The Hindu : National : IAF unhappy with war doctrine

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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National

IAF unhappy with war doctrine

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, NOV. 24. The Indian Army's new war doctrine advocating primacy to land forces during joint operations against the enemy has left the Indian Air Force (IAF) nettled. "Gone are the days when the Air Force was treated like an extended artillery and troop carrier. Air operations have become much more sophisticated and it will be unfair to treat us as secondary players under the command of the Army as is being suggested in their war doctrine," said IAF sources on the war doctrine made public earlier this week.

IAF sources agree that the main lesson of the Kargil War was the need for smooth and synergetic application of all available sources on land, air and sea to overwhelm the enemy. They also concur on achieving optimal impact by evolving a joint operational plan, which effectively integrates all the designated sources. During the Kargil War, air support in the form of IAF bombers and fighters became operational only three weeks after the conflict began.

Disagreements

However, the IAF does not agree with the Army doctrine's formulation that during joint operations, air power should be in support of land forces' operations. "It is not correct to say that the objective of the air operations should only be to degrade the enemy's air power and reduce its capability to interfere with the operations of own land forces." Further objections arise with the Army's take on joint planning of air operations, where it has been suggested that the air support operations should be decided by a joint Army air operations centre and that this body should tell the Air Command about the targets, the degree of neutralisation and the timeframe in which to finish the task.

Both the Army and the Navy have articulated their war doctrines after problems in joint operations during the Kargil conflict and the relative smoothness with which the U.S.-led forces coordinated their attacks from the sea, air and land in Afghanistan and Iraq. On the other hand, the two war doctrines brought out by the IAF predate the U.S.-led operations and therefore do not fully accommodate the developments in technology that have led to greater integration between the three services during a war.

IAF sources appreciate many other tenets in the doctrine, including the proposal to retain freedom of action of its own sources.

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