basic doctrine of the indian air force regarding the location of such facilities, their hardening and redundancy. Key facilities are likely to be hardened and concealed and target acquisition would be difficult. At the same time, the collateral impact on the morale of the local commander and his administration because of intense pressure of bomb disposal, casualty evacuation and treatment, fire fighting and base recuperation, cannot be over looked. Fighter Sweeps. These are operations mounted to seek and destroy enemy aircraft in the air in an allocated area of operations. Mission success depends on two factors. Firstly, the availability of friendly radar cover in the area of the sweep (supplemented by onboard hitech AI radars), and secondly, the willingness of the enemy air forces to oppose the sweep. Fighter sweeps are best conducted by modern air superiority fighters, which have higher loiter times, excellent AI radars, IFF integration and long range BVR capability. Their potency is significantly enhanced by AWACS/Aerostats support. The offensive sweeps also help generate dynamic air control in the enemy air space. In case, enemy air power refuses to engage, then the aircraft could carry air to ground armaments and attack high value targets in a role termed as ‘Intimidation’. This combines the offensive sweep role with the attack function. 46