthy working environment |
| importance of Tolerance |
| Lessons from Buddha |
| Difference between strength and courage |
| Lessons from rich and famous |
| Leadership lessons from Hollywood movies. |
| Shark in the tank theory of management |
| Car wheel theory of management |
| Aya Ram Gaya Ram syndrome – yes men. |
| Calculated Risks |
| Practical Leadership and Management |
| Communication skills and body language |
| Lessons from Nanak |
| Being Responsible and Tolerant |
| Growth Mind-set |
| Transferable Skills |
| Advice to the young generation |
| Motivational Talks |
| Importance of self-discipline |
| Words of Wisdom |
| Convocation Address – lessons from life in IAF |
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China |
| China’s Brain differently wired |
| China’s strategic thought |
| China’s military modernisation |
| China’s Defence industry |
| China – Pakistan Collusion |
| China – Art of deception |
| China: Kill Pigs List |
| China: Social score System |
| China: Active Defence Policy |
| China’s Joint Strategic support force (JSSF) |
| China – Joint Strategic Support Force. |
| Dealing with the Dragon |
| China’s grey zone operations |
| China: Flavours of military Reform |
| China: Pillars of Military Reform |
| China new diplomacy – drawing red lines in sand. |
| China – demographic analysis. |
| China through US Prism |
| China in South China Sea |
| China’s Military – Civil Fusion |
| PLAAF Analysis Strengths and weaknesses |
| Book review on China Airpower |
| Dealing with Dragon |
| Knowing China Better: lie flat and let it rot |
| Knowing China Better social life and customs |
| China in IOR |
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Geopolitics |
| China |
| Pakistan – National security Policy, Turmoil |
| Afghanistan |
| India’s foreign policy |
| India’s neighbourhood |
| Quad |
| Indo – Russian relations |
| State of Airpower Assets in Afghanistan |
| Indo – US relations |
| Afghanistan: Taliban run over |
| US-China shadow boxing over Taiwan |
| China spoiling Bhutan’s GNH. |
| South China sea |
| Gini Index and implications. |
| Multilateralism: Flexible Security Cooperation. |
| China Pak Collusivity |
| Collective Security |
| SCO Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Relevance and future trajectory |
| Sri Lanka Economic crisis: lessons and opportunity |
| Ukraine Conflict |
| Bangladeshi tango with China |
| Economic Sanctions |
| Djibouti: Tug of war between USA and China |
| The Future of Conflict in Asian Context |
| India Pakistan China Asian triangle |
| Indo-Vietnam Cooperation |
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Air Power |
| Airpower in Grey zone operations |
| Airpower in no war no peace situation |
| Air Power & Non-Kinetic warfare |
| Air Power in Multi-Domain warfare |
| Airpower in HADR ops and aid to civil authorities |
| Drone Threat the big picture |
| Fighter aircraft classifications by generations |
| Emerging Technologies and Air Defence |
| Air Power in Modern Day Warfare |
| S-400 SAM AD System |
| Combat Aviation |
| Changing nature of warfare |
| Air Defence operations |
| Air power strategies: multiple threats and limited resources |
| Air power in maritime domain |
| Air Power and effect-based operations |
| Air power concepts: Command / control the air, air supremacy, Air superiority & Favourable air situation. |
| Contemporary airpower thought |
| How does an aeroplane fly |
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Technology |
| Hypersonic Weapons |
| Technology and airpower |
| Future Trajectory of AI |
| Artificial intelligence |
| Future of conflict in new domains (Space, Cyber and deep sea) |
| Unmanned Platforms and Swarms, Loyal wingman concept |
| AI and Fake News |
| AI: Digital twins and Surrogate models |
| Military application of quantum technology. |
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Cyber Safety and Security |
| Cyber warfare |
| Digital addiction |
| Economic Cyber Frauds |
| Future of conflict in new domains (Space, Cyber and deep sea) |
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Space |
| Space operations |
| Space warfare and organisation in India |
| Space-based ISR |
| Future of conflict in new domains (Space, Cyber and deep sea) |
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Indian Air Force |
| Capability development |
| Tejas and AMCA project |
| IAF’s role in HADR and aid to civil and other agencies |
| Network-centric operations |
| PLAAF and IAF comparative analysis |
| IAF Modernisation |
| Balakot Operations |
| Maritime air operations in future |
| Rafale induction and capability enhancement |
| S-400 Induction |
| Fire Power Demo: Ex Vayu Shakti |
| IAF fighter strength drawdown and mitigation plan |
| IAF Strategies: past present and future. |
| Life in IAF |
| IAF multi-national exercises |
| Journey through IAF |
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War and Warfare |
| Types of war |
| Decoys and deception |
| Afghanistan Air Assets |
| Future Wars |
| warfare |
| Grey Zone Warfare |
| Classification of warfare into generations (Russian Thoughts) |
| Domains of warfare |
| C4ISR |
| Military Balance in the region |
| Ukraine War: Air Power aspects, a case of dog and the bone, Air superiority aspects, decoding Ukraine war. Lessons. |
| Operational Logistics |
| Lesser known facts about 1971the War |
| Review of book on 1962 war |
| Review of the book on the 1965 war |
| India’s two-front challenge |
| Douhet theories |
| Duration of Conflict |
| Jasjit Singh on Airpower |
| Galwan standoff |
| Asymmetric Threat |
| Nuclear aspects revisited |
| Accelerating the Paradigm Shift |
| National Security / Military Strategy |
| Urgent Need for National Security Policy |
| Multilateralism: Relevance and changes |
| National Security Strategy |
| Integrated deterrence |
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Military |
| Military diplomacy |
| Military spending: trends and analysis. |
| Collusive threat and Deterrence: Air and Space Aspects |
| Integrated Capability Development. |
| Joint war game training systems |
| Fighter Pilot: Traits |
| Agni veer and Agnipath / Tour of duty / making best of the scheme |
| Andaman and Nicobar Command and Islands |
| Joint Operations and Joint man ship |
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Higher Defence Organisation |
| Department of military affairs |
| Theaterisation |
| Air defence command |
| Civil-military fusion |
| Reorganisation of HDO in India |
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Flight Safety |
| Golden rules of safety |
| Importance of SOPs |
| A proactive approach to safety |
| Damage due to Bird Hits and Foreign Objects |
| Safety and aviation |
| Good safety Culture |
| Safety aspects of short landings. |
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Defence Industry |
| Indigenous defence industry |
| HAL and DPSUs |
| Role of the private sector in defence production |
| Arms Transfer to Afghanistan |
| Defence Budget issues |
| Atmanirbharta |
| Exportability of LCA and Brahmos combined package |
| IAF and indigenisation |
| Indian Initiatives to promote self-reliance |
| Tejas export options |
| Russia – India Defence contracts past, present and future. |
| Aero India 2021 & 2023 |
| Arms trade: Trends and Concerns |
| Arms trade: flow Vis-a-Vis hot spots |
| Decoding US presence at Aero India 2023 |
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India |
| Understanding Manipur Dynamics |
| Meghalaya Dynamics |
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Book Reviews and Endorsements |
| 1962 Border War Sino-India: Territorial Dispute and Beyond by Ismail Vergasseri |
| The Politics of South China Sea Disputes By Nehginpao Kipgen |
| 1965 A Western Sunrise: India’s War With Pakistan By Shiv Kunal Verma |
| The Game Behind Saffron Terror by Kanwar Khatana |
| Peer Review- ” China-The Rising Aerospace Power: Implications for India” |
| Book Endorsement – “Greatest Air Aces of all time” by Air Marshal Anil Chopra |
| Book Endorsement – The 1971 Indo-Pak Air War: Reflections and Projections |
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Life Stories |
| My tryst with HT-2 aircraft: The day god flew with me |
| The day I flew my dad’s car |
| Malse Lake: Tale of two course mates |
| Flying Tales |
Please Note: There are no hyperlinks to these topics on this post. However, search option on the blog can be used to access them.
Suggestions and value additions are most welcome
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References and credits
To all the online sites and channels.
Disclaimer:
Information and data included in the blog are for educational & non-commercial purposes only and have been carefully adapted, excerpted, or edited from sources deemed reliable and accurate. All copyrighted material belongs to respective owners and is provided only for purposes of wider dissemination.