The history of India’s use of air power in all its wars has been one of restraint, except during the 1971 war.
The chequered leveraging of this potent military instrument has been due to two aspects.
The first is the worldwide inadequacy in the comprehension of the inherently complex and rapid technology-driven changes in air power’s characteristics and capabilities.
The other is India’s traditional surface-dominant security outlook that stems from dealing with a primarily continental threat.
Both these factors have led to the continued viewing of air power from the isolated lens of a support service to the continental and maritime domains, despite the long, consistent, and demonstrated commitment of the Indian Air Force to national security.
