Journal of Defence Studies

The Need for ‘Inclusiveness’ in the Conceptual Understanding of Air Power: The Indian Case

Air Superiority: Myth, Magic or Panacea—Air Power’s Quest for Control of the Air

General Giulio Douhet wrote in 1921 that, ‘he who controls the air controls everything’. Almost a century later, the official doctrine of most major air power nations continue to propagate a similar theme. His contention that control of the air is vital for victory in war was widely accepted and remains so till today. Prominent air power theorists, writing across ages and across continents, agreed to the primacy given to winning and maintaining control of the air. Control of the air is assumed to be primus inter pares of all the air power roles.

Ajay Ahlawat |
October-December 2023 |
Journal of Defence Studies

Exploring Multi-dimensional Trends for the Indian Air Force

African Defence: A Statistical Analysis

Africa’s continental aspirations are well documented in ‘Agenda 2063’. With a laid-out implementation plan for well-articulated goals to meet the aspirations, Africa is moving in the right direction, albeit a little slowly. The main reasons are intertwined and interrelated—conflicts and slow economic growth. To top this, African governments are splurging on building military capabilities without clearly defined strategic goals.

Two Decades of US-Taliban War in Afghanistan

In August 2021, the world was stunned by dramatic visuals of Afghan civilians running along and attempting to cling to a US Air Force (USAF) C-17 aircraft taking off from the Kabul airport in a desperate bid to flee from Afghanistan that had fallen to the Taliban. Just a month before this, in the first week of July 2021, the last of the American troops left Bagram Airfield, which had been the nerve centre of American-led military operations in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years.

A Study on Measuring the Index of Technologies (Smart and Conventional)

Humans have been developing technologies that make living easier and open unimaginable horizons. Scholars have been combining technologies to innovate and evolve newer concepts. The evolution of smart devices has led to the concept of creating smart cities. Several nations intend to develop a smart technology ecosystem for ease of governance, economic growth, and comfort of their citizens. The not-so-nascent concept of a smart city requires a scale to measure the levels of technology in the system.

Aptitude Tests to Assess the Suitability of Gentlemen Cadets for Allotment of Technical Arms/Services upon Commissioning at the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun

Science of warfare maintains that man is more important than his weapon. Today, technology is changing very rapidly and weaponry is continuously evolving. It is the age of high technology and rapid improvement of weaponry. The defence forces of all the countries are forging ahead every day with improved systems and technology. The fit between the man and his weapon is perhaps more important today than in any other time in the history of warfare. We cannot be adhering to the old colonial procedure for allocation of human capital to handle the fast and ever-changing technology of weapons.

Cyber-Biosecurity: An Emerging National Security Frontier

Cyber-Biosecurity, an emerging threat landscape at the intersection of cybersecurity, cyber-physical security and biosecurity has a potential to disrupt economic, social and political well-being of the nation and has tremendous national security implications. All forms of cyber-attacks impact the manufacturing industries, governments, health infrastructure, patients and bio-economy at large.

India–Egypt Defence Cooperation: Continuity and Reset

India–Egypt relations are gaining momentum once again. Back-to-back high-level exchange of bilateral visits in the past few months have set the tone for India and Egypt to strengthen their ties. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Egypt in September 2022 and India’s External Affairs Minister
Dr S. Jaishankar visited it in October 2022. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day in January 2023.

Reality, Lies, and Automation: How AI-Powered text generation models could cause chaos?

In the past few years, the emergence of social media as a robust platform has ushered in a new era of social interaction, communication, community building, and sadly, fomenting conflicts through disinformation and propaganda. Social media has opened new, easily accessible avenues for disseminating falsehood, sowing division and promoting real-world (offline) damage through violence, harassment and exploitation. Using disinformation to win wars is not something new.