Air Power in the Indo-Pacific: Indian Air Force and People’s Liberation Army Air Force Capabilities Into the 2030s

A study of the last 100 years of conflict suggests that air power dominates warfare. Air power was successfully applied in the Spanish Civil War, First and Second World Wars, Vietnam War, Six Day War, Yom Kippur, Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Afghanistan 2003 and Libya. John Warden, asserts ’Those who have air power overwhelm those who do not; those who do not have it spend their energies trying to get it, thwart it or escape it.’ Air power will be a decisive factor in the outcome of future wars. As China flexes its muscles an understanding of the challenges facing the PLAAF is crucial for India and the world at large. A study of the operational capabilities of the IAF and the PLAAF has not previously received a systematic and a rigorous assessment.

The literature on the operational dynamics of PLAAF and IAF during a war remains sparse and underdeveloped despite a large and growing volume of work on overall Chinese military capabilities. Understanding both the IAF’s and the PLAAF’s history, organisation, culture and weapons systems and their trajectory into the near future are important for assessing their capabilities for fighting wars.

In the context of the escalating Sino-Indian rivalry, this work sets out to examine how the PLAAF and IAF would perform in a conflict; the nature of air power disparity between India and China, and whether the existing numerical disparity between India and China give China a clear and incontestable advantage.

Air Power in the Indo-Pacific sets out to understand the interaction between the crucial determinants of modern warfare such as technology, strategic advantage in high altitude warfare, streamlined organisation, leadership, weapons platforms, combat experience, force structures, doctrinal and operational concepts, training, geography, weather and distance to better understand the war fighting capabilities of the IAF and PLAAF.

Air Power in the Indo-Pacific: Indian Air Force and People’s Liberation Army Air Force Capabilities into the 2030s brings about an understanding of China’s past and present approaches to air power and provides a crucial baseline for assessing future challenges. It provides a qualitative assessment of the IAF and PLAAF weapons systems and platforms and battle preparedness. Rare historical anecdotes and insights pertaining to air power and China are examined. The book’s comprehensive assessment of the forces that drive the PLAAF is a critical reading for anyone trying to understand air power in the Indo Pacific region and aims to change the way the world looks at the PLAAF.

This volume is illustrated throughout with original photographs, and specially commissioned colour artworks and maps.