Aero INDIA AVAIL YOUR COPY NOW! `100.00 (India-Based Buyer Only) 2021 SP’s SPECIAL Military Yearbook 2019 MEET US AT HALL-E, STALL: E-4.6 www.spsmilitaryyearbook.com www.spsnavalforces.com ROUNDUP THE ONLY NAVAL MAGAZINE FOR NAVIES ACROSS ASIA-PACIFIC PAGE 5 LEAD STORY Carrier Battle Group for Force Projection PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Navy Carrier strike groups represent some of the most potent means of force projection in any nation’s military, made up of an aircraft carrier and assorted ships tasked with defending and supporting carrier operations. Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) PAGE 6 Navy’s Quest for Carrier Borne Fighters The Chinese PLAAF and PLAN Aviation continue to field greater numbers of fourth- generation aircraft like J-20 and probably will become a majority fourth-generation force within the next several years. Thus India’s selection of future fighters for the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force has to take this threat into account. Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) PAGE 7 Landing Platform Docks China announced that it would deploy 1,00,000 marines overseas and has expanded its Marine Corps and developed amphibious assault ships and vehicles. With increased Chinese footprints in the INS Vikramaditya operates a combination of MiG-29K fighters and a variety of Naval Helicopters IOR, amphibious capability assumes critical importance for India. Lt General P.C. Katoch (Retd) PAGE 8 Military Modernisation? Decade of the Is That All We Want? Any country faced with adversaries must, based on the resources available, decide on the overall path to take towards conflict resolution, assigning responsibilities to every arm of the state. Thus, capacity building Maritime Air Power for the Armed Forces is just one part of the solution. Commodore G. Prakash (Retd) Maritime Air Power is applied in the maritime theatre to fulfill maritime objectives, as PAGE 10 well as achieving the necessary degree of air control for maritime operations within Converting Cheetah/Chetak as UAV for Ship Operations this area of interest. Maritime Air Power has undergone historic transition in the With the advancements in drone technolo- decade gone by due to the fundamental shift in its role. gies, there is a large proliferation of drone designers and manufacturers of different sizes and roles in India. There is thus a fair amount of skill set and knowledge available n VICE ADMIRAL SHEKHAR SINHA (RETD) enced by the military and political context in within India alone. which he lived. Now we are into 21st century. It Commodore (Dr) R.K. Rana (Retd) Comprehensive National Air Power is not so anymore. It will be appropriate to mention the writings Civilians were usually absent from theatre PAGE 12 of Clausewitz, who suggested that war consists or the battlefield either because the battle oc- Aerial Submarine Hunters of a trinity; made up of people, the government curred in relatively unpopulated area or they Detection of submarine is done primarily by and the armed forces. War comprises and bal- fled the area prior to onset of war. Today, a Sonobuoy and Magnetic Anomaly Detec- ances between creative forces (symbolized by this linearity has diminished severely. Now tor (MAD) - refers specifically to magne- the armed forces action), rational forces (sym- the civilians and civilian objectives are inter- tometers used by military forces to detect submarines by observing the change in the bolized by the government) and emotional mingled with military objectives. The valid tar- magnetic field forces (symbolized by the people). Essentially gets which could not feasibly be struck in the Lt General Naresh Chand (Retd) it means that the Armed Forces are separable past, now become vulnerable. The universe of from the people (who do not take part in fight- strikeable targets multiplies and therefore the PLUS ing) and from the government, which leads the potential of collateral damage and incidental News / Appointments 15 war. Obviously Clausewitz’s analysis was influ- injury while still achieving military objectives. Aero India 2021 Special 1 Command Every Scenario at Sea IAI’s Naval Warfare Suite. 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In There are other articles like ‘Decade of Maritime Air Power’ 2020 press conference, CNS, January 2017, the Navy issued a on aerial platforms as hunter of in which the author explains that Admiral Karambir Singh said Request for Information (RFI) for submarines; rotary wing UAVs it has undergone a historic tran- that, “our operations shall revolve 57 MRCBF. The RFI laid out that for the Navy; stealth submarine sition in the decade gone by. around two active Carrier Battle the “The MRCBF are intended as project and so on which give you There has been fundamental Groups (CBG), necessitating a day and night capable, all weather readers an insight of all the hap- shift in the philosophy of mari- force level of three Carriers”. In multi-role deck based combat air- penings in the Navy. time patrol, anti-submarine and an article on the subject of Car- craft”. The article gives you an We as usual wind up this anti-surface warfare processes rier Battle Groups (CBG), the insight into the front runner fight- issue with the News Digest and and carrier borne fighter opera- author attempts to explain the ers for India’s present and future Flag Postings. I hope that you dis- tions. Prospects of strengthening rationale of the Navy Chief’s aircraft carriers. cerning readers will enjoy read- EDITORIAL anti-submarine rotary wing fleet statement. The role of the CBG In this issue, there is also an ing this special issue. If you are and increasing surveillance in the being to threaten or strike hostile article is on the implications of in Bengaluru do meet us at Aero Indian Ocean by addition of more elements with air power, carry modernisation where the author India 2021, Hall-E, Stall: E-4.6. long range and Medium Range out intelligence, surveillance propounds that history is replete Maritime Patrol Aircraft, utility and and reconnaissance and land with examples of how every multi-role helicopters, drones and marines if required. The opera- military ‘modernisation’ was commissioning of the first indig- tional importance of aircraft car- rendered obsolete by counters/ While the world is cancelling a host enous aircraft carrier are very riers in the projection of maritime anti that sprouted. Examples of leading shows, India has gone encouraging. The author then power in the Indian Ocean Region abound of ‘modern’ militaries ahead with unmatched conviction examines these fundamental cannot be denied. A potent CBG biting the dust in the face of and is organising Aero India 2021 shifts in concept and philosophies is required - one on West Coast superior leadership, doctrines, with not even a fraction of change and concludes that India is well and one on East Coast which tactics, brains, deceit, peculiari- JAYANT BARANWAL or an effect out of COVID-19. on the way to being a net secu- will provide immense leverage to ties of terrain, or even simple Publisher & Editor-in-Chief PHOTOGRAPHS: US Navy, SP Guide Pubns Prime Minister Modi while addressing Long Range Maritime Patrol and Anti- the Combined Commanders in 2015 said submarine Warfare “beyond the immediate, we are facing a From the year 1976, IAF relinquished the future where security challenges will be role of long range maritime patrol task to less predictable; situations will evolve and the Navy by transferring the Super Con- change swiftly; technological changes will stellation aircraft. This was first occasion make response more difficult to keep pace for the Navy to operate four engined long with. Threats may be known but the en- endurance aircraft. It was all new experi- emy may be invisible” He further said “full ence for the crew to be flying extended scale war may become rare, but force will long hours and from an air station, main- remain an instrument of deterrence influ- taining alertness on the radar and visual encing behavior and the duration of con- watch, transfer data information manually flicts will be shorter”. to Maritime Operation Centre, criss cross Effectively, to handle today’s changed number of FIR boundaries, operate close nature of warfare, comprehensive nation- to open airspace of neighboring coun- al power will have to be brought to bear tries and in the process get intercepted by to achieve political objectives in the short advanced fighter aircraft mainly of the US timeframe that would be available. While Navy. Aircrew developed the desired skills doing so, nations will ensure least collat- to handle the new ways in the changed eral damage and incidental injury since operational environment. Earlier, carrier military and civilian objectives will be dif- borne Alize provided surveillance in mari- ficult to discern, media will control dis- time patrol role which was adequate for semination and regulate public reaction.