air power in the indian context RECENT PERSPECTIVES Following World War II, the invention of nuclear weapons changed the concept of both warfare, and strategic deterrence. The emphasis during the Cold War was on nuclear balance and strategic bombing was linked to this balance. This led to the development of nuclear bombers and high altitude interceptors. The large payloads carried by these aircraft and the unmatched rapidity with which they could deliver them made air power the instrument of choice. Achieving air superiority quickly, proved crucial in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war for neutralising superior Arab capabilities. The Vietnam War highlighted the limitations of air power against low value low contrast target systems and the need for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) to reduce aircraft losses. As air defences against aircraft flying at medium and high altitudes improved, air forces around the world came to prefer the protection offered by a high-speed low-level ingress while operating in a densely hostile air defence environment. The 1973 Arab-Israeli war clearly highlighted the potency of air defence (AD) weapons and reinforced the importance of SEAD to reduce attrition. In the 1980s, the Air Land doctrine was enunciated by the US army. It highlighted the significance of manoeuvre warfare and the synchronised application of air power to manipulate the battlefield for swift success in wars. In the 1982 Bekaa Valley operations, force multipliers such as RPAs, AWACS, and EW played a vital role in gaining technological asymmetry and for creating conditions which would quickly achieve air superiority. In the 1991 Gulf War, once again medium and high attitude operations came back into favour to prevent aircraft losses to shoulder fired missiles and highly lethal low level air defences. This was also validated during the Kargil conflict of 1999. In the 1991 Gulf war technology created a paradigm shift albeit selectively in the employment of air power. The enemy was treated as a target system and air power was used strategically to carry out parallel attacks on the enemy’s vital Centres of Gravity. In Kosovo, air power was the only military instrument used to achieve coalition objectives. 9