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The successful conduct of the Air Chiefs’ Conclave from Indo-Pacific region with 28 of them attending either in person or virtually was one of the major takeaways from Aero India 2021, says Air Chief Marshal RKS Bahdauria in an interview with Nitin A. Gokhale, our Editor-in—Chief.
Speaking at the Aero India 2021, the Air Chief elaborated on the future induction plans of the IAF’s combat fleet. He also stated that the contract for 114 fighter aircrafts will simultaneously be pursued. In the interim, the Indian Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) should take wings.
The Air Chief looked forward to greater private sector participation, too. The preponderance of UAVs and their being cheap rules out the possibility of using costly missile systems to fight them. Better solutions would be necessary, he said.
Author, thought leader and one of South Asia's leading strategic analysts, Nitin A. Gokhale has forty years of rich and varied experience behind him as a conflict reporter, Editor, author and now a media entrepreneur who owns and curates two important digital platforms, BharatShakti.in and StratNewsGlobal.com focusing on national security, strategic affairs and foreign policy matters.
At the beginning of his long and distinguished career, Gokhale has lived and reported from India’s North-east for 23 years, writing and analysing various insurgencies in the region, been on the ground at Kargil in the summer of 1999 during the India-Pakistan war, and also brought live reports from Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009.
Author of over a dozen books on wars, insurgencies and conflicts, Gokhale relocated to Delhi in 2006, was Security and Strategic Affairs Editor at NDTV, a leading Indian broadcaster for nine years, before launching in 2015 his own digital properties.
An alumni of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii, Gokhale now writes, lectures and analyses security and strategic matters in Indo-Pacific and travels regularly to US, Europe, South and South-East Asia to speak at various international seminars and conferences.
Gokhale also teaches at India’s Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), the three war colleges, India's National Defence College, College of Defence Management and the intelligence schools of both the R&AW and Intelligence Bureau.
He tweets at @nitingokhale
