Kishore Kumar Khera replies: Operation Swift Retort does not indicate any doctrinal assertion. It was a plan to undertake a limited offensive operation at shallow depth using long-range guided munitions to minimise exposure of mother aircraft from any possible reaction. To ensure the safety of weapon delivering aircraft, a number of support aircraft undertake simultaneous operations with specific missions.

Kishore Kumar Khera replies: Primarily, there are two types of airfields in India - Military Airfield and Civil Airfield. This classification is based on the agency controlling the airfield control zone airspace and ground operations. Creation and maintenance of airfield infrastructure are resource-intensive and duplicating these facilities for the exclusive use of civil operators or military operators is sub-optimal.

Kishore Kumar Khera replies: The combat capability of a nation is sum total of capabilities of various contributing elements. The Indian Air Force (IAF) forms a crucial subset of the national combat capability. The equipment, human resources and infrastructure define the combat capability of the IAF. Each air warrior irrespective of gender, rank, branch, trade, experience or appointment is a part of this capability. Every individual can contribute by undertaking the defined role in an efficient and effective manner.

Vivek Chadha replies: The empowerment of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) has remained an ongoing endeavour within the Armed Forces, irrespective of the specific service. Over a period of time, greater powers, including financial and administrative, have been delegated to ensure that JCOs take greater responsibility and their services can be best employed.

Kishore Kumar Khera replies: The output of a system is a function of not only the yields of each of the subsystems but also the coordination, cooperation and complementarities between the subsystems. Like most of the output driven entities, in the case of weapons/weapon systems/weapon platforms too there are three primary subsystems: Design and Development Team (DDT), Production Agency (PA), and the End User (EU).

Alok Deb replies: The phrase "two and a half front war" has been heard from time to time in various fora. Essentially it pertains to the Indian armed forces preparing to simultaneously fight conventional wars to the North and West, while also battling any insurgency that might be ongoing at that time in the hinterland.