EXPENSIVE BUT INDISPENSABLE AIRPOWER

AMIT GUPTA argues why given the harsh economic challenges facing the country, which is not unique to India, the best way to afford an effective air force is to plan differently but smartly by going for techno-globalisation rather than futile techno-nationalism

- AMIT GUPTA

Air power today stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, it is being used for an increasingly diverse set of missions; on the other, it is becoming harder for air forces and their democratically elected governments to find the money to pay for prohibitively expensive weapons systems. Thus, apart from being used in combat situations, air forces are being used in missions as varied as tracking illegal immigration, monitoring human trafficking, preventing poaching, surveying environmental damage, and providing surveillance capabilities to domestic security forces. At a different level, unmanned aircraft (drones) are changing the way that we think about air operations. Yet while the range of missions continues to expand, the costs of purchasing, operating, and maintaining aircraft is growing at alarming rates.

The high cost of aircraft and employing air power is nothing new for as far back as 1980 a set of reformers like John Boyd, Pierre Sprey, and Franklin Spinney warned about how the costs of airpower were spiraling out of control because of the demand for increasingly complex weapons systems. These reformers argued that the US armed forces were addicted to high technology and complex weapon systems. Such weapons were so costly that relatively few could be bought. Complexity made them hard to use and maintain, leading to readiness problems and reduced sortie rates. Even worse, the reformers said, these complicated weapons were not as effective in combat as simpler, cheaper ones.